Eysenck and Norman

Modified: 2020-07-09 6:41 AM CDST

• Eysenck regarded personality as being primarily an inborn phenomenon.
  • That means that personality, to him, is more like eye color or height than it is like learned phenomena.
  • He proposed a scheme with three dimensions:
    • neurotic vs. stable,
    • extraverted vs. introverted,
    • stupid vs. intelligent.
  • Further, he created a test to measure individuals on those three dimensions.
  • Notice how the study of personality reflects the nature-nurture problem discussed much earlier.
    • Eysenck's theory leans toward the nature end of the continuum, while learning and social learning theories are closer to the nurture end.

• Norman's "Big Five" personality traits are similar to Eysenck's.
• The big five traits are:
  • neuroticism,
  • extroversion,
  • openness,
  • agreeableness,
  • conscientiousness.
• Notice how Norman's proposal may serve as a bridge between biological and learned theories.
• Also, notice how many fewer traits are used by Eysenck and Norman compared to the 16 used by Cattell in formulating the 16 PF.