Quite often, "accidents" (which, as you know, are not accidental) play an important role in a person's life. For example, choosing a path to escape from fate, we meet it there. And the one who finds the answer to the question of why this happens, remains in people's memory for a long time.
Largely thanks to finding non-standard answers to extravagant questions, the scientist Hans Jurgen Eysenck was remembered.
Eysenck's childhood and adolescence
All the most interesting things that can later play a key role in the development of a person happen in childhood. Hans Jurgen Eysenck (1916-04-03 - 1997-04-09) was the child of the "cultural intelligentsia" - both mother and father were actors. Ruth Werner (under the pseudonym Helga Molander) shone on the screens of silent films, and Anton Edward Eysenck combined singing and acting. The parents did not have time for the child. And two years later they parted, and Hans Jurgen Eysenck was sent toparenting with maternal grandmother.
From the memoirs of Hans Eysenck, one can learn that the little grandson was always given complete freedom of action, his pranks were treated condescendingly. Perhaps that is why the boy “tried everything for strength and reliability.”
Hans Jurgen Eysenck's "rebellious" style of behavior was known in all circles. Although it was thanks to this feature that scientific ideas were put forward and their validity was proved.
Moving to England
The realization of his exclusivity came to Hans at school: he often liked to demonstrate the superiority of his knowledge of the subject over the knowledge of teachers who graduated from military universities. Being the first athlete at school, he openly expressed his negative impressions of the Nazi rally and Hitler who spoke at it. The comrades, having agreed, beat him with a crowd. However, this did not confuse the future Doctor of Philosophy. The next day, Hans caught his offenders one by one and delivered "justice". True, the ability to take a punch did not help the young man when he entered the University of Berlin.
For the first time in his life, a young man faced a choice: join the Nazi secret police and enter the university or reject his candidacy for a student's place. Hans Jurgen Eysenck leaves Germany for England.
Professional development
The move changed Hans' plans. Dreams of entering the Faculty of Physics at the University of London did not come true for a number of reasons. However, notwanting to lose a whole year due to non-compliance with the requirements, Eysenck enrolls in a psychology course. In 1938, a young psychologist received a bachelor's degree. And in 1940 he becomes a Ph. D.
From the same year, Hans began working at Mill Hill Hospital, taking patients with various psychiatric problems. It should be noted that up to this point, Eysenck had no psychiatric and clinical practice. This did not mean that the young Ph. D. would succumb to difficulties. Hans considers the criteria and categories of clinical diagnostics unsatisfactory and finds it possible to apply only the factorial theories of personality that were being developed at that time in practice. Thanks to these studies, extensive practice and tireless observation, the theory of personality formation was formalized in the book Dimensions of Personality (1947).
Factor analysis - Eysenck Hans Jürgen's contribution to the psychology and partially psychiatry of that time. He noticed that two main factors stand out when describing personal qualities: neuroticism on the one hand and extraversion (introversion) on the other. This idea will receive its final cut in 1970.
In the post-war years, Eysenck continued to work in the psychiatric department as director and after a while became a lecturer at the University of London.
In order to study the psychiatric practice of Western colleagues, he went in 1949 to work as a visiting professor in Pennsylvania. Not surprisingly, the US and Canadian clinical psychology training programs were described by Gans as“unscientific.”
In 1950, Eysenck returned to Europe.
Becoming a scientist
What contribution did Eysenck Hans Jürgen make to science? At present, few people think about the emergence of concepts and phenomena so familiar to everyone. However, some of them began their existence not so long ago. Eysenck, with bated breath, followed, as far as possible, the genetic experiments carried out in the Ahnenerbe. The young scientist happened to conduct brain research himself with the intention of revealing a correlation between brain size and human intelligence. So far, such experiments have not led anyone to establish any patterns, but Hans needed to make sure of this.
Bird's influence on the formation of Eysenck's concepts
The young scientist's supervisor was Cyril Lodovik. He is known for being categorical on the issue of intellectual development. From his point of view, intellectual abilities are an innate property (like eye color). The evidence was provided by studies based on Binet-Simon tests. Eyewitnesses claimed that Cyril was a good mathematician and was trying to calculate the exact distribution of innate and acquired factors of intelligence.
Burt owned the development of the theory of the two-factor structure of intelligence (the idea itself was expressed by Charles Spearman). Subsequently, Cyril's persistent attribution of the authorship of this concept to himself allowed some critics to speak out about the scientist's ill he alth (he was considered paranoid).
Much, if not all, of the worksBurt can be found in the sayings of Eysenck. We can say that Hans brought the system to perfection. Today it is known around the world as an IQ test.
PhD family
The personal life of Hans Jurgen Eysenck was not as controversial as social and scientific. In 1938, the psychologist married Margaret Davis, who was also a student at the University of London but in the mathematics department. A native of Canada, she lived in a marriage with Eysenck until 1950. Son Michael, born in this marriage, later became a famous author of books on psychology, and the book "The Study of the Human Psyche" became a joint work of son and father.
Immediately after his divorce from Margaret, Hans marries Sybil Rostal (who met while traveling in Philadelphia). Daughter of violinist Max Rostal, psychologist, mother of four children (the couple had 3 boys and a girl)
together with her husband released several books (mostly modified tests). The wife and children of Eysenck Hans Jürgen supported him in everything and were his only outlet, while the entire scientific world was raging. The famous psychologist never considered family relations from the point of view of Freud's psychoanalysis. In addition, he spoke unequivocally about the Oedipus complex. In a brief biography of Eysenck Hans Jürgen, family relationships are almost always bypassed, but fruitful joint work with household members speaks of mutual understanding and support that reigned in the scientist's family.
Scientist's Legacy
Extraordinary personalityEysenck showed up in everything from defending his scientific beliefs to provocative behavior (for which he was nicknamed "the terrible child of the seventies"). The legacy of the scientist includes 45 books and more than 600 articles.
Founded and edited the journals Behavior Research and Therapy and Personality and Individual Differences. Eysenck's concept was based on such personality factors as extraversion - introversion and neuroticism - stability. Some time later, a third type of personality measurement appeared in theory (psychoticism - the power of the superego), with the assumption that this is a genetic predisposition to developing a personality along a psychotic or psychopathic line.
Based on the models of behavioral reactions developed by the psychologist, a method of personality correction was proposed - aversive psychotherapy (or aversion therapy). Many centers for people with drug addiction use this type of therapy as the main one.
PhD hobbies
The biography of Hans Jurgen Eysenck tells of his passionate youthful passion for astrology. Naturally, he approached this issue with all the seriousness of a research scientist. The study of astrological charts was carried out with the same goal: to find a pattern that contributes to the development of talent. During the study of the topic, Eysenck corresponded with many famous astrologers. They drew up and mailed maps to some representatives of the Reichstag with a warning about the collapse of all their plans. But no answerfollowed.
Observations on fascism and left-wing radicals led the scientist to the conclusion that these groups are more similar than different. Both had an authoritarian management style, rigidity and intolerance towards dissent, in contrast to the control group. Perhaps this hypothesis only strengthened the scientist's belief in the importance of the biological component in the nature of intelligence.
Factor Theory of Personality
Eysenck Hans Jürgen's significant contribution to psychology is the model of the three-phase concept of the emergence of neurosis, which describes neurosis as a manifestation of learned behavioral responses. Like Raymond Kettle, using factor analysis, he shows how personality traits affect behavioral responses. Unlike Cattell, Eysenck was convinced that three super-features are enough to explain human behavior (the opponent has 16 of them), which are called types (introversion - extraversion, stability - neuroticism and psychotism - the power of the superego). This structure of types was formed on the basis of Eysenck's belief that they are inherited at the biological level (although the influence of the external environment is not excluded).
The basis for the construction of his theory was the work of colleagues E. Kretschmer and C. Jung. Eysenck considered their typologies as one.
The novelty of personality theory is the consideration of psychological manifestations as continuums of meanings, and not as extreme manifestations of types.
Author's books
In all books by Eysenck Hans JürgenThe idea of the leading role of genetic and neurophysiological factors in the formation of various behavioral responses runs like a red thread. As a true psychologist, the scientist is famous for "challenging" headlines. For example, "The Benefit and Harm of Psychology", "Meaning and Meaninglessness in Psychology", "Facts and Fiction in Psychology", "Sex, Violence and the Media".
Perhaps Eysenck's most famous book is The Structure of the Human Personality, which provides evidence for the effectiveness of factor analysis in the study of personality manifestations, talents and predispositions.
Special works
Hans Jurgen did not bypass such a sensitive topic as criminal behavior. In 1964, the book "Crime and Personality" was published. There is not even a hint of Lombroso's famous theory in it. According to Eysenck, individuals with high rates of extraversion, neuroticism and psychism, due to the costs of socialization, can become criminals. The author put forward a hypothesis about the presence of a “criminal class” group in the population. It is worth noting that this work caused a lot of criticism and controversy in the scientific community, but it also acquired followers.
Instead of a conclusion
Research on the heritability of intelligence by R. Plomin, based on one hundred DNA markers, showed that only one of them is associated with the level of intelligence development (75% of coincidences among representatives with low intelligence and 100% with high intelligence). The studies were carried out in 1994-1997, which allows us to conclude about the significance of all the works of Hans Jurgen Eysenck (photoyou can see the scientist at the beginning of the article). They have always caused controversy and hostility in the scientific community, but at the same time they were popular with the public.
