Hans J. Eysenck was born in Berlin, Germany on March 4, 1916. His was a family of celebrities. His father Eduard Eysenck was a singer and an accomplished actor who specialized in comedy. His mother Ruth Eysenck, whose stage name was Helga Molander worked in silent films. They planned a glamorous career in the entertainment field for Hans, who played a small role in a motion picture in his childhood. However, like many a Hollywood marriage then and today, Eysenck’s parents divorced when he was young, later to marry other show business people.
Because of his mother’s work and new liaison, Eysenck was brought up in London by his maternal grandmother who was once an opera singer.
His biographer H. B. Gibson writes about him :
"Living in his grandmother’s flat in London, Hans appears to have had a very free upbringing… in fairly comfortable circumstances surrounded by literary and cultural influences…He seems to have been a precocious and self-willed boy, well-accustomed to having his own way."
EARLY EDUCATION
He received his early education in Bismarck Gymnasium and Friedrich Wilhelm Real Gymnasium in Berlin, Germany. In 1930, he also attended a boarding school on the Isle of Wight.
LEAVING GERMAN SHORES
Refusing to join the Nazi Party to attend college, he left Germany at the age of 18. Also as an active Jewish sympathizer, Han’s life was in danger there.
He first went to France where he studied French History and Literature. But because he liked English poetry and writing more than the French, he went on to London, where he studied British history and literature at Exeter University. One of Eysenck’s tasks then was to bring out of Germany as much of the family fortune as possible and to take care of his grandmother, Frau Werner, who had been disabled. He enrolled at Pitman’s college to prepare for London matriculation examination in French, Mathematics, English and Physics.
TWIST OF FATE
Eysenck decided that he wanted to become a physicist, so he enrolled at the University of London. While registering, he was informed that German science credits were not acceptable for admission. When he asked if any science subject was open, he was told to try psychology.
Thus, by a quirk of fate he took up psychology. He once claimed he did not even know what psychology was. He came to realize that competition in physics was much fiercer than in psychology. So he felt that the fateful decision might have been for the best. He heartily accepted the subject and fell in love with it.
Eysenck was fortunate in being able to study under Sir Cyril Burt, the noted psychologist, one of the early advocates of statistical studies. The legendary statistician Karl Pearson was also one of Eysenck’s professors during his graduation. Eysenck graduated in 1938 and later completed his doctorate under Sir Cyril Burt in 1940 on The Psychology of Aesthetics.
After obtaining his Ph.D. from the University of London, during World War II, he worked as research psychologist at the Mill Hill Emergency Hospital near London. This hospital treated mentally disturbed service personnel.
After the war, he joined the staff of London’s famed Maudsley Hospital, which was perhaps Britain’s leading institution in psychiatric training. He became head of the hospital’s psychology department, and in the next year (1948), joined the faculty of the University of London. Subsequently in 1950, he became the head of the university’s new psychiatric institute, located at Maudsley Hospital.
In addition to his work in Britain, he served as visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of California, Berkeley in USA.
PERSONAL LIFE
According to Charles Spielberger, education president of American Psychologists Association (APA), "Eysenck was known to be a very outspoken person, but if you got to know him – and in his own view he was extremely introvert. It was difficult for him even to engage in a conversation with someone he didn’t know. Because of this introversion, he came across as rather harsh and critical. But when you got to know him, he was an extremely helpful person. He really cared about other people."
HANS’ MARRIAGE
When Hans’ graduated in 1938, from the University of London, he married a graduate student, Dr. Margaret Malcolm Davies. His autobiography offers no insight into his first marriage. Hans’ only complaint about his first wife was that she was a heavy smoker.
Michael, presently professor of psychology at London’s Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, was born of this marriage on February 8, 1944. Handbook of Cognitive Psychology, written by Michael was a bestseller of its time. His second book Personality and Individual Differences, that he wrote with father Hans, was favorably reviewed in the famous journal – Nature, a rare distinction for authors in psychology.
EYSENCK’S SECOND MARRIAGE
Opposites prevailed when he met Sybil Bianca Giulietta Rostal daughter of famous violinist Max Rostal OBE, who later became his second wife in 1950.
The equity theory of love and marriage says that advantages and disadvantages for both partners should be roughly equal if the partnership is to be successful. Sybil was young, pretty and vivacious while Eysenck was older and poverty-stricken. She was extrovert, sociable and outgoing. Eysenck was an avid reader and preferred staying home. An introvert and much higher on psychoticism as compared to Sybil. She had virtues not normally associated with extroversion like extreme efficiency and punctuality and had a neuroticism score compatible with his own zero score.
Sybil had an intuitive understanding of his work, and later made significant contributions towards his work. Their lives became inseparable. They had three sons and a daughter Connie, who was born in 1957 and eight grandchildren. In over 40 years of their marriage they never had a serious quarrel. Eysenck always remembered their first meeting in a daily discussion group as if it were yesterday. Eysenck said, "I have never believed in love at first sight, and still don’t know whether it exists, but what I felt at that moment must have come pretty near to it."
HANS JÜRGEN EYSENCK <1916 – 1997 >
This Germany born British behavioral psychologist was best known for his theory on human personality. Much of his work has been psychometric research into the normal variation of human personality and intelligence. Endowed with talents in writing, boxing and tennis, he took up psychology by accident.
He also worked on the health hazards of smoking, the prophylactic effects of behavior therapy on cancer and coronary heart disease, parapsychology, astrology and various other subjects.
He wrote 100 books and some 1,200 articles, emerging as one of the most prolific writers in psychology. Race, Intelligence
and Education published in 1971 speaks of his highly controversial ideas. He also edited the three-volume Encyclopedia of Psychology in 1972.
His academic interests were personality and individual differences, intelligence, behavior therapy, behavioral genetics, the study of social attitudes and experimental aesthetics, some of which are discussed along with the brilliant psychologist’s life for us to take a leaf or two for self motivation and inspiration.
March 4, 1916
Born in Berlin, Germany.
1926
Holiday at Newhaven. (Eysenck actually had relatives in Britain but he did not discover this till much later.)
1930
Attended boarding school on the Isle of Wight.
1933
Took study leave in Exeter for studying British history and literature.
1934
Leaves Germany for Dijon and London. He enrolled at Pitman’s college to prepare for London Matriculation Examination.
1935
Enrolled to read for Psychology Honors at University College, London.
November 4, 1937
He appeared on Television in "Experiments in Science", a program organized by Cyril Burt.
1938
He passed his BA. from University of London. Marriage to graduate student Dr. Margaret Davies.
1940
He received doctorate degree on the Psychology of Aesthetics, from University of London.
1941
Eysenck lectured extensively on hypnosis during the war years.
1942
Eysenck was appointed Senior Research Officer at Mill Hill Emergency hospital.
1944
Son Michael, was born.
1947
He was granted British citizenship.
1949
Visit to U.S.A. as a visiting professor at the University of Pennyslvania.
1950
Appointed as a Reader in Sub-department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry. He married Sybil Bianca Guiletta.
1952
Oxford lecture to British Psychological Society.
1955
He was appointed as the Professor of Psychology at the Institute of Psychiatry, University of London.
1958
Lecture to Royal Medico Psychological Association.
1960
Served as editor of "The Handbook of Abnormal Psychology."
1963
Served as an editor of "Behavior Research and Therapy" (1963-1978).
1964
Addressed a large audience at Oxford University Psychology Society.
1973
He was assaulted by students while lecturing on IQ and EEG at the London School of Economics. For some time a group calling themselves "Progressive Intellectuals" at Birmingham University fiercely condemned him. They were thought to be identified with the British Communist Party. The UK’s National Union of Students orders its branches to prevent lectures on campus by Eysenck.
1977
Lecture tour of Australia with Arthur Jensen.
1997
Hans Eysenck died on September 4 at a hospice in London.
His unswerving allegiance to the scientific method took him into a vast psychological territory whose diversity was formidable, the major areas being behavioral genetics, personality, intelligence, social attitudes, psychotherapy and Freudian psychology, behavior therapy, sexual and marital behavior, smoking and health, the prophylactic effects of behavior therapy on cancer and coronary heart disease, sports psychology and often to the surprise of his associates, the politically incorrect areas of graphology, astrology and parapsychology. He introduced clinical psychology as a profession in England.
TITLE / WORK COLLABORATOR YEAR OF PUBLICATION PUBLISHED IN REMARKS
Primary Mental Abilities Prof. L. L. Thurstone 1939 Eysenck reviewed
An experimental study of the improvement of mental and physical functions in the Hypnotic State 1941 British Journal of Medical Psychology Research Paper
During the war years, Eysenck lectured extensively on hypnosis and Gibson records he was then ‘the foremost authority on hypnosis in Britain.’
General and Social Attitudes 1944 Journal of Social Psychology Research Paper
Types of Personality 1944 Journal of Mental Science Factorial Study of 700 Neurotics
Graphological Analysis and Psychiatry – an experimental study 1945 Journal of Psychiatry
Primary and Secondary Suggestibility : an experimental and statistical study D. Furneaux 1945 Journal of Experimental Psychology
Dimensions of Personality 1947 Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology
Neuroticism and Handwriting 1948 Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology
Training in Clinical Psychology : an American point of view 1949 American Psychologist Research Paper
At this point, Eysenck still took the conventional British view that psychologists should not themselves give therapy.
Criterion Analysis : an application of the hypothetico–deductive method to factor analysis 1950 Psychological Review Research Paper
Schizothymia-cyclothymia – a dimension of personality : 1 1950 Journal of Personality
TITLE / WORK COLLABORATOR YEAR OF PUBLICATION PUBLISHED IN REMARKS
Primary Social attitudes as related to social class and political attitudes 1951 British Journal of Sociology Research Paper
The Inheritance of Neuroticism D.B. Prell 1951 Journal of Mental Science
The Scientific basis of Personality 1952 Journal of Consulting Psychology Research Papers
The effects of Psychotherapy 1952 Journal of Consulting Psychology Research papers
Schizothymia-cyclothymia – a dimension of personality : 2 1952 Journal of Personality
The Structure of Human Personality 1953 Penguin Books
Uses and Abuses of Psychology 1953 Penguin Books
The latter was critical of Psychoanalysis. These were based on his lectures and took him only a fortnight to complete.
The Logical Basis of Factor Analysis 1953 American Psychologist
The Psychology of Politics 1954
Cortical Inhibition, Figural After-effect 1955 Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology
The Theory of Personality 1955
Sense and Non-sense in psychology 1956 Penguin Books
The Inheritance of Extraversion – Introversion 1956 Penguin Books Acta Psychologica
The Causes and Cures of Neuroses Rachman 1956 Penguin books
Psychology of Politics 1956 Psychological Bulletin
The Personality Similarities between Fascists and Communists 1956 Psychological Bulletin
The Dynamics of Anxiety and Hysteria Holland and Trouton 1957 Journal of Medical Science Research Papers
Drugs and Personality Holland and Trouton 1957 journal of Medical Science Research Papers
A short Questionnaire for the measurement of Two Dimensions of Personality 1958 Journal of Applied Psychology
A Review of the Rorschach Test 1959 O.K. Buros 5th Mental Measurement Yearbook
The Maudsley Personality Inventory 1959 Journal Of Mental Science Research Papers
Learning Theory and Behavior Therapy 1959 Journal of Mental Science
The Structure of Human Personality 1960 1st Edition
TITLE / WORK COLLABORATOR YEAR OF PUBLICATION PUBLISHED IN REMARKS
The position of Hysterics and Dysthymics in a Two Dimensional framework of Personality Description G. Claridge 1962 Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology
On the Dual Nature of Extraversion Sybil 1962 Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology Article
Experiments with Drugs Sybil 1962 Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology Articles
The Biological Basis of Personality Sybil 1962 Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology Articles
The Biological Basis of Criminal Behavior 1964
Crime and Personality 1964
Manual of the Eysenck Personality Inventory Sybil 1964
Personality and Measurement of Personality O. White
The effects of psychotherapy reconsidered in Acta Psychologica and in new society research paper on Biology and Science were published in 1964.
Smoking, Health and Personality P. L. Broadhurst 1965
Experiments with Motivation P. L. Broadhurst 1965
Facts and Fiction in Psychology 1965 Penguin Books
Extraversion and the Acquisition of eye-blink and the GSR Conditioned Responses 1965 The Psychology Bulletin
The Effects of Psychotherapy 1966
Check your own IQ 1966
The Biological Basis of Personality and Intellectual Assessment : a theoretical and experimental approach 1967 Britain’s Journal of Educational Psychology Research Works
On the Unitary Nature of Extraversion Sybil 1967 Acta Psychological
Salivary Response to lemon juice as a Measure of Introversion Sybil 1967 Perceptual and Motor Skills
Personality Patterns in Various Groups 1967 Occupational Psychology
Personality and Extrasensory Perception 1967 Journal for Society of Psychical Research
A Factorial Study of Psychoticism as a Dimension of Personality Sybil Eysenck 1968 Multivariate Behavior Research
A theory of the Incubation of Anxiety / Fear Response 1968
Behavior Research and Therapy 1968
Personality Structure and Measurement Sybil 1969
The Structure of Human Personality 1970 3rd Edition
Explanation and the Concept of Personality 1970
Autobiographical Sketch
(A history of psychology in Autobiography) G. Lindzey 1970
TITLE / WORK COLLABORATOR YEAR OF PUBLICATION PUBLISHED IN REMARKS
Race, Intelligence and Education Arthur Jensen 1971
Social Attitudes and Class 1971 Britain’s Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology Research Paper
Psychology is about People 1972 Dedicated to Sybil
In this book we see little respect for adult authority.
Conditioning, Introversion – Extraversion 1972 Biological Basis of Individual Behavior Research Papers
The Strength of the Nervous System 1972 Biological Basis of Individual Behavior Research Papers
The Ethics of Science and The Duties of Scientists 1973 British Association for the Advancement of Science
Theories of Parapsychological Phenomena 1974 Encyclopaedia Britannica
Manual of Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Sybil Eysenck 1975 Research Paper
The Nature of Extraversion : a Genetical Analysis L. Eaves 1975 Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
The future of Psychiatry, Planets, Stars and Personality 1975 New Behavior
Precognition in Rats 1975 Journal of Parapsychology
Psychoticism : as a Dimension of Personality Sybil 1976
Sex and Personality 1976
The Measurement of Personality 1976
The Learning Theory Model of Neuroses – a new approach 1976 Behavior Research
Therapy and Genetic Factors 1976
Personality Development 1976 A. R. Kaplan, Human Behavior Genetics
Crime and Personality 1977 3rd Edition
Personality and Factor analysis : a reply to Guilford 1977 Psychology Bulletin
Block and Psychoticism Sybil Eysenck 1977 Journal of Abnormal Psychology
Personality and The Classification of Adult Offenders 1977
You and Neurosis Sybil and J. Rust 1977 Britain’s Journal of Criminology
The Psychological Basis of Ideology 1978 Edited with G. Wilson
Psychopathy, Personality and Genetics Sybil 1978 Psychopathic Behavior
An empirical study of the relation between astrological factors and personality J. Mayo and O. White 1978 Journal of Social Psychology
An exercise in mega-silliness 1978 American Psychologist
The structure of Intelligence 1979
The Psychology of Sex 1979
Memory Scanning, Introversion – Extraversion and Levels of Processing 1979 The Journal of Personality Research Work
TITLE / WORK COLLABORATOR YEAR OF PUBLICATION PUBLISHED IN REMARKS
The Causes and Effects of Smoking Nias and Cox 1981 Advances in Behavior Research and Therapy
Sports and Personality Nias and Cox 1981 Advances in Behavior Research and Therapy
A model of Personality Nias 1982
The Intelligence Controversy Nias 1982
Psychological factors as predictors of marital satisfaction Nias 1982
Astrology : Science or Superstition Nias 1982
Decline and The Fall of Freudian Empire 1985
Hans Eysenck : Consensus and Controversy 1986
Review of Scientific Excellence 1987
The causes and cures of criminality Gudjonsson 1988
Rebel with a Cause 1990 Autobiography
Personality, Stress and Disease 1991
Trait Theories 1992
Prediction of Cancer and Coronary Heart Disease as a Function of Method of Questionnaire Administration 1993
Genius - A Natural history of Creativity 1995
Second Festschrift 1997
His writing gained him a worldwide audience of general readers as well as scientists. All his works bear his hallmark clarity and unrelenting rationalism, as unsupported speculation was not his style. All statements had to be based on sound experiment and measurement. He wrote 100 books and 1,000-1,200 articles, making himself one of the most prolific writers in psychology. Much of his work has been psychometric research into the normal variations of human personality and intelligence.
ON RESEARCH
"I organized my life around research, meeting almost, putting almost everything else aside, this you must do if you want to get anywhere."
ON BOOKS ON SEX
"Books on sex may give you ideas, but they will not help you very much in improving your performance, and by holding out false hopes, they may mislead the reader and freed disappointment and frustration."
ON THE PHYSIOLOGY OF SEXUAL RELATIONS
"The physiology of sexual relations is governed by the autonomic nervous system, so called because it is largest independent of the voluntary control of the central nervous system."
ON SEXUAL ATHLETE
"Sexual athlete always has something to prove, and may fail to enjoy his acrobatic acts in any sense other than as sporting achievements."
ON SEX AND NEUROSES
"There is no doubt of course, that sex does present us with many problems, and that neurosis and sex are intimately connected – although not all neuroses have a sexual basis, as has so frequently and erroneously been asserted."
ON SEXUAL DISORDERS
"Sexual disorders make up a large portion of the neurotic disabilities which cause so much unhappiness to men and women in our time."
ON PHYSICAL APPEAL
"Women are less concerned about the physical appeal of men, being more interested in factors such as intelligence and accomplishment which make for social dominance."
ON QUALITY OF MALE
"Male quality is more important for the female than for the male, precisely because she invests so much more in the nurture of the offspring."
ON INTELLIGENCE
"The concept of intelligence, and the question of heritability, both have important psychological and social consequences."
"Intelligence – one of the most important ways by which we judge one another is a powerful and emotive issue for parents, teachers, employers and even politicians."
ON IQ OF IDENTICAL TWINS
"IQs of identical twins reared apart… perhaps the most cogent evidence in favor of the genetic determination of intelligence…. If the genetic case rested on just one kind of support, this would be the one chosen by most experts."
ON DETERMINANTS OF IQ
"Children from different races and backgrounds sharing the same classroom environment. The experiences and genetic make up they share are not enough to help us investigate the determinants of IQ."
ON FOSTER CHILDREN
"Usually foster children are employed in order to avoid the contamination of environment with genetic factors. It is essential, of course, that the adoption agency should not be placing the children selectively."
ON M2 AND D2 TWINS
"There is not a shred of evidence to suggest any special differential treatment of Monozygotic twins relevant to cognitive development. Indeed, what evidence we have is entirely negative."
ON CORTEX SUPREMACY
"Man is indeed a rational being, but he is also irrational; he is characterized by a cortex supremely able to indulge in rational activities, but his cortex is superimposed on other brain structures which are more primitive."
ON FACTOR ANALYSIS
"The aim of factor analysis is to discover the smallest number of independent factors or variables which will adequately to give the most parsimonious account of the experimental findings insofar as these are interdependent."
ON CHARACTER
"Character is that in man which gives, or rather is, the ground of consistency, firmness, self-control, power of self-direction or autonomy."
ON TEMPERAMENT
"Temperament has frequently been used synonymously with personality, but in the interests of economy and clarity the term has partly shed its protean character and is used by many writers to cover ‘the general affective nature of an individual as determined by his inheritance and life history’."
ON PERSONALITY
"…Quite generally, however, definitions of personality may be grouped according to whether they stress superficial, observable, objective appearances (persona or mask definitions, or whether they stress rather underlying inner, subjective essentials (anima or substance definitions)."
ON TRAIT AND TYPE
"We shall speak of ‘Types’, as observed constellations or syndromes of traits and of ‘Traits’ as observed constellations of individual action-tendencies. Thus, we make the distinction between types and traits not in terms of their distribution, but in terms of their relative inclusiveness as determined experimentally."
"Type theory tends to classify people into sharply divided groups, while trait theory assumes a continuous gradation with most people near the average."
ON A FACTOR THEORY OF PERSONALITY
"We do not claim that the factorial method can give us a definitive, final answer to all over questions. It is only as a first approach, as an approximation, that we regard our data and our theories; no more than neuristic value is claimed for them."
ON ASTROLOGY
"It is said that one should not waste time on topics which are obviously absurd…I do not believe myself that a priori judgments of this kind are admissible in science. Scientists have been wrong too many times in mailing explicit statements of this kind to be considered infallible. In any case, the time that is wasted is nine and to waste it by reading the literature on astrology and parapsychology improbably better spent than in watching pornographic films, or becoming a football hooligan."
"In giving Gauquelin’s research as an example Eysenck said, ‘I think it may be said that as far as objectivity of observation, statistical significance of differences, verification of the hypothesis and replicability are concerned there are few sets of data in psychology which could complete with these observations…. I think we must admit that there is something here that requires explanation."
ON ADULT AUTHORITY
"Grown ups were a fraud and delusion… their precepts and their actions were miles apart… it was a toss up whether they were more vicious or more ridiculous in their behavior."
• Eysenck was the recipient of American Psychological Association’s distinguished scientific award in 1988.
• He received the US Presidential citation for Scientific Contribution in 1933.
• US William James Fellow Award (American Psychological Society) was presented to him in 1994.
• Centennial Award for Distinguished Contributions to Clinical Psychology (APA) in 1995 and also the Foundation Medal Hans J. Eysenck Institute, Winterthur, Switzerland.
