Originally published in 1969, this book deals extensively with the description and measurement of personality. Beginning with a statement of the principles of typological research in psychology, set against the background of general taxonomic principles in biology, the study discusses in detail results and generalisations from the Eysencks’ previous work. The second part of the book describes several large-scale studies using personality questionnaires prepared by the authors, as well as the standard ones of Cattell and Guilford. There is a comparative study of the Eysenck, Cattell and Guilford inventories, which analyses the degree to which similar factors can be found in these three instruments and discusses areas of agreement and disagreement between the three authors. The third part deals with personality studies in children, and includes a chapter on personality structure in subnormal subjects. These studies are concerned with discovering the extent to which personality structure changes with increasing age, and to what extent it is possible to measure personality in younger children. They also examine sex differences in personality structure, and show quite marked differences between the sexes on a number of primary personality traits. The results of the Eysencks’ work in this field directed new light on the structure of personality and cast doubt on many widely accepted findings of the time.

Originally published in 1969, this book deals extensively with the description and measurement of personality. Beginning with a statement of the principles of typological research in psychology, set against the background of general taxonomic principles in biology, the study discusses in detail results and generalisations from the Eysencks’ previous work. The second part of the book describes several large-scale studies using personality questionnaires prepared by the authors, as well as the standard ones of Cattell and Guilford. There is a comparative study of the Eysenck, Cattell and Guilford inventories, which analyses the degree to which similar factors can be found in these three instruments and discusses areas of agreement and disagreement between the three authors. The third part deals with personality studies in children, and includes a chapter on personality structure in subnormal subjects. These studies are concerned with discovering the extent to which personality structure changes with increasing age, and to what extent it is possible to measure personality in younger children. They also examine sex differences in personality structure, and show quite marked differences between the sexes on a number of primary personality traits. The results of the Eysencks’ work in this field directed new light on the structure of personality and cast doubt on many widely accepted findings of the time.

Originally published in 1983 and written in the tradition of the British School of Psychology, Spearman, Burt, Eysenck, Cattell, this book from a well-known author was exceptional at the time in its attempt to wed quantification and psychological theory in the study of personality. The student is presented with a discussion of the different methods of measuring personality and the various findings which have been made. The results are then discussed in the light of psychological theories of personality and here the author stresses the need for a theory with a properly quantified bias. However, the emphasis on findings from measurement and not the measurement itself makes the book psychological, truly about personality and not simply another text on psychological measurement.

Originally published in 1953, this third edition was first published in 1970. It was one of the early attempts at bringing together theories of personality organisation and finding empirical evidence to test their hypotheses. This third edition includes additional chapters and updated references to current research of the time. It is a particular feature of this book that a large number of figures are reproduced in the text; this is essentially a consequence of the writer’s belief that diagrammatic representations are better suited to the transmitting and remembering of information than are words or numbers. The first chapter outlines the theories and discusses some of their implications, the second and third look at methods of analysis and projective techniques, while the rest of the book is devoted to a critical presentation of the evidence, arranged according to the technique employed – rating, self-rating, objective testing, constitutional assessment, autonomic measurement, and so on. Today it can be read and enjoyed in its historical context.

Originally published in 1964, the aim of this book was to analyse the psychological processes involved in understanding personality, and to consider how the psychologist could help in making more accurate assessments. Professor Vernon discusses in detail the scientific status of psychoanalytic and other ‘depth’ theories of motivation, the value of different types of psychotherapeutic treatment and counselling, the influence of upbringing on the development of personality, and the effectiveness of projective techniques. He also examines the reasons for the highly variable results obtained with personality tests and questionnaires. As well as providing a balanced review of theories of personality and of various types of test, this work made a fresh contribution to developing improved techniques of assessment.

Psychological tests provide reliable and objective standards by which individuals can be evaluated in education and employment. Therefore accurate judgements must depend on the reliability and quality of the tests themselves. Originally published in 1986, this handbook by an internationally acknowledged expert provided an introductory and comprehensive treatment of the business of constructing good tests. Paul Kline shows how to construct a test and then to check that it is working well. Covering most kinds of tests, including computer presented tests of the time, Rasch scaling and tailored testing, this title offers: a clear introduction to this complex field; a glossary of specialist terms; an explanation of the objective of reliability; step-by-step guidance through the statistical procedures; a description of the techniques used in constructing and standardizing tests; guidelines with examples for writing the test items; computer programs for many of the techniques. Although the computer testing will inevitably have moved on, students on courses in occupational, educational and clinical psychology, as well as in psychological testing itself, would still find this a valuable source of information, guidance and clear explanation.

Originally published in 1953 this book provided the first comprehensive account of methods of personality assessment by a British author. It starts with a short survey of personality theory, pointing out the difficulties in any method of testing or assessment. Next it describes the weaknesses of the common interview method. (Throughout the emphasis is on methods which are usable in educational or vocational guidance and selection, not on methods which are mainly of scientific interest.) Thereafter it takes up each main type of technique – tests based on physique or psychological measures, on expressive movement such as gestures and handwriting, tests of behaviour (including War Office Selection Board ‘house party’ methods), ratings and rating scales, questionnaires, and so-called projective techniques. The evidence for or against each test or method is surveyed and numerous references provided for relevant literature. Illustrative excerpts are given of many of the more promising tests, and some pictorial illustrations. British work in this field at the time is covered completely, and an attempt is made to provide a fair summary of the main contributions of American and other psychologists of the day.

First published in 1973, The Psychology of Conservatism explores attitudes, their measurement, their structure and dynamics, and the personality traits apparently underlying attitude patterns. It examines the link between differing attitudes and discusses characteristic patterns and syndromes. The book focuses on the origins and dynamics of a major factor called "liberalism – conservatism" which is found to account for much of the variance in attitudes amongst different people. Contributors review previous studies relating to personality and attitude before engaging in new studies and proposing their own theories to explain the conservative attitude. The book introduces provocative theoretical ideas and provides a valuable examination of an important psychological and social attitude syndrome. This book will be of interest to researchers in personality and social psychology, sociology and political science and education.

Originally published in 1965 this book was an introduction to post-Freudian methods of diagnosing and treating neurotics of the time. These methods were known collectively as ‘behaviour therapy’, a term indicating their derivation from modern behaviourism, learning theory, and conditioning principles. In the early twentieth century John B. Watson pointed out that ‘psychology, as the behaviourist views it, is a purely objective experimental branch of natural science. Its theoretical goal is the prediction and control of behaviour.’ Behaviour therapy attempts to extend this control to the field of neurotic disorders, and in doing so it makes use of experimental laboratory findings, and of theories based on these. It was seen as the very opposite of the position taken by psychoanalysis. The authors believed that, by the late twentieth century, behaviour therapy would be ‘firmly established as one of the most important, if not the most important, weapon in the hands of psychiatrists and clinical psychologists’.