Hans Eysenck's Personality Theories (continued)
DEFINITION OF PERSONALITY
Expanding on the definitions of Allport and Murray, Eysenck suggests that personality is:
The sum-total of the actual or potential behavior-patterns of the organism,
as determined by heredity and environment; it originates and develops through the functional
interaction of the four main sectors into which these behavior-patterns are organized: the
cognitive sector (intelligence), the conative sector (character), the affective sector
(temperament), and the somatic sector (constitution).
Eysenck calls attention to a statement to which many of the theorists would support by including the role of heredity and environment in this definition-that we are creatures of both inheritance and our experience. No theorist, however, with the possible exception of Cattell, has focused as much specific research effort on this proposition as Eysenck.
Eysenck's inclusion of the "somatic sector" underlines his interest in relating the behavoural aspects of personality to underlying physiological structure and function. Although like Sheldon he has given some attention to the relations between physique and personality, Eysenck's major effort has gone into probing the possible relations between observable behavior and the functioning of various parts of the brain.
