Hans Eysenck
German-born British psychologist of personality and individual differences
German-born British psychologist known for the extraversion and neuroticism dimensions of personality and for questioning the evidence for psychotherapy. King's College London later judged the published results of studies co-authored with Ronald Grossarth-Maticek unsafe.
Why this person matters
Eysenck proposed that personality varies along a few measurable dimensions and built questionnaires to measure them. His 1952 paper on psychotherapy outcomes started a long debate. He founded the psychology department at the Institute of Psychiatry in London and the journal Personality and Individual Differences.
Main contributions
Dimensions of personality
His 1947 book Dimensions of Personality described extraversion and neuroticism. Psychoticism was added in the late 1970s, developed with his wife Sybil Eysenck.
Personality questionnaires
He and colleagues built the Maudsley Medical Questionnaire and Maudsley Personality Inventory (manual 1959), then the Eysenck Personality Inventory and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire.
Challenge to psychotherapy
His 1952 paper, The Effects of Psychotherapy: An Evaluation, concluded that the available data failed to support the hypothesis that psychotherapy facilitates recovery from neurotic disorder.
Context and limits
Race, Intelligence and Education argued that genetic factors might contribute to racial differences in test scores; Sandra Scarr called it 'generally inflammatory'. Eysenck accepted funding from the Pioneer Fund, which sources describe as a controversial eugenics organisation. In 2019 a King's College London enquiry judged the published results of studies with Ronald Grossarth-Maticek unsafe. A 2023 committee reached the same view for the joint papers, and a 2025 update said publications relying on the same data should also be treated as unsafe.
In your introductory course
Personality.He appears in personality chapters for the extraversion and neuroticism dimensions and in therapy chapters for the debate on psychotherapy effectiveness.
Related course reading: Psychology 2e, section 11.7. This is course context rather than a biographical source.
Years of active work
- 1947
He published Dimensions of Personality.
- 1952
He published a paper questioning the evidence for the effectiveness of psychotherapy.
- 1955
He became professor of psychology at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, a post he held to 1983.
- 1971
He published Race, Intelligence and Education, which drew heavy criticism.
Sources
- King's College London, Hans Eysenck statementUniversity. Institutional biography inspected.
- New World Encyclopedia, Hans EysenckReference work. Reference article inspected.
- Wikipedia, Hans EysenckReference work. Reference article inspected.