Michael William Eysenck ( ; born 8 February 1944) is a British academic

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...

, and is an Emeritus Professor in Psychology at

Royal Holloway, University of London Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It has six schools, 21 academic departm ...

. He also holds an appointment as Professorial Fellow at

Roehampton University The University of Roehampton, London, formerly Roehampton Institute of Higher Education, is a public university in the United Kingdom, situated on three major sites in Roehampton, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. Roehampton was formerly an e ...

. His research focuses on cognitive factors affecting

anxiety Anxiety is an emotion which is characterized by an unpleasant state of inner turmoil and includes feelings of dread over anticipated events. Anxiety is different than fear in that the former is defined as the anticipation of a future threat wh ...

. Eysenck has written and co-written many publications, including several textbooks. In the late 1990s, he developed the theory of the "

hedonic treadmill The hedonic treadmill, also known as hedonic adaptation, is the observed tendency of humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative events or life changes. According to this theory, as a perso ...

", stating that humans are predisposed by

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...

to plateau at a certain level of

happiness Happiness, in the context of Mental health, mental or emotional states, is positive or Pleasure, pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. Other forms include life satisfaction, well-being, subjective well-being, flourishin ...

, and that the occurrence of novel happy events merely elevates this level temporarily. He is the son of the noted psychologist

Hans Jürgen Eysenck Hans Jürgen Eysenck (; 4 March 1916 – 4 September 1997) was a German-born British psychologist who spent his professional career in Great Britain. He is best remembered for his work on intelligence and personality, although he worked on other ...

Research interests

Eysenck's research focuses mainly on cognitive factors associated with anxiety in normal and clinical populations. He has recently developed two new theories. First, there is attentional control theory (with Nazanin Derakshan, Rita Santos, and Manuel Calvo), which provides a cognitive account of the effects of anxiety on performance. Second, there is vigilance-avoidance theory (with Nazanin Derakshan and Lynn Myers), which provides a detailed theory of repressive coping. His current research with collaborators is designed to test these two theories in detail. Specific interests: Cognitive factors in anxiety, including clinical anxiety and implications for therapy. Memory functioning and attentional mechanisms. Personality and mood. Modular approaches to trait anxiety.

Career history

Eysenck was a Lecturer and then Reader in Psychology at

Birkbeck, University of London , mottoeng = Advice comes over nightTranslation used by Birkbeck. , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £4.3 m (2014) , budget = £10 ...

between 1965 and 1987. Between 1987 and 2009 he was Professor of Psychology at

and Head of Department there between 1987 and 2005, and is now Emeritus Professor and Honorary Fellow at

Royal Holloway Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It has six schools, 21 academic departm ...

. He has an additional appointment at Roehampton University that started in 2010. His main research area is anxiety and cognition, an area in which he has published approximately 100 journal articles and book chapters plus two research monographs. Overall, he has written 42 books, many of which are in the area of cognitive psychology, and have a grand total of over 200 publications

Portrait

There is a photographic portrait of Hans and Michael Eysenck in the National Portrait Gallery permanent collection, by

Anne-Katrin Purkiss Anne-Katrin Purkiss is a photographer, born in Karl-Marx-Stadt, Germany in 1959 and moving to Britain in 1984 after graduating from University of Leipzig in 1983. Her father Joachim Seyffarth (1928-2014) was a German curator of monuments and photog ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Eysenck, Michael British psychologists British people of German-Jewish descent Academics of the University of Roehampton 1944 births Living people People associated with The Institute for Cultural Research