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Hans Jürgen Eysenck ( ; 4 March 1916 – 4 September 1997) was a German-born British psychologist. He is best remembered for his work on
intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as t ...
and
personality Personality is any person's collection of interrelated behavioral, cognitive, and emotional patterns that comprise a person’s unique adjustment to life. These interrelated patterns are relatively stable, but can change over long time per ...
, although he worked on other issues in psychology. At the time of his death, Eysenck was the most frequently cited living psychologist in
peer-review Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...
ed
scientific journal In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication designed to further the progress of science by disseminating new research findings to the scientific community. These journals serve as a platform for researchers, schola ...
literature. Eysenck's research included claims that certain personality types had an elevated risk of
cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...
and
heart disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs constitute a class of diseases that includes: coronary artery diseases (e.g. angina pectoris, angina, myocardial infarction, heart attack), heart failure, ...
and research on IQ scores and race (first published in 1971), which were a significant source of controversy. Scholars have identified errors and suspected data manipulation in Eysenck's work, and large replications have failed to confirm the relationships that he purported to find. An enquiry on behalf of
King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...
found the papers by Eysenck coauthored with
Ronald Grossarth-Maticek Ronald Grossarth-Maticek (19 June 1940) is a German sociologist specializing in the field of medical sociology, working in the fields of psychosomatics, psycho-oncology and health promotion. He is the director of the Institute for Preventive Med ...
to be "incompatible with modern clinical science", with 26 of the joint papers considered suspect. Fourteen papers were retracted in 2020, and over 60 statements of concern were issued by scientific journals in 2020 about publications by Eysenck.
David Marks David Lee Marks (born August 22, 1948) is an American guitarist who was an early member of the Beach Boys. While growing up in Hawthorne, California, Marks was a neighborhood friend of the original band members and was a frequent participant at t ...
and Rod Buchanan, a biographer of Eysenck, have argued that 87 publications by Eysenck should be retracted.


Life

Eysenck was born in
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
, Germany. His mother was
Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...
n-born film star
Helga Molander Helga Molander (born Ruth Werner; 19 March 1896 – 1986), was a German actress and mother of Hans Eysenck. Life Helga Molander was born in Königshütte, Upper Silesia, then Germany, to Jewish parents. She began her artistic career in 1918 at ...
, and his father, Eduard Anton Eysenck, was an actor and nightclub entertainer who was once voted "handsomest man on the Baltic coast". His mother was Lutheran and his father was Catholic. Eysenck was brought up by his maternal grandmother who was a Jewish convert to Catholicism. Subjected to the
Nuremberg laws The Nuremberg Laws (, ) were antisemitic and racist laws that were enacted in Nazi Germany on 15 September 1935, at a special meeting of the Reichstag convened during the annual Nuremberg Rally of the Nazi Party. The two laws were the Law ...
, she was deported and died in a concentration camp.Eysenck, H. J., ''Rebel with a Cause (an Autobiography)'', London: W. H. Allen & Co., 1990 An initial move to England in the 1930s became permanent because of his opposition to the
Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
party and its persecutions. "My hatred of
Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
and the Nazis, and all they stood for, was so overwhelming that no argument could counter it." Because of his German citizenship, he was initially unable to gain employment, and he came close to being interned during the war. He received his PhD in 1940 from
University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...
(UCL) working in the Department of Psychology under the supervision of Professor Sir
Cyril Burt Sir Cyril Lodowic Burt, Fellow of the British Academy, FBA (3 March 1883 – 10 October 1971) was an English educational psychology, educational psychologist and geneticist who also made contributions to statistics. He is known for his studies o ...
, with whom he had a tumultuous professional relationship throughout his working life. Eysenck was Professor of Psychology at the
Institute of Psychiatry The Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) is a centre for mental health and neuroscience research, education and training in Europe. It is dedicated to understanding, preventing and treating mental illness, neurological co ...
,
King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...
, from 1955 to 1983. He was a major contributor to the modern scientific theory of personality and helped find treatment for mental illnesses. Eysenck also created and developed a distinctive dimensional model of personality structure based on empirical factor-analytic research, attempting to anchor these factors in biogenetic variation. In 1981, Eysenck became a founding member of the
World Cultural Council The World Cultural Council is an international organization whose goals are to promote cultural values, goodwill and philanthropy among individuals. The organization founded in 1982 and based in Mexico, has held a yearly award ceremony since 198 ...
. He was the founding editor of the international journal ''
Personality and Individual Differences ''Personality and Individual Differences'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published 16 times per year by Elsevier. It was established in 1980 by Pergamon Press and is the official journal of the International Society for the Study of Individ ...
'', and wrote about 80 books and more than 1,600 journal articles. With his first wife, Hans Eysenck had a son
Michael Eysenck Michael William Eysenck ( ; born 8 February 1944) is a British academic psychologist, and is an Emeritus Professor in Psychology at Royal Holloway, University of London. He also holds an appointment as Professorial Fellow at Roehampton Universit ...
, who is also a psychology professor. He had four children with his second wife, Sybil Eysenck: Gary, Connie, Kevin, and Darrin. Hans and Sybil Eysenck collaborated as psychologists for many years at the Institute of Psychiatry, University of London, as co-authors and researchers. Sybil Eysenck died in December 2020, and Hans Eysenck died of a brain tumour in a London hospice in 1997. He was an atheist. The Eysencks' home was at 10 Dorchester Drive, Herne Hill, London from 1960 until their respective deaths.


Views and their reception

Examples of publications in which Eysenck's views roused controversy include (chronologically): * A paper in the 1950s concluding that available data "fail to support the hypothesis that psychotherapy facilitates recovery from neurotic disorder". * A chapter in ''Uses and Abuses of Psychology'' (1953) entitled "What is wrong with psychoanalysis". * ''The Psychology of Politics'' (1954) * ''Race, Intelligence and Education'' (1971) (in the US: ''The IQ Argument''). * ''Sex, Violence and the Media'' (1978). * ''Astrology — Science or Superstition?'' (1982). * ''Decline and Fall of the Freudian Empire'' (1985). * ''Smoking, Personality and Stress'' (1991). Eysenck's attitude was summarised in his autobiography ''Rebel with a Cause'': "I always felt that a scientist owes the world only one thing, and that is the truth as he sees it. If the truth contradicts deeply held beliefs, that is too bad. Tact and diplomacy are fine in international relations, in politics, perhaps even in business; in science only one thing matters, and that is the facts." He was one of the signers of the Humanist Manifesto.


''The Psychology of Politics''

In this book, Eysenck suggests that political behavior may be analysed in terms of two independent dimensions: the traditional left-right distinction, and how 'tenderminded' or 'toughminded' a person is. Eysenck suggests that the latter is a result of a person's introversion or extraversion respectively. Colleagues critiqued the research that formed the basis of this book, on a number of grounds, including the following: * Eysenck claims that his findings can be applied to the
British middle class The social structure of the United Kingdom has historically been highly influenced by the concept of social class, which continues to affect British society today. British society, like its European neighbours and most societies in world history, ...
as a whole, but the people in his sample were far younger and better educated than the British middle class as a whole. * Supporters of different parties were recruited in different ways: Communists were recruited through party branches, fascists in an unspecified manner, and supporters of other parties by giving copies of the questionnaire to his students and telling them to apply it to friends and acquaintances. * Scores were obtained by applying the same weight to groups of different sizes. For example, the responses of 250 middle-class supporters of the
Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...
were given the same weight as those of 27 working-class Liberals. * Scores were rounded without explanation, in directions that supported Eysenck's theories.


Genetics, race and intelligence

Eysenck advocated a strong influence from
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 Augustinians, Augustinian ...
and race on IQ differences. Eysenck supported
Arthur Jensen Arthur Robert Jensen (August 24, 1923 – October 22, 2012) was an American psychologist and writer. He was a professor of educational psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. Jensen was known for his work in psychometrics an ...
's questioning of whether variation in IQ between racial groups was entirely environmental. In opposition to this position, Eysenck was punched in the face by a protester during a talk at the
London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...
. Eysenck also received bomb threats and threats to kill his young children. Eysenck claimed that the media had given people the misleading impression that his views were outside the mainstream scientific consensus. Eysenck cited '' The IQ Controversy, the Media and Public Policy'' as showing that there was majority support for all of the main contentions he had put forward, and further claimed that there was no real debate about the matter among relevant scientists.Eysenck, Hans J., ''Rebel with a Cause (an Autobiography)'', London: W. H. Allen & Co., 1990, pp. 289–291. Regarding this controversy, in 1988 S. A. Barnett described Eysenck as a "prolific popularizer" and he exemplified Eysenck's writings on this topic with two passages from his early 1970s books: Barnett quotes additional criticism of ''Race, Intelligence and Education'' from Sandra Scarr, who wrote in 1976 that Eysenck's book was "generally inflammatory" and that there "is something in this book to insult almost everyone except
WASPs A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...
and Jews." Scarr was equally critical of Eysenck's hypotheses, one of which was the supposition that slavery on plantations had selected African Americans as a less intelligent sub-sample of Africans. Scarr also criticised another statement of Eysenck on the alleged significantly lower IQs of Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Greek immigrants in the US relative to the populations in their country of origin. "Although Eysenck is careful to say that these are not established facts (because no IQ tests were given to the immigrants or nonimmigrants in question?") Scarr writes that the careful reader would conclude that "Eysenck admits that scientific evidence to date does not permit a clear choice of the genetic-differences interpretation of black inferiority on intelligence tests," whereas a "quick reading of the book, however, is sure to leave the reader believing that scientific evidence today strongly supports the conclusion that US blacks are genetically inferior to whites in IQ." Some of Eysenck's later work was funded by the
Pioneer Fund The Pioneer Fund is an American non-profit foundation established in 1937 "to advance the scientific study of heredity and human differences". The organization has been described as racist and white supremacist in nature. The Southern Pover ...
, an organization which promoted
scientific racism Scientific racism, sometimes termed biological racism, is the pseudoscience, pseudoscientific belief that the Human, human species is divided into biologically distinct taxa called "race (human categorization), races", and that empirical evi ...
.


Cancer-prone personality

Eysenck also received funding for consultation research via the New York legal firm Jacob & Medinger, which was acting on behalf of the tobacco industry. In a talk given in 1994 he mentioned that he asked Reynolds for funding to continue research. Asked what he felt about tobacco industry lawyers being involved in selecting scientists for research projects, he said that research should be judged on its quality, not on who paid for it, adding that he had not personally profited from the funds. According to ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' newspaper, Eysenck received more than £800,000 in this way. Eysenck conducted many studies making claims about the role of personality in cigarette smoking and disease, but he also said "I have no doubt, smoking is not a healthy habit." His article "Cancer, personality and stress: Prediction and prevention" defines Cancer-prone (Type C) personality. The science behind this claim has now come under public scrutiny in the 2019 King's College London enquiry (see below).


Genetics of personality

In 1951, Eysenck's first empirical study into the
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 Augustinians, Augustinian ...
of personality was published. It was an investigation carried out with his student and associate Donald Prell, from 1948 to 1951, in which identical (monozygotic) and fraternal (dizygotic) twins, ages 11 and 12, were tested for neuroticism. It is described in detail in an article published in the '' Journal of Mental Science''. Eysenck and Prell concluded: "The factor of neuroticism is not a statistical artifact, but constitutes a biological unit which is inherited as a whole....neurotic predisposition is to a large extent hereditarily determined."


Model of personality

The two personality dimensions
extraversion Extraversion and introversion are a central trait dimension in human personality theory. The terms were introduced into psychology by Carl Jung, though both the popular understanding and current psychological usage are not the same as Jung's ...
and
neuroticism Neuroticism is a personality trait associated with negative emotions. It is one of the Big Five traits. Individuals with high scores on neuroticism are more likely than average to experience such feelings as anxiety, worry, fear, anger, shame ...
were described in his 1947 book ''Dimensions of Personality''. It is common practice in personality psychology to refer to the dimensions by the first letters, E and N. E and N provided a two-dimensional space to describe individual differences in behaviour. Eysenck noted how these two dimensions were similar to the four personality types first proposed by the Greek physician
Galen Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus (; September 129 – AD), often Anglicization, anglicized as Galen () or Galen of Pergamon, was a Ancient Rome, Roman and Greeks, Greek physician, surgeon, and Philosophy, philosopher. Considered to be one o ...
. * High N and high E = Choleric type * High N and low E = Melancholic type * Low N and high E = Sanguine type * Low N and low E = Phlegmatic type The third dimension,
psychoticism Psychoticism is one of the three traits used by the psychologist Hans Eysenck in his outdated P–E–N model ( psychoticism, extraversion and neuroticism) model of personality. Psychoticism includes the traits of "aggression, coldness, egocentris ...
, was added to the model in the late 1970s, based upon collaborations between Eysenck and his wife, Sybil B. G. Eysenck.H. J. Eysenck and S. B. G. Eysenck (1976). ''Psychoticism as a Dimension of Personality''. London: Hodder & Stoughton. Eysenck's model attempted to provide detailed theory of the causes of personality. For example, Eysenck proposed that extraversion was caused by variability in cortical arousal: "introverts are characterized by higher levels of activity than extraverts and so are chronically more cortically aroused than extraverts". Similarly, Eysenck proposed that location within the neuroticism dimension was determined by individual differences in the
limbic system The limbic system, also known as the paleomammalian cortex, is a set of brain structures located on both sides of the thalamus, immediately beneath the medial temporal lobe of the cerebrum primarily in the forebrain.Schacter, Daniel L. 2012. ''P ...
. While it seems counterintuitive to suppose that introverts are ''more'' aroused than extraverts, the putative effect this has on behaviour is such that the introvert seeks lower levels of stimulation. Conversely, the extravert seeks to heighten his or her arousal to a more favourable level (as predicted by the Yerkes-Dodson Law) by increased activity, social engagement and other stimulation-seeking behaviours.


Comparison with other theories

Jeffrey Alan Gray Jeffrey Alan Gray (26 May 1934 – 30 April 2004) was a British research psychologist. He is known for his Gray's biopsychological theory of personality, biopsychological theory of personality. He is also notable for his contributions to the ...
, a former student of Eysenck's, developed a comprehensive alternative theoretical interpretation (called Gray's biopsychological theory of personality) of the biological and psychological data studied by Eysenck – leaning more heavily on animal and learning models. Currently, the most widely used model of personality is the Big Five model. The purported traits in the Big Five model are as follows: #Conscientiousness #Agreeableness #Neuroticism #Openness to experience #Extraversion Extraversion and neuroticism in the Big Five are very similar to Eysenck's traits of the same name. However, what he calls the trait of psychoticism corresponds to two traits in the Big Five model: conscientiousness and agreeableness (Goldberg & Rosalack 1994). Eysenck's personality system did not address openness to experience. He argued that his approach was a better description of personality.


Psychometric scales

Eysenck's theory of personality is closely linked with the psychometric scales that he and his co-workers constructed.Furnham, A., Eysenck, S. B. G., & Saklofske, D. H. (2008). The Eysenck personality measures: Fifty years of scale development. In G.J. Boyle, G. Matthews, & D.H. Saklofske. (Eds.), ''The SAGE Handbook of Personality Theory and Assessment: Vol. 2 – Personality Measurement and Testing'' (pp. 199-218). Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publishers. These included the Maudsley Personality Inventory (MPI), the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI), the
Eysenck Personality Questionnaire In psychology, the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) is a questionnaire to assess the personality traits of a person. It was devised by psychologists Hans Jürgen Eysenck and Sybil B. G. Eysenck. Hans Eysenck's theory is based primarily on ...
(EPQ), as well as the revised version (EPQ-R) and its corresponding short-form (EPQ-R-S). The Eysenck Personality Profiler (EPP) breaks down different facets of each trait considered in the model. There has been some debate about whether these facets should include impulsivity as a facet of
extraversion Extraversion and introversion are a central trait dimension in human personality theory. The terms were introduced into psychology by Carl Jung, though both the popular understanding and current psychological usage are not the same as Jung's ...
as Eysenck declared in his early work, or of
psychoticism Psychoticism is one of the three traits used by the psychologist Hans Eysenck in his outdated P–E–N model ( psychoticism, extraversion and neuroticism) model of personality. Psychoticism includes the traits of "aggression, coldness, egocentris ...
, as he declared in his later work.


Publication in far right-wing press

Eysenck was accused of being a supporter of political causes on the extreme right. Connecting arguments were that Eysenck had articles published in the German newspaper '' National-Zeitung'', which called him a contributor, and in '' Nation und Europa'', and that he wrote the preface to a book by a far-right French writer named Pierre Krebs, ''Das unvergängliche Erbe'', that was published by Krebs' Thule Seminar. Linguist interpreted the preface to Krebs' book as having "railed against the equality of people, presenting it as an untenable ideological doctrine." In the ''National Zeitung'' Eysenck reproached
Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies seen as originating fro ...
for alleged trickiness and lack of frankness.Siegfried Jäger.
Der Singer-Diskurs sowie einige Bemerkungen zu seiner Funktion für die Stärkung rassistischer und rechtsextremer Diskurse in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
. First appeared in Siegfried Jäger and (1991). ''Von Menschen und Schweinen. Der Singer-Diskurs und seine Funktion für den Neo-Rassismus''. Duisburg: Diss-Texte Nr. 13. p. 7-30. . Quotation: "Eysenck stellt sich zudem rückhaltlos hinter rechtsextreme Theorie-Zirkel wie z.B. das Kasseler Thule-Seminar. Zu dem von dessen Leiter herausgegebenen Buch mit dem Titel "Das unvergängliche Erbe" verfaßte er das Vorwort, in dem er gegen die Gleichheit der Menschen wettert, indem er sie als "unhaltbare ideologische Doktrin" abtut. (in Krebs 1981, S. 12)"
Other incidents that fuelled Eysenck's critics like
Michael Billig Michael Billig (born 1947) is a British academic. He is Emeritus Professor of Social Sciences at Loughborough University, working principally in contemporary social psychology although much of his work crosses disciplinary boundaries in the social ...
and
Steven Rose Steven Peter Russell Rose (born 4 July 1938) is an English neuroscientist, author, and social commentator. He is an emeritus professor of biology and neurobiology at the Open University and Gresham College, London. Early life Born in London, U ...
include the appearance of Eysenck's books on the UK National Front's list of recommended readings and an interview with Eysenck published by National Front's ''Beacon'' (1977) and later republished in the US neo-fascist ''Steppingstones''; a similar interview had been published a year before by '' Neue Anthropologie'', described by Eysenck's biographer Roderick Buchanan as a "sister publication to ''
Mankind Quarterly ''Mankind Quarterly'' is a pseudoscientific journal that covers physical and cultural anthropology, including human evolution, intelligence, ethnography, linguistics, mythology, archaeology, and biology. It has been described as a "cornersto ...
'', having similar contributors and sometimes sharing the same articles." Eysenck also wrote an introduction for Roger Pearson's ''Race, Intelligence and Bias in Academe''. In this introduction to Pearson's book, Eysenck retorts that his critics are "the scattered troops" of the
New Left The New Left was a broad political movement that emerged from the counterculture of the 1960s and continued through the 1970s. It consisted of activists in the Western world who, in reaction to the era's liberal establishment, campaigned for freer ...
, who have adopted the "psychology of the fascists". Eysenck's book ''The Inequality of Man'', translated in French as ''L'Inegalite de l'homme'', was published by GRECE's publishing house, Éditions Corpernic. In 1974, Eysenck became a member of the academic advisory council of ''
Mankind Quarterly ''Mankind Quarterly'' is a pseudoscientific journal that covers physical and cultural anthropology, including human evolution, intelligence, ethnography, linguistics, mythology, archaeology, and biology. It has been described as a "cornersto ...
'', joining those associated with the journal in attempting to reinvent it as a more mainstream academic vehicle. referring to Billig asserts that in the same year Eysenck also became a member of the ''comité de patronage'' of GRECE's '' Nouvelle École''. Remarking on Eysenck's alleged right-wing connections, Buchanan writes: "For those looking to thoroughly demonize Eysenck, his links with far right groups revealed his true political sympathies." According to Buchanan, these harsh critics interpreted Eysenck's writings as "overtly racist". Furthermore, Buchanan writes that Eysenck's fiercest critics were convinced that Eysenck was "willfully misrepresenting a dark political agenda". Buchanan argued that "There appeared to be no hidden agenda to Hans Eysenck. He was too self-absorbed, too preoccupied with his own aspirations as a great scientist to harbor specific political aims." As Buchanan commented: According to Buchanan, Eysenck believed that the quality of his research would "help temper social wrongs and excesses". Eysenck's defence was that he did not shy away from publishing or being interviewed in controversial publications, and that he did not necessarily share their editorial viewpoint. As examples, Buchanan mentions contributions by Eysenck to pornographic magazines ''
Mayfair Mayfair is an area of Westminster, London, England, in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. It is between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane and one of the most expensive districts ...
'' and '' Penthouse''. Eysenck described his views in the introduction to ''Race, Education and Intelligence'':


Parapsychology and astrology

Eysenck believed that empirical evidence supported
parapsychology Parapsychology is the study of alleged psychic phenomena (extrasensory perception, telepathy, teleportation, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis (also called telekinesis), and psychometry (paranormal), psychometry) and other paranormal cla ...
and
astrology Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions ...
.Eysenck, H. J. (1957), ''Sense and Nonsense in Psychology''. London: Pelican Books. p. 131.Eysenck & Sargent (2nd edition, 1993), ''Explaining the Unexplained''. London: BCA, No ISBN. Preface & ff. He was criticised by scientific skeptics for endorsing
fringe science Fringe science refers to ideas whose attributes include being highly speculative or relying on premises already Objection (argument), refuted. The chance of ideas rejected by editors and published outside the mainstream being correct is remote. Wh ...
. Henry Gordon for example stated that Eysenck's viewpoint was "incredibly naive" because many of the parapsychology experiments he cited as evidence contained serious problems and were never replicated. Magician and skeptic
James Randi James Randi (born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge; August 7, 1928 – October 20, 2020) was a Canadian-American stage magician, author, and scientific skeptic who extensively challenged paranormal and pseudoscientific claims.#Rodrigues, Rodrig ...
noted that Eysenck had supported fraudulent psychics as genuine and had not mentioned their
sleight of hand Sleight of hand (also known as prestidigitation or ''legerdemain'' () comprises fine motor skills used by performing artists in different art forms to entertain or manipulate. It is closely associated with close-up magic, card magic, card fl ...
. According to Randi, he had given "a totally-one sided view of the subject". In 1983, Eysenck and
Carl Sargent Carl Lynwood Sargent (11 December 1952 – 12 September 2018) was a British parapsychologist and author of several roleplaying game-based products and novels, who used the pen name Keith Martin to write '' Fighting Fantasy'' gamebooks. Early li ...
published their book ''Know Your Own Psi-IQ'', which was designed to test readers'
extrasensory perception Extrasensory perception (ESP), also known as a sixth sense, or cryptaesthesia, is a claimed paranormal ability pertaining to reception of information not gained through the recognized physical senses, but sensed with the mind. The term was ad ...
abilities. According to Randi, "the authors instead gave users a highly biased procedure that would make experiments meaningless and certainly discourage further investigation by the amateur."


Later work

In 1994, he was one of 52 signatories on " Mainstream Science on Intelligence",Gottfredson, Linda (13 December 1994). Mainstream Science on Intelligence. ''
Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'', p. A18.
an editorial written by Linda Gottfredson and published in ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'', which described the consensus of the signing scholars on issues related to intelligence research following the publication of the book ''
The Bell Curve ''The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life'' is a 1994 book by the psychologist Richard J. Herrnstein and the political scientist Charles Murray in which the authors argue that human intelligence is substantially influe ...
''. Eysenck included the entire editorial in his 1998 book ''Intelligence: A New Look''.


Posthumous reevaluation

Eysenck's work has undergone reevaluation since his death. Psychologist Donald R. Peterson noted in letters written in 1995 and published in 2005 that years earlier he had stopped trusting Eysenck's work after he tried to replicate a study done in Eysenck's lab and concluded that the results of the original study must have been "either concocted or cooked".


2019 King's College London enquiry

In 2019 the psychiatrist Anthony Pelosi, writing for the ''
Journal of Health Psychology The ''Journal of Health Psychology'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering all aspects of health psychology. The editors-in-chief are Rachel Annunziato (Fordham University), Abigail Locke (Keele University), and Gareth Treharne (University o ...
'', described Eysenck's work as unsafe. Pelosi described some of Eysenck's work as leading to "one of the worst scientific scandals of all time", with "what must be the most astonishing series of findings ever published in the
peer-review Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...
ed scientific literature" and "
effect size In statistics, an effect size is a value measuring the strength of the relationship between two variables in a population, or a sample-based estimate of that quantity. It can refer to the value of a statistic calculated from a sample of data, the ...
s that have never otherwise been encountered in biomedical research." Pelosi cited 23 "serious criticisms" of Eysenck's work that had been published independently by multiple authors between 1991 and 1997, noting that these had never been investigated "by any appropriate authority" at that time. The reportedly fraudulent papers covered the links between personality and
cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...
. Grossarth and Eysenck claimed the existence of a "cancer prone personality" were supposed to have a risk of dying of cancer 121 times greater than controls, when exposed to the
carcinogen A carcinogen () is any agent that promotes the development of cancer. Carcinogens can include synthetic chemicals, naturally occurring substances, physical agents such as ionizing and non-ionizing radiation, and biologic agents such as viruse ...
physical factor tobacco smoking. Bosely (2019): The "heart disease-prone personality" exposed to physical risk factors is asserted to have 27 times the risk of dying of heart disease as controls. Pelosi concluded "I honestly believe, having read it so carefully and tried to find alternative interpretations, that this is fraudulent work." Pelosi's writing prompted additional analysis from other academics and journalists. Citing Pelosi, psychologist David F. Marks wrote an open letter (also published in the ''Journal of Health Psychology'') calling for the retraction or correction of 61 additional papers by Eysenck. In 2019, 26 of Eysenck's papers (all coauthored with
Ronald Grossarth-Maticek Ronald Grossarth-Maticek (19 June 1940) is a German sociologist specializing in the field of medical sociology, working in the fields of psychosomatics, psycho-oncology and health promotion. He is the director of the Institute for Preventive Med ...
) were "considered unsafe" by an enquiry on behalf of
King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...
. It concluded that these publications describing experimental or observational studies were unsafe. It decided that the editors of the 11 journals in which these studies appeared should be informed of their decision. All of the 26 papers were cited in Marks' open letter. The publications under discussion were criticized, among other things, for the reason that Eysenck's research work was partly financed by the tobacco industry and he therefore may have had an interest to show an association between personality and cancer (instead of an association of smoking and cancer). Eysenck said in 1990, "Note that I have never stated that cigarette smoking is not causally related to cancer and coronary heart disease; to deny such a relationship would be irresponsible and counter to the evidence. I have merely stated that the available evidence is insufficient to ''prove'' a causal relationship, and this I believe to be true." In his statement at the time, Eysenck failed to take into account the highly addictive effect of
nicotine Nicotine is a natural product, naturally produced alkaloid in the nightshade family of plants (most predominantly in tobacco and ''Duboisia hopwoodii'') and is widely used recreational drug use, recreationally as a stimulant and anxiolytic. As ...
, which was only later clearly proven by
neurophysiological Neurophysiology is a branch of physiology and neuroscience concerned with the functions of the nervous system and their mechanisms. The term ''neurophysiology'' originates from the Greek word ''νεῦρον'' ("nerve") and ''physiology'' (whic ...
studies. Grossarth emphasized that the development of disease is often multicausal, whereby the factors reinforce each other in their effect, and he explicitly speaks of
behavior Behavior (American English) or behaviour (British English) is the range of actions of Individual, individuals, organisms, systems or Artificial intelligence, artificial entities in some environment. These systems can include other systems or or ...
al characteristics that may ''change'' due to psychological intervention. Grossarth emphasises their changeability through
cognitive behavioral therapy Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of psychotherapy that aims to reduce symptoms of various mental health conditions, primarily depression, PTSD, and anxiety disorders. Cognitive behavioral therapy focuses on challenging and chang ...
in his intervention studies. Noting that Eysenck died many years ago and cannot defend himself, Grossarth-Maticek wrote a rebuttal and announced legal actions. Following the King's College London enquiry the ''International Journal of Sport Psychology'' retracted a paper that was coauthored by Eysenck in 1990. Later, 13 additional papers were retracted. As of the end of 2020, there had been fourteen retractions and seventy-one expressions of concern on papers from as far back as 1946. Some of these are early papers having nothing to do with health and the King's College enquiry "did not specifically name the articles this expression of concern relates to as problematic".


Portraits

There are five portraits of Eysenck in the permanent collection of the
National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London that houses a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. When it opened in 1856, it was arguably the first national public gallery in the world th ...
, including photographs by
Anne-Katrin Purkiss Anne-Katrin Purkiss is a photographer, born in Chemnitz (Karl-Marx-Stadt), East 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 mon ...
and Elliott and Fry.


Biographies

* , review in: * * *


Works


Books

* ''Dimensions of Personality'' (1947) * ''The Scientific Study of Personality'' (1952) * ''The Structure of Human Personality'' (1952) and later editions * ''Uses and Abuses of Psychology'' (1953) * ''The Psychology of Politics'' (1954) * ''Psychology and the Foundations of Psychiatry'' (1955) * ''Sense and Nonsense in Psychology'' (1956) * ''The Dynamics of Anxiety and Hysteria'' (1957) * ''Perceptual Processes and Mental Illnesses'' (1957) with G. Granger and J. C. Brengelmann * ''Manual of the Maudsley Personality Inventory'' (1959) * ''Know Your Own I.Q.'' (1962) * ''Crime and Personality'' (1964) and later editions * ''Manual of the Eysenck Personality Inventory'' (1964) with S. B. G. Eysenck * ''The Causes and Cures of Neuroses'' (1965) with S. Rachman * ''Fact and Fiction in Psychology'' (1965) * ''Smoking, Health and Personality'' (1965) * ''Check Your Own I.Q.'' (1966) * ''The Effects of Psychotherapy'' (1966) * ''The Biological Basis of Personality'' (1967) * Eysenck, H. J. & Eysenck, S. B. G. (1969). ''Personality Structure and Measurement''. London: Routledge. * ''Readings in Extraversion/Introversion'' (1971) three volumes * ''Race, Intelligence and Education'' (1971) in US as ''The IQ Argument'' * ''Psychology is about People'' (1972) * ''Lexicon de Psychologie'' (1972) three volumes, with W. Arnold and R. Meili * ''The Inequality of Man'' (1973). German translation ''Die Ungleichheit der Menschen''. Munich: Goldman. 1978. With an introduction by Eysenck. * * * ''Manual of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire'' (1975) with S. B. G. Eysenck * * ''Sex and Personality'' (1976) * Eysenck, H. J. & Eysenck, S. B. G. (1976). ''Psychoticism as a Dimension of Personality''. London: Hodder and Stoughton. * ''Reminiscence, Motivation and Personality'' (1977) with C. D. Frith * ''You and Neurosis'' (1977) * ''Die Zukunft der Psychologie'' (1977) * * ''The Structure and Measurement of Intelligence'' (1979) * * ''The Causes and Effects of Smoking'' (1980) * ''Mindwatching'' (1981) with M. W. Eysenck, and later editions * ''The Battle for the Mind'' (1981) with L. J. Kamin, in US as ''The Intelligence Controversy'' * ''Personality, Genetics and Behaviour'' (1982) * ''Explaining the Unexplained'' (1982, 2nd edition 1993) with
Carl Sargent Carl Lynwood Sargent (11 December 1952 – 12 September 2018) was a British parapsychologist and author of several roleplaying game-based products and novels, who used the pen name Keith Martin to write '' Fighting Fantasy'' gamebooks. Early li ...
* H. J. Eysenck & D. K. B. Nias, ''Astrology: Science or Superstition?'' Penguin Books (1982), * ''Know Your Own Psi-Q'' (1983) with
Carl Sargent Carl Lynwood Sargent (11 December 1952 – 12 September 2018) was a British parapsychologist and author of several roleplaying game-based products and novels, who used the pen name Keith Martin to write '' Fighting Fantasy'' gamebooks. Early li ...
* ''…'I Do'. Your Happy Guide to Marriage'' (1983) with B. N. Kelly. * ''Personality and Individual Differences: A Natural Science Approach'' (1985) with M. W. Eysenck * ''
Decline and Fall of the Freudian Empire ''Decline and Fall of the Freudian Empire'' (1985; second edition 2004) is a book by the psychologist Hans Eysenck, in which the author criticizes Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis. Eysenck argues that psychoanalysis is unscientific. T ...
'' (1985) * ''Rauchen und Gesundheit'' (1987) * ''The Causes and Cures of Criminality'' (1989) with G. H. Gudjonsson * ''Genes, Culture and Personality: An Empirical Approach'' (1989) with L. Eaves and N. Martin * ''Mindwatching'' (1989) with M. W. Eysenck. Prion, * ''Genius: The natural history of creativity'' (1995). Cambridge University Press, * ''Intelligence: A New Look'' (1998)


Edited books

* ''Handbook of Abnormal Psychology'' (1960), later editions * ''Experiments in Personality'' (1960) two volumes * ''Behaviour Therapy and Neuroses'' (1960) * ''Experiments with Drugs'' (1963) * ''Experiments in Motivation'' (1964) * ''Eysenck on Extraversion'' (1973) * ''The Measurement of Intelligence'' (1973) * ''Case Histories in Behaviour Therapy'' (1974) * ''The Measurement of Personality'' (1976) * * ''A Model for Personality'' (1981) * ''A Model for Intelligence'' (1982) * ''Suggestion and Suggestibility'' (1989) with V. A. Gheorghiu, P. Netter, and R. Rosenthal * ''Personality Dimensions and Arousal'' (1987) with J. Strelau * ''Theoretical Foundations of Behaviour Therapy'' (1988) with I. Martin


Other

*Preface to Pierre Krebs. ''Das Unverganglich Erbe''


See also

* Biological basis of personality * EPQ *
Scientific racism Scientific racism, sometimes termed biological racism, is the pseudoscience, pseudoscientific belief that the Human, human species is divided into biologically distinct taxa called "race (human categorization), races", and that empirical evi ...


References


Further reading

*


External links

* Hans Eysenck: (St Göran lecture, 1980). {{DEFAULTSORT:Eysenck, Hans 1916 births 1997 deaths 20th-century British psychologists Academics of King's College London Alumni of University College London Neurological disease deaths in England Deaths from brain cancer in England Founding members of the World Cultural Council German emigrants to the United Kingdom German people of Jewish descent Mental health professionals Intelligence researchers Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom British parapsychologists British people of German-Jewish descent Scientists from Berlin Personality trait theorists People involved in race and intelligence controversies Proponents of scientific racism