{"id":1177,"date":"2023-03-31T17:37:26","date_gmt":"2023-03-31T17:37:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontopsychology\/chapter\/learn-it-eysenck-personality-dimensions\/"},"modified":"2023-08-05T01:08:12","modified_gmt":"2023-08-05T01:08:12","slug":"learn-it-eysenck-personality-dimensions","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontopsychology\/chapter\/learn-it-eysenck-personality-dimensions\/","title":{"raw":"Personality Traits: Learn It 2\u2014Eysenck Personality Dimensions","rendered":"Personality Traits: Learn It 2\u2014Eysenck Personality Dimensions"},"content":{"raw":"
\r\n

Eysenck Personality Dimensions<\/h2>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"201\"]\"A Figure 1<\/strong>. Hans and Sybil Eysenck believed that our personality traits are influenced by our genetic inheritance. (credit: \"Sirswindon\"\/Wikimedia Commons)[\/caption]\r\n\r\nPsychologists Hans and Sybil Eysenck were personality theorists (Figure 1) who focused on temperament<\/strong>, the inborn, genetically based personality differences that you studied earlier in the module. They believed personality is largely governed by biology. The Eysencks (Eysenck, 1990, 1992; Eysenck & Eysenck, 1963) viewed people as having two specific personality dimensions: extroversion\/introversion<\/strong> and neuroticism\/stability<\/strong>.\r\n
<\/figure>\r\nAccording to their theory, people high on the trait of extroversion are sociable and outgoing, and readily connect with others, whereas people high on the trait of introversion have a higher need to be alone, engage in solitary behaviors, and limit their interactions with others. In the neuroticism\/stability dimension, people high on neuroticism tend to be anxious; they tend to have an overactive sympathetic nervous system and, even with low stress, their bodies and emotional state tend to go into a flight-or-fight reaction. In contrast, people high on stability tend to need more stimulation to activate their flight-or-fight reaction and are considered more emotionally stable.\r\n\r\nBased on these two dimensions, the Eysencks\u2019 theory divides people into four quadrants. These quadrants are sometimes compared with the four temperaments described by the Greeks: melancholic, choleric, phlegmatic, and sanguine (Figure 2).\r\n
\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"565\"]\"A Figure 2<\/strong>. The Eysencks described two factors to account for variations in our personalities: extroversion\/introversion and emotional stability\/instability.[\/caption]<\/figure>\r\nLater, the Eysencks added a third dimension: psychoticism versus superego control<\/strong> (Eysenck, Eysenck & Barrett, 1985). In this dimension, people who are high on psychoticism tend to be independent thinkers, cold, nonconformists, impulsive, antisocial, and hostile, whereas people who are high on superego control tend to have high impulse control\u2014they are more altruistic, empathetic, cooperative, and conventional (Eysenck, Eysenck & Barrett, 1985).\r\n\r\n
[ohm2_question height=\"300\"]11120[\/ohm2_question]<\/section>","rendered":"
\n

Eysenck Personality Dimensions<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
\"A
Figure 1<\/strong>. Hans and Sybil Eysenck believed that our personality traits are influenced by our genetic inheritance. (credit: “Sirswindon”\/Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Psychologists Hans and Sybil Eysenck were personality theorists (Figure 1) who focused on temperament<\/strong>, the inborn, genetically based personality differences that you studied earlier in the module. They believed personality is largely governed by biology. The Eysencks (Eysenck, 1990, 1992; Eysenck & Eysenck, 1963) viewed people as having two specific personality dimensions: extroversion\/introversion<\/strong> and neuroticism\/stability<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

According to their theory, people high on the trait of extroversion are sociable and outgoing, and readily connect with others, whereas people high on the trait of introversion have a higher need to be alone, engage in solitary behaviors, and limit their interactions with others. In the neuroticism\/stability dimension, people high on neuroticism tend to be anxious; they tend to have an overactive sympathetic nervous system and, even with low stress, their bodies and emotional state tend to go into a flight-or-fight reaction. In contrast, people high on stability tend to need more stimulation to activate their flight-or-fight reaction and are considered more emotionally stable.<\/p>\n

Based on these two dimensions, the Eysencks\u2019 theory divides people into four quadrants. These quadrants are sometimes compared with the four temperaments described by the Greeks: melancholic, choleric, phlegmatic, and sanguine (Figure 2).<\/p>\n

\n
\"A
Figure 2<\/strong>. The Eysencks described two factors to account for variations in our personalities: extroversion\/introversion and emotional stability\/instability.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n

Later, the Eysencks added a third dimension: psychoticism versus superego control<\/strong> (Eysenck, Eysenck & Barrett, 1985). In this dimension, people who are high on psychoticism tend to be independent thinkers, cold, nonconformists, impulsive, antisocial, and hostile, whereas people who are high on superego control tend to have high impulse control\u2014they are more altruistic, empathetic, cooperative, and conventional (Eysenck, Eysenck & Barrett, 1985).<\/p>\n