On the Subjectivity of Personality Theory

Dados Bibliográficos

ID4804477
AutoresGeorge E Atwood (Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey), Silvan S Tomkin, Silvan S Tomkins (Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey)
Ano1976
Volume12
Fascículo2
Páginas166-177
Data de publicação1976-04-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0022-5061 • E-ISSN: 1520-6696
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/1520-6696(197604)12:2<166::aid-jhbs2300120208>3.0.co;2-y
PMID1029746
OpenAlexW2031207146
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas12

Every theorist of personality views the human condition from the unique perspective of his own individuality. As a consequence, personality theories are strongly influenced by personal and subjective factors. These influences are partially responsible for the present day lack of consensus in psychology as to basic conceptual frameworks for the study of man. The science of human personality can achieve a greater degree of consensus and generality only if it begins to turn back on itself and question its own psychological foundations. The role of subjective and personal factors in this field can be studied and made more explicit by means of a psychobiographical method which interprets the major ideas of personality theories in the light of the formative experiences in the respective theorists' lives. This method is briefly illustrated by an examination of the influence of personal experiences on theoretical concepts in the work of Carl Jung, Carl Rogers, Wilhelm Reich, and Gordon Allport. The subjective factors disclosed by psychobiographical analysis can bee seen to interact with influences stemming from the intellectual and historical context within which the theorist work. The psychobiographical study of personality theory is only one part of a larger discipline, the psychology of knowledge, which would study the role of subjective and personal factors in the structure of man's knowledge in general.

Context (archaeology) · Epistemology · Generality · Personality · Perspective (graphical) · Subjectivity · Academic and Historical Perspectives in Psychology · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology