Originally published in 1953, this third edition was first published in 1970. It was one of the early attempts at bringing together theories of personality organisation and finding empirical evidence to test their hypotheses. This third edition includes additional chapters and updated references to current research of the time. It is a particular feature of this book that a large number of figures are reproduced in the text; this is essentially a consequence of the writer’s belief that diagrammatic representations are better suited to the transmitting and remembering of information than are words or numbers. The first chapter outlines the theories and discusses some of their implications, the second and third look at methods of analysis and projective techniques, while the rest of the book is devoted to a critical presentation of the evidence, arranged according to the technique employed – rating, self-rating, objective testing, constitutional assessment, autonomic measurement, and so on. Today it can be read and enjoyed in its historical context.

When Crime and Personality was first published in 1964, J.A.C. Brown, writing in the New Statesman, commented: ‘There can be no doubt of the importance of Professor Eysenck’s book on the nature and treatment of criminal behaviour.’ This third edition, originally published in 1977, had been completely revised and brought up to date, and although the major theory linking personality and crime has been retained, many of the details have been changed in conformity with recent research of the time. The book presents a theory concerning the personality of criminals, and offers evidence to show that these personality features characterising criminals are based on genetic foundations. It is argued that criminality as a whole is not exclusively based on environmental factors as has so often been suggested, but has a strong biological basis. A good deal of evidence is reviewed showing that there are many data supporting this view, from studies of identical and fraternal twins, adopted children, and comparisons between criminals and non-criminals both in the Western world and in Communist countries. Professor Eysenck suggests that important consequences follow from such an attempt to redress the one-sided emphasis on environmental factors which had been so characteristic of the previous fifty years, and some of these consequences are described in detail. He further suggests that only proper understanding of the psychological factors making for antisocial behaviour will help in reversing the increasing burden that criminality places upon society. The book also takes issue with political arguments of the time regarding the origins of criminality, and shows that criminals behind the Iron Curtain show the same personality characteristics as do criminals in Western countries.

Originally published in 1969, this book deals extensively with the description and measurement of personality. Beginning with a statement of the principles of typological research in psychology, set against the background of general taxonomic principles in biology, the study discusses in detail results and generalisations from the Eysencks’ previous work. The second part of the book describes several large-scale studies using personality questionnaires prepared by the authors, as well as the standard ones of Cattell and Guilford. There is a comparative study of the Eysenck, Cattell and Guilford inventories, which analyses the degree to which similar factors can be found in these three instruments and discusses areas of agreement and disagreement between the three authors. The third part deals with personality studies in children, and includes a chapter on personality structure in subnormal subjects. These studies are concerned with discovering the extent to which personality structure changes with increasing age, and to what extent it is possible to measure personality in younger children. They also examine sex differences in personality structure, and show quite marked differences between the sexes on a number of primary personality traits. The results of the Eysencks’ work in this field directed new light on the structure of personality and cast doubt on many widely accepted findings of the time.

The fields of social behaviour and personality had for the most part been studied separately, originally published in 1986, this title was one of the first to consider them together. Social behaviours and contexts are analysed and distinctions are suggested. Social behaviours not previously seen as similar are linked. This a great opportunity to rediscover the work of Arnold Buss one of the greats in Social Psychology.

Originally published in 1960, the two volumes of Experiments in Personality report a number of experiments in psychogenetics, psychopharmacology, psychodiagnostics, psychometrics and psychodynamics, all of which formed part of the programme of research which had been developing from the late 1940s at the Maudsley Hospital. Presenting the studies together in a book, rather than the more usual route of journal articles, was itself felt to be an experiment at the time, especially given the wide area covered. The decision was deliberate because all the studies reported formed part of a larger whole, which would have been lost if published separately. Volume II looks at psychodiagnostics, psychodynamics and psychometrics.

Originally published in 1964, the aim of this book was to analyse the psychological processes involved in understanding personality, and to consider how the psychologist could help in making more accurate assessments. Professor Vernon discusses in detail the scientific status of psychoanalytic and other ‘depth’ theories of motivation, the value of different types of psychotherapeutic treatment and counselling, the influence of upbringing on the development of personality, and the effectiveness of projective techniques. He also examines the reasons for the highly variable results obtained with personality tests and questionnaires. As well as providing a balanced review of theories of personality and of various types of test, this work made a fresh contribution to developing improved techniques of assessment.

Originally published in 1988, in this personal review of the state of academic psychology, Paul Kline draws attention to the way in which his peers at the time studiously avoided such threatening matters as human feelings and emotions, unconscious ‘complexes’ – in short anything that could be called the human psyche. His erudite, amusing, and provocative text outlines the crucial influence of the development of scientific method before examining key experiments within cognitive psychology and cognitive science, psychometrics, social psychology, and animal behaviour. Is most of experimental psychology trivial, redundant, and irrelevant? The academic subject cannot continue to ignore its critics, he argued, and must solve its problems by means of radical solutions. Whether they support or refute Professor Kline’s arguments, students and professionals alike will still enjoy this original book.