ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses some of the contributions to personality study of theories which have come out of academic psychology, although obviously certain of these have themselves been influenced not only by experimental and statistical methods but by psychoanalysis and other “schools” of psychiatry as well. Some of the psychological theories stress mental elements and associationism, some the highly unique and individualized nature of the total personality. Many psychologists trained in the general tradition of English associationism, with its emphasis upon faculties of mind, have tended to study personality by breaking it down into component elements of one sort or another. The personalistic standpoint has much in common with a German school known as the “psychology of Verstehen,” which emphasizes the uniqueness, totality, and ineffability of the individual. In studying personality, G. W. Allport concerns himself especially with those features which he believes denote individuality, differentiation from others, self-consciousness, distinctive unifying themata, personal interests, wishes, and highly private values.
