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ON THE SUBJECTIVITY OF PERSONALITY THEORY
Author(s) -
Atwood George E.,
Tomkins Silvan S.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
journal of the history of the behavioral sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.216
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1520-6696
pISSN - 0022-5061
DOI - 10.1002/1520-6696(197604)12:2<166::aid-jhbs2300120208>3.0.co;2-y
Subject(s) - personality , psychology , subjectivity , epistemology , generality , perspective (graphical) , context (archaeology) , social psychology , philosophy , paleontology , artificial intelligence , computer science , psychotherapist , biology
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 expeperiences 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 be seen to interact with influences stemming from the intellectual and historical context within which the theorist works. 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.