The Psychology Book (10 page)

theology and philosophy at

chat with strangers, and taking

Copenhagen University. When he

long carriage rides alone into

came into a sizeable inheritance,

the countryside.

he decided to devote his life to

Kierkegaard collapsed in

philosophy, but ultimately this left

the street on October 2, 1855,

him dissatisfied. “What I really

and died on November 11 in

need to do,” he said, “is to get

Friedrich’s Hospital, Copenhagen.

clear about what I am to do, not

what I must know.” In 1840, he

Key works

became engaged to Regine Olsen,

but broke off the engagement,

1843
Fear and Trembling

saying that he was unsuited to

1843
Either/Or

marriage. His general state of

1844
The Concept of Anxiety

melancholy had a profound effect

1849
The Sickness Unto Death

28

PERSONALITY

IS COMPOSED

OF NATURE

AND NURTURE

FRANCIS GALTON (1822–1911)

IN CONTEXT

Personality is composed of elements from

two different sources
.

APPROACH

Bio-psychology

BEFORE

Nurture
is that which is experienced

1690
British philosopher John

from birth onward.

Locke proposes that the mind

of every child is a tabula rasa,

Nature
is that

or blank slate, and hence we

which is inborn and

are all born equal.

inherited, and…

We can improve our skills and

1859
Biologist Charles Darwin

abilities through
training and

suggests that all human

learning
, but…

development is the result of

adaptation to the environment.

1890
William James claims

…nature
sets the limits
to how far we

that people have genetically

can develop our talents.

inherited individual

tendencies, or “instincts.”

AFTER

Nature and nurture both play a part, but
nature is the

1925
Behaviorist John B.

determining factor
.

Watson says there is “no

such thing as inheritance of

capacity, talent, temperament,

to identify “nature” and “nurture”

or mental constitution”.

as two separate influences whose

1940s
Nazi Germany seeks to

F
rancis Galton counted many

gifted individuals among

his relatives, including the

effects could be measured and

create a “master Aryan race”

evolutionary biologist Charles

compared, maintaining that these

through eugenics.

Darwin. So it’s not surprising that

two elements alone were responsible

Galton was interested in the extent

for determining personality. In 1869,

to which abilities are either inborn

he used his own family tree, as well

or learned. He was the first person

as those of “judges, statesmen,

PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS 29

See also:
John B. Watson 66–71 ■ Zing-Yang Kuo 75 ■ G. Stanley Hall 46–47 ■

Eleanor E. Maccoby 284–85 ■ Raymond Cattell 314–15

defective nurture.” Intelligence, he

says, is inherited, but must be

fostered through education.

In 1875, Galton undertook a

study of 159 pairs of twins. He

found that they did not follow the

Characteristics cling

“normal” distribution of similarity

to families.

between siblings, in which they are

Francis Galton

moderately alike, but were always

extremely similar or extremely

dissimilar. What really surprised

Francis Galton

him was that the degree of similarity

never changed over time. He had

Sir Francis Galton was a

polymath who wrote prolifically

anticipated that a shared upbringing

on many subjects, including

commanders, scientists, literary

would lessen dissimilarity between

anthropology, criminology

men… diviners, oarsmen, and

twins as they grew up, but found

(classifying fingerprints),

wrestlers,” to research inherited

that this was not the case. Nurture

geography, meteorology,

traits for his book
Hereditary

seemed to play no role at all.

biology, and psychology. Born

Genius
. As predicted, he found

The “nature–nurture debate”

in Birmingham, England, into a

more highly talented individuals in

continues to this day. Some people

wealthy Quaker family, he was

certain families than among the

have favored Galton’s theories,

a child prodigy, able to read

general population. However, he

including his notion—now known

from the age of two. He

could not safely attribute this to

as eugenics—that people could

studied medicine in London

nature alone, as there were also

be “bred” like horses to promote

and Birmingham, then

conferred benefits from growing up

certain characteristics. Others have

mathematics at Cambridge,

in a privileged home environment.

preferred to believe that every baby

but his study was cut short by

Galton himself grew up in a wealthy

is a tabula rasa, or “blank slate,”

a mental breakdown, worsened

household with access to unusually

and we are all born equal. Most

by his father’s death in 1844.

Galton turned to traveling

good educational resources.

psychologists today recognize that

and inventing. His marriage

nature and nurture are both crucially

in 1853 to Louisa Jane Butler

A necessary balance

important in human development,

lasted 43 years, but was

Galton proposed a number of other

and interact in complex ways. ■

childless. He devoted his life

studies, including the first large

to measuring physical and

survey by questionnaire, which was

psychological characteristics,

sent out to members of the Royal

devising mental tests, and

Society to inquire about their

writing. He received many

interests and affiliations. Publishing

awards and honors in

his results in
English Men of Science
,

recognition of his numerous

he claimed that where nature and

achievements, including

nurture are forced to compete, nature

several honorary degrees

triumphs. External influences can

and a knighthood.

make an impression, he says, but

Key works

nothing can “efface the deeper marks

of individual character.” However, he

Galton’s study of twins
looked for

1869
Hereditary Genius

insists that both nature and nurture

resemblances in many ways, including

1874
English Men of Science:

are essential in forming personality,

height, weight, hair and eye color, and

Their Nature and Nurture

since even the highest natural

disposition. Handwriting was the only

1875
The History of Twins

endowments may be “starved by

aspect in which twins always differed.

30

THE LAWS OF

HYSTERIA ARE

UNIVERSAL

JEAN-MARTIN CHARCOT (1825–1893)

IN CONTEXT

APPROACH

K
nown as the founder of Charcot suggested that hysteria’s

modern neurology, French

similarity to a physical disease

physician Jean-Martin

warranted a search for a biological

Charcot was interested in the

cause, but his contemporaries

Neurological science

relationship between psychology

dismissed his ideas. Some even

and physiology. During the 1860s

believed that Charcot’s “hysterics”

BEFORE

and 1870s, he studied “hysteria,” a

were merely acting out behavior

1900 BCE
The Egyptian Kahun

term then used to describe extreme

that Charcot had suggested to

Papyrus recounts behaviorial

emotional behavior in women,

them. But one student of Charcot,

disturbances in women caused

thought to be caused by problems

Sigmund Freud, was convinced

by a “wandering uterus.”

with the uterus (
hystera
in Greek).

of hysteria’s status as a physical

c.400 BCE
Greek physician

Symptoms included excessive

illness, and was intrigued by it. It is

Hippocrates invents the term

laughing or crying, wild bodily

the first disease Freud describes

“hysteria” for certain women’s

movements and contortions,

in his theory of psychoanalysis. ■

illnesses in his book,
On the

fainting, paralysis, convulsions, and

Diseases of Women
.

temporary blindness and deafness.

From observing thousands of

1662
English physician

cases of hysteria at the Salpêtrière

Thomas Willis performs

Hospital in Paris, Charcot defined

autopsies on “hysterical”

“The Laws of Hysteria,” believing

women, and finds no sign

that he understood the disease

of uterine pathology.

completely. He claimed that hysteria

was a lifelong, inherited condition

AFTER

and its symptoms were triggered

1883
Alfred Binet joins

by shock. In 1882, Charcot stated:

Charcot at the Salpêtrière

“In the [hysterical] fit… everything

Hospital in Paris, and later

Charcot gave lectures
on hysteria

unfolds according to the rules, which

at the Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris.

writes about Charcot’s use of

are always the same; they are valid

He believed hysteria always followed

hypnotism to treat hysteria.

for all countries, for all epochs, for all

ordered, clearly structured phases, and

1895
Sigmund Freud, a

races, and are, in short, universal.”

could be cured by hypnotism.

former student of Charcot,

See also:
Alfred Binet 50–53 ■ Pierre Janet 54–55 ■ Sigmund Freud 92–99