History and Inquiry
I stumbled across an article about the history of personality. It gave a chronological list of all the philosophers would have contributed their ideas to this topic. Hippocrates was the pioneer of personality research. He hypothesized that humans had two poles to our temperament such as hot/moist and cold/dry. These humors (or combinations), in Hippocrates’s opinion, caused health issues. It makes me wonder Hippocrates came to this hypothesizes. I’m sure that he didn’t create it on a whim, there was absolutely some thought and questioning that went into forming this hypothesis. But how could a man living in Ancient Greece make such a breakthrough in a field where scientists today, who have much more technology and resources, struggle to make advancements?
Franz Gall, who was in the field of pseudoscience, connected physical properties of the brain to the person’s opinion, attitude and behaviors. Since Gall didn’t have any evidence or data backing up his claim, how could he have created such a hypothesis. While his hypothesis didn’t last for long due to its lack of credibility, it did lead to the next phase of personality research.
Sigmund Freud is probably one of the most famous researchers in history. The father of psychoanalysis stated that the human mind consisted of three parts called id, ego and superego. The id ran on instinct and allowed for survival of the fittest while ego connected id to daily experiences. Ego gave humans ways to realistically achieve and justify what the id needed. The superego was the person’s higher qualities. Much evidence supports Freud’s idea and brought awareness to the fact that some actions and thoughts are unconscious.
Carl Jung started with Freud’s ideas but came up with a different system of personality. Jung established the current day concepts of introverts and extroverts. Jung also identified four important psychological functions such as thinking, feeling, sensation and intuition.
Maslow and Rogers made the most notable strides in personality research by establishing the Big Five. An explanation of the Big Five can be seen in my previous post.
While I was intrigued to read about the roots of personality research, I couldn’t help but question more than read. The pioneers of this field of research have contributed so much knowledge and ideas but how did they arrive to them? What sparked their curiosities and how did they pursue them?
