Psychological Foundations Of Personality

PSYCHOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF PEESONALITY 4 Guide for Students and Teachers BY LOUIS P. THORPE, PH. D. Associate Professor of Education and Director of the Psychological Clinic, The University of Southern California FIRST EDITION SEVENTH IMPRESSION McGRAW-HILL BOOK COMPANY, INC, NEW YORK AND LONDON 1938 Sincerely inscribed to my father, Christian A. Thorpe, editor, scholar, and lover of books, from whom I have received lifelong encouragement in academic and professional endeavors PREFACE For a number of years the author has been much interested in the various aspects and conceptions of what is both technically and popularly called personality. In pursuing this interest, he noted that objective data and scientifically determined appraisals touching on this theme were as scattered and scrappy as leaves in a wind. To secure a thorough and systematic knowledge of the personality picture, he has tried to gather the accessible tangled threads of research data and sound psycho logical constructs which, organismically viewed, constitute our modern version of the dynamic human personality. To present the outcome of this ofttimes elusive study is the purpose of the present book. It represents an attempt to organize, to refine, and occasionally to reinterpret the many references to personality matters that appear in scientific journals, in scholarly researches, and in works on child psy chology, adolescent psychology, genetic psychology, abnormal psychology, educational psychology, clinical psychology, mental hygiene, pupil guidance, etc. Although this volume presents material obviously pertinent to mental-hygiene courses, as well as to classes in child psy chology, educational psychology, andrelated fields where the genetic development of the human organism is under examina tion, it is primarily intended to provide a basic conception of the nature, organization, and development of the human personality as these are known to objective psychology today. There is much loose talk about personality, its trait components, and the extent to which these are grounded in the genetic constitution. It is the authors belief that the student of psychology and education should become thoroughly familiar with the available knowledge of the fundamental mechanisms of human nature before attempting on a professional level the difficult task of changing the behavior trends or traits of others. Thus, this volume is offered as a textbook in courses wherein the nature of that most basic of all psychological concepts the human vii viii PREFACE personality is given primary consideration. It is also offered as a source of easily accessible information to that host of earnest educators and professional workers in other lines who, although not concerned about the detailed technicalities of personality psychology as such, are anxious to secure a background in this field that will enable them to assist young and old alike in understanding their own natures and consequently in making increasingly better personal and social adjustments. The book rests upon the principles and facts of genetic psy chology. It musters the testimony of numerous researches, clinical studies, and objectively determined principles, many of which are scattered far and wide in the literature, in an effort to give a broad perspective of the personality as an ever-evolving organismic unit. It is believed that the presentation ofenough documented material to indicate the complexity of the personality concept, as well as problems relating to its understanding, will serve to give objective validity to the treatment. With this foundation as a point of departure, the interested student or worker may go on naturally to a consideration of such practical issues as self-improvement along personality lines, the intelligent rearing of children, the development of social skills, programs of mental hygiene, the prevention of personality maladjustments, and similar problems of human engineering...