Abstract
The translated text presented in this chapter was authored by William Stern and originally published in 1929 in the German language Yearbook of Characterology. It begins with a brief and highly condensed statement of Stern’s understanding of ‘persons’ as entities that function holistically and that have depth. He proceeds to discuss ways in which these features of personhood are obscured by prevailing methods of psychological testing, both in personality studies and in psychotechnics. Those methods, Stern argues, represent persons only superficially, and reveal, at best, only their reactions to selected promptings. He argues that what is needed are methods better suited for capturing persons’ spontaneous actions, and that in order to meet this need, reliance on qualitative methods of assessment, demanding investigators’ interpretations of their direct observations, would be essential.
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Notes
- 1.
TRANSLATOR NOTE: In brackets I present here what Stern included as footnote 1 in the original text: [Findings relevant to this point that have been obtained in our Hamburg Institute are reported in a book by Dr. Roloff titled Aptitude and Testing: Psychotechnical Studies, which appeared as a special issue of the Journal of Applied Psychology (Hamburg Studies of Aptitude Research Nr. 9), Leipzig, 1928.].
- 2.
TRANSLATOR NOTE: In brackets I present here what Stern included as footnote 2 in the original text: [Refer to the work completed at our Hamburg Institute by H. Wunderlich: “The effect of repetitive inescapable work on the structure of personality.” Journal of Applied Psychology, 25, p. 321 and forward; published separately in ‘Writings on the Psychology of Work Aptitude,’ volume 31, 1925.].
- 3.
TRANSLATOR NOTE: In brackets I present here what Stern included as footnote 3 in the original text: [That this restructuring of the method of diagnosing psychological aptitude for the purposes of occupational counseling is already occurring is to be seen in some of the most recently published literature. Here will be mentioned only the recently published book by Hellmuth Bogen: “Psychological Foundation of Practical Occupational Counseling (Langensalza, 1927) and the brochure by Hildegard Grünbaum-Sachs: “Depth Psychology and Occupational Counseling, Leipzig, 1927 (Writings on the Psychology of Occupational Aptitude and of Economic Life, Nr. 33).].
Reference
Stern, W. (1929). Persönlichkeitsforschung und Testmethode [Personality research and the methods of testing.]. Jahrbuch der Charakterologie, 6, 63–72.
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Lamiell, J.T. (2021). Personality Research and the Methods of Testing. In: Uncovering Critical Personalism. Palgrave Studies in the Theory and History of Psychology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67734-3_7
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