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Psychobiological Theories of Personality

  • Chapter
Advanced Personality

Part of the book series: The Plenum Series in Social/Clinical Psychology ((SSSC))

Abstract

Most modern psychobiological theories of personality have their roots in much older theories of temperament. Table 6.1 outlines some of these origins and their modern areas of application. Most of the theories of origin were prescientific in that they had no methods for assessing and testing the biological aspects of the psychobiological model. Some, such as the ancient Greek humoral theory and the phrenological theory, were totally erroneous because they were based on flawed assumptions about the relationships between observable biological variables—for example, the shape of the skull—and personality traits. Although our methods have become more precise, we can expect that unforeseen developments in methodology will drastically revise our current models.

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  1. Department of Psychology, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, 19716-2577, USA

    Marvin Zuckerman

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  1. Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA

    David F. Barone  & Vincent B. Van Hasselt  & 

  2. Pacific University, Forest Grove, Oregon, USA

    Michel Hersen

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Zuckerman, M. (1998). Psychobiological Theories of Personality. In: Barone, D.F., Hersen, M., Van Hasselt, V.B. (eds) Advanced Personality. The Plenum Series in Social/Clinical Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8580-4_6

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