Person. in&id. D{fl. Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 379-381. 1984 Pergamon Press Ltd. Printed in Great Britam

PAUL KLINE: Personalify Measuremenr and (paperback).

BOOK REVIEWS

Theory. Hutchinson, London (1983). 174 pp. f10.95 (hardback); f4.95

This book is the second in the Hutchinson series of introductory texts on various topics within psychology. The aim of the series is to provide students who have read standard introductory psychology textbooks with a deeper coverage of specific issues. This book suitably fits the specification, providing a reasonably stimulating, easily read, textbook that will give the reader a good insight into the application of psychometrics to personality theory and assessment strategies.

Kline begins with an overview of classical and latent trait test theory, briefly discussing the concepts of measurement reliability and validity. This is followed by four chapters devoted to the various methods by which personahty has been assessed, e.g. interviews, repertory grids, inventories, projective and objective tests. The next chapter considers the concepts of moods and states within the wider context of personality dynamics. Following this rather didactic series of chapters are three more conceptually fundamental chapters. The empirical bases for the various personality constructs discussed in the above chapters are examined. In addition a psychometric model of man is proposed that espouses the validity of factor-analytically-defined trait theory over and above strict situationalism, phenomenological and psychoanalytic viewpoints. The work of Eysenck and Cattell is critically discussed within this framework. Finally, the book ends with two chapters concerned with the application of psychometrics in clinical, educational and occupational psychology.

Perhaps one major criticism of the book is an unwarranted reliance on Cattellian constructs and measurement devices such as the l6PF and the MAT. Both these instruments have been shown to be of highly-suspect factorial validity. By definition they can play very little part in a model that espouses factorial validity as a keystone of its structure. Kline takes great care to mention the problems of factor-scale definition of these two tests but then continues to discuss the scale scores as having assessment value. There is obviously a dilemma here involving the problems of unreliable scale scores and normative group mean differences calculated using these scales. The resolution of this dilemma is not attempted by the author.

In the discussion of the best-established temperament factors, the constructs of Impulsivity and Sensation Seeking are not included. The psychometric indicators for these factors are reasonably sound, even if the debate over the factorial level of the constructs is still active. However, the behavioural concommitants of these constructs (e.g. catecholamine levels, criterion group discriminability, averaged evoked brain response augmenting and reducing phenomena) are very exciting and might surely have been mentioned.

Finally, the whole area of spontaneous and evoked brain-response correlates of personality is ignored. While the measurement potential of most of these measures is still weak, there is, nevertheless, a growing body of evidence that suggests the explanatory power of this research area is increasing. For example, Robinson’s work published previously in this journal (1982, Vol. 3) reports a correlation of 0.95 with evoked brain responses and psychometrically-assessed personality.

In conclusion, even though the issues above were not included in the book, it will nevertheless provide the new student of psychology with a good overview of personality assessment and psychometric theory. Bearing in mind the restricted budgets of most students, the hardback edition is hopelessly overpriced. However, the paperback edition represents good value for money.

PAUL BARRETT

G. BITTNER: Personale Psychologie. Festschrft fCr Ludwig J. Pongratz. Hogrefe, Gottingen, F.R.G. (1983). 437 pp

This is a Festschrift in honour of Ludwig .I. Pongratz, who is well-known in Germany for his work on personality and psychotherapy; he edited the monumental two volumes which constitute Part 8 of the Hundbuch der Psychologie which I reviewed at the time in Behauiour Research and Therapy. Pongratz was also very interested in the history of psychology, and as another indication of his broad interests became trained as an analytic psychotherapist. His psychological training at the University of Munich and Heidelberg culminated in his final appointment as Professor at the University of Wiirzburg.

The book itself, honouring him on his retirement, is divided into four major parts which illustrate his broad interests. The first part deals with the history of psychology, the second with theory, the third with clinical psychology and the fourth with psychoanalysis. Most of the contributions are in German, and strike the reader as rather Germanic in many ways, but some are in English or American. The glaring differences in approach between the empirical, theoretical and ‘dynamic’ studies indicate the continuing rift between the different approaches in modem psychology; the broad sympathies of Pongratz for different approaches may be in accord with the eclecticisms so favoured by many modern psychologists, but it is doubtful whether a scientific psychology can ultimately be based on such eclecticism. Almost inevitably the different contributions, ranging from the experimental to the psychoanalytical, or, as others might see it, from the sublime to the ridiculous, differ greatly in their value, but the book as a whole will be of interest to psychologists of many different persuasions who will find in it adumbrations of their own attitudes.

H. J. EYSENCK

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