Descriptive Psychopathology: The Signs and Symptoms of ...

335 Chapter 14: PersonalityEarly empirical studies of personality structureNone of the old theories of personality, however, with the exception of Kretchmer’swork on body type, was empirically derived, and none was predictive of co-occurringpsychiatric illness, course, or treatment response. Empirical study of personalitydevelopment only became practical with the development of factor analysis, astatistical method permitting a search for patterns of data within a large database.The inquiry began with the recruitment of large samples of non-ill persons whowere questioned about their habitual responses and feelings in varying circumstances.The responses were subjected to factor analysis, and the factors thatemerged (patterns of behavior) were used to develop new questionnaires. Theprocess was expanded, repeated in different age groups, in both genders, and inpopulations worldwide. 14 Pioneers in this approach included Francis Galton, CyrilBurt, Lloyd Thurstone, Raymond Cattell, 15 and Gordon Allport. In parallel to thiswork, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) was developedfor clinical use and was widely adopted. However, it mixes illness categories suchas depression and psychosis with scales for hysteria and other traits. 16Early intelligence testing also evolved by similar methodology. In the early1900s, Alfred Binet was the first to systematically employ such measures.The work of Lewis Terman at Stanford University revised Binet’s scale as theStanford–Binet intelligence test that is still in use.An extension of the empirical study of normal personality was the work ofTyrer and Alexander, who used cluster analytic techniques to examine the naturalgroupings of persons with personality trait deviation. Unlike the later DSMformulations, they focused on psychopathology that could be observed, ratherthan on the social and interpersonal consequences of abnormal behavior. 17 Theirwork influenced British psychiatrists, but is little known in the USA.Recent study of personalityStatistical modeling studies of personality continue to refine the image of personalitystructure. 18 The factors that have emerged are interpreted within theconceptual framework that personality traits, like other behavior, are a product ofthe brain and have biological meaning. Studies focus on the heritability of traitsand the neurologic structures and functions that underlie traits. Personalitytraits are also studied using physiologic and other biologic measures. 19 Althoughthere are no complete animal models of personality, researchers compare humantrait behavior to the highly heritable trait behaviors of laboratory animals.Gray proposed three fundamental behavioral traits: behavioral activation, behavioralmaintenance, and behavioral inhibition as tendencies to react in specificsituations. 20