H.J. Eysenck’s research while affiliated with Bond University and other places

Some 8059 healthy women (mean age 58 years) were studied in 1973 with the aim of establishing the presence or absence of a variety of physical and psychological risk factors for mammary cancer. Mortality was established in 1988. factor predictors were highly significant. Physical risk factors were more predictive than psychological ones, but both interacted synergistically to predict mortality. Alone, psychological (stress) factors had little effect, while-physical factors did. However, psychological factors seemed to potentiate the effect of physical factors, particularly in the middle range. The causal relevance of psychological factors was established in a special intervention study using autonomy training as a method of prophylactic therapy and comparing outcome with the effects of no therapy (control).

The factorial similarity of Psychoticism (P), Extraversion (E), Neuroticism (N), and Social Desirability (L), as measured by the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, was assessed using gender- specific data collected from 34 countries. As in an earlier study using data from 24 countries (Eysenck et al., 1985), the Kaiser-Hunka-Bianchini (KHB) procedure was utilised as a measure of factorial similarity. However, given the recent evidence concerning the flawed interpretation of the original KHB coefficients, two other coefficients were used to make an assessment of factorial similarity: a congruence coefficient computed from the KHB maximally congruent orthogonalised factors, and a congruence coefficient computed from the oblique factor patterns of the U.K. target and foreign country matrices. The results of these procedures (using the U.K. factor matrices as targets, toward which each country’s factor pattern is rotated) indicated that: (1) the Eysenck factors are strongly replicable across all 34 countries (2) the modified KHB similarity procedure is sound, given the nature of these particular comparisons (3) in comparison to the oblique pattern matrix congruences, those computed over the KHB maximally congruent matrices were found to be optimal both in terms of size and variation. It was concluded that contrary to pessimistic observations made elsewhere, concerning the validity of the factor comparisons based upon ‘original’ KHB coefficients, the analyses in this paper conclusively demonstrate a significant degree of factorial similarity with the U.K. data, across the 34 comparison countries.

Bates and Eysenck (1993), used a 3rd-order cubic polynomial curve fitting procedure on correct-response probabilities computed from the trial record of individual research participants (N = 70) in an inspection time (IT) task. They demonstrated that this methodology produced estimates of IT that, when correlated with full-scale IQ scores (assessed by Jackson's Multidimensional Aptitude Battery), provided a measure of agreement that exceeded that given by the Barrett BRAT IT algorithm. The correlation between IT computed via the BRAT algorithm and full-scale IQ in this sample was −0.35, that between IQ and the cubic polynomial estimate was −0.35. When removing one outlier observation from the polynomial estimate data, this correlation increased to −0.47. Further, Bates and Eysenck also removed a further 5 cases from the dataset on the basis of “bad fit” of the data by the polynomial function, this had the effect of increasing the correlation to −0.62. However, it is demonstrated in this paper that when systematic, explicit, and quantified, criteria are applied to the outlier analysis, and replication of the results is sought across a further four IT datasets, the correlations between the BRAT algorithm parameters and those produced from 3 curve equation functions are actually equivalent. The average systematic outlier-corrected correlation between IT and IQ for both the BRAT and cubic polynomial estimates is −0.34. Further, the unadjusted correlations between BRAT IT estimates and cubic polynomial estimates all exceed 0.95, across all 5 datasets. It is concluded that given the relative difficulty of producing exact polynomial estimates at 0.76 response probability, the inappropriate use of a cubic polynomial for a function bounded by (0,1), and the perhaps inappropriate data produced by the BRAT algorithm for this type of approach to IT estimation, the use of the curve-fit procedure is sub-optimal with regard to this particular form of IT estimation algorithm.

We report the results of a prospective study of a random sample of 1353 elderly but healthy men and women who were followed up for a period of 10 yr, when mortality and cause of death were ascertained. Overall results have been reported elsewhere for mortality from cancer, coronary heart disease and other causes; here we are concerned with the personality factors predicting breast cancer, cervical cancer, cancer of the corpus uteri specifically, as well as other types of cancer in women. Ten specific hypotheses were tested, using specially constructed questionnaires for the purpose, and for most of these statistically significant support was obtained. The results justify belief that specific types of cancer may be related to specific stress/personality factors.

Using three samples of applicant data, encompassing over 2300 participants, the Concept Model 5.2 Occupational Personality Questionnaire (OPQ) was examined for scale discriminability at the item, scale and factorial level. Item analysis and maximum likelihood factor analysis indicated that the OPQ questionnaire provided good, low complexity measurement on 22 out of the 31 scales. Nine exhibited poor signal-to-noise ratios, high item complexity indices, and insufficient number of keyed loadings on the appropriate factor. On the basis of the results below and from those reported by Matthews & Stanton (1994), it was argued that the test requires further development in conjunction with the revision of the psychological and measurement models specified as underlying its construction.

The debate over nature versus nurture in relation to intelligence is not as clearly drawn as it was ten years ago, when geneticists claimed that intelligence is innate, while environmentalists claimed that culture is the major determining factor. Although the debate has not been resolved, it has been significantly refined. Robert Sternberg and Elena Grigorenko address the roles and interaction of nature and nurture in Intelligence, Heredity and Environment. This book provides a comprehensive, balanced, current survey of theory and research on the origins and transmission of human intelligence. The book is unique in the diversity of viewpoints it presents, and its inclusion of the very most recent theories and findings. It highlights the search for genes associated with specific cognitive abilities, interactionist theories, cultural relativism, educational strategies, developmental perspectives, and fallacies of previous intelligence research.

This article introduces a new personality inventory dealing with self-regulation. This is in some ways the opposite of neuroticism, and measures personal autonomy or independence, particularly as far as emotional dependence is concerned. Our concern was the relation between self-regulation and health, and large samples of healthy men and women were tested and followed up to demonstrate high predictability of mortality from cancer, coronary heart disease and other causes of death from scores on the questionnaire. It was also demonstrated that psychological risk factors were largely independent from physical risk factors, and could be changed by behavioural-cognitive treatment, reducing mortality.

In this study, 6,386 males and 5,990 females, with a mean age of 55 years, constituting a random sample, were administered questionnaires by interviewers relating to amount of self-regulation and drinking status. They were then followed up over a 20-yr. period, and health status (living well, chronically ill, or deceased) was ascertained. It was hypothesized that the deleterious effect of alcohol would be worse for those low on self-regulation; that health status would be worse for those in whom drinking diminished self-regulation, as compared with those for whom drinking improved self-regulation; and that smoking would have greater effects in lowering health status in those in whom drinking diminished self-regulation than in those in whom drinking improved self-regulation. All predictions were borne out by the data at high statistical significance. The results confirmed findings from an earlier study to the effect that psychological factors like self-regulation powerfully influence the kind of effects drinking has with respect to health.