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1.7 TOUGH- AND TENDER-MINDED PERSPECTIVES ON PERSONALITY 31

1.7 TOUGH- AND TENDER-MINDED PERSPECTIVES ON PERSONALITY

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Before we move on in Chapters 2 and 3 to discuss the grand theories of personality—psychodynamic, behavioural, and cognitive—we end this chapter by discussing an idea that will help us properly to under stand these theories. Of course, these theoretical per spectives have major points of difference, but there are some similarities, too, and these tend to get obscured in their discussion (e.g. both psychodynamic theory and behaviourism have little time for the notion of free will, as commonly defined). Theoretical differ ences aside, as has been previously noted by pioneers of psychology (e.g. James, 1907/1991), there may be a dominant ‘personality’ among psychologists who ad vance one theory over another. This is an intriguing idea and may help to account for the many different theories that exist in psychology, and may explain why different theorists find it hard to appreciate the merits of opposing theories. In this sense, there is a personal ity psychology of psychology itself. While some researchers prefer what they consider to be rigorous scientific methods, others are more tol erant of subjective experiences and a holistic study of the person. James (1907/1991) called this the ‘tough minded’ versus ‘tender-minded’ dichotomy. Both have their own advantages and disadvantages. It may even be related to the ‘two disciplines of scientific psy chology’ (experimental and correlational) noted by Cronbach (1957) and discussed earlier in this chapter, and also to the ‘two cultures’: scientific and humanis tic (Kimble, 1984). As James indicated, the two poles may reflect the personalities of those on either side of the divide. In fact, scientific theories may reflect the professional and life experiences of their originators, which in turn are influenced by personal preferences and inclinations. We can discern these differences in the approaches of some of the major figures in personality psychology and psychology more generally. Gordon Allport, who is recognized as one of the founders of modern-day psychology, tried to use both perspectives in his work, to combine the best of the science and the art of psychology. We can see the ‘tough-minded’ attitude

represented in experimental laboratories modelled after Wilhelm Wundt, as, for example, embodied in be haviourism through the work of John B. Watson and, later, B. F. Skinner, and before them, Ivan Pavlov. On the tended-minded side, we see humanistic psychology, which reacted against what was seen as the mechanistic and reductionistic tendencies of mainstream psychol ogy (see Chapter 3), as well as those approaches to per sonality that includes life stories and narratives. Today, we witness this tension between those who favour biological approaches to personality and those who tend towards more subjective conceptual entities such as consciousness. However, this dichotomy is not inevitable, as some prominent neuropsychologists (e.g. Jeffrey Gray) took a strong interest in conscious ness as well as the neural basis of personality. Things may be changing, albeit slowly, especially as it is be coming a little easier to apply tough-minded thinking to seemingly tender-minded problems, such as con sciousness, free will, and, even, religion (e.g. Rychlak, 1997). Being tough-minded can be applied in some curious directions. For example, Hans Eysenck was clearly very tough-minded, and this allowed him to make a serious study of astrology and parapsychology, which he related to personality (Corr, 2016a)—in an important sense, he was tough enough to go where others feared to tread, often with good reason. When evaluating the merits of theoretical perspec tives on personality, or anything else in psychology, it is helpful to think, too, on the personality of their ad vocates and to ask yourself how much of their theoret ical perspective is influenced by the science, and how much by their personal preferences and inclinations. SECTION SUMMARY • Although the exact beginnings of personality psy chology are disputed, there are several major mile stones that define the field. • The grand theories of personality are often defined by their principal advocates (e.g. Freud and psy chodynamics), as much as by theoretical content.

© Oxford University Press

© Oxford University Press