Eysenck, Hans Jurgen (1916- )

British psychologist. His work concentrates on personality theory and testing by developing behaviour therapy. He is an outspoken critic of psychoanalysis as a therapeutic method. His theory that intelligence is almost entirely inherited and can be only slightly modified by education aroused controversy. Eysenck was born in Berlin, but left his native Germany for the UK when the Nazis came to power in the 1930s. He studied at London University, where he became professor of psychology 1955. That intelligence has a physical basis and is heritable is shown, he argues, by objective physiological methods, such as measures of changes in EEG (brain wave) patterns evoked by a sudden stimulus. Much of the controversy over his findings, and his view that there may be a genetic basis for racial differences in IQ, is concerned with the methods of assessing intelligence and whether or not they are free of cultural bias. Eysenck has also made important studies of emotionality and conditioning, and social attitudes.