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General Models of Individual Differences in Cognition: The Commentaries

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Handbook of Individual Differences in Cognition

Part of the book series: The Springer Series on Human Exceptionality ((SSHE))

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Abstract

The answer to this question depends upon one’s theoretical orientation. I favour a broad-brush approach in the tradition promulgated by Hans Eysenck and others which lays stress on thinking of personality not as yet another separate faculty of mind but rather as the outcome of the functioning of crucial brain–behavioural processes/systems, with individual differences in the operating parameters of these processes/systems giving rise to what we call “personality” – the grand learning theorist, Hull, made essentially the same point many years ago (his approach stimulated Eysenck to develop his first causal theory of personality in 1957). This perspective sees “personality” as the flip-side of the brain–behavioural coin, including its cognitive components. Which brain–behavioural systems are crucial to individual differences in cognition? According to Corr (2007), crucial systems for personality show the following characteristics: (1) they exert pervasive and significant influences on psychological functions; and (2) they serve to differentiate people in terms of habitual forms of behaviour. In addition, the systems involved in systematic variations in behaviour, emotion and cognition that correspond to crucial underlying brain–behavioural systems must also show: (1) significant polymorphic variation in the population; and (2) stability over time.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Work and Psychology, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK

    Philip Corr

  2. Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, 633 Clark Street, Evanston, IL, USA, 60208

    William Revelle, Joshua Wilt & Allen Rosenthal

Authors
  1. Philip Corr
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  2. William Revelle
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  3. Joshua Wilt
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  4. Allen Rosenthal
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Correspondence to Philip Corr .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Al. Mickiewicza 3, Cracow, 31-120, Poland

    Aleksandra Gruszka

  2. Dept. Psychology, University of Cincinnati, Dyer Hall 217, Cincinnati, 45221, USA

    Gerald Matthews

  3. Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Al. Mickiewicza 3, Cracow, 31-120, Poland

    Blazej Szymura

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Corr, P., Revelle, W., Wilt, J., Rosenthal, A. (2010). General Models of Individual Differences in Cognition: The Commentaries. In: Gruszka, A., Matthews, G., Szymura, B. (eds) Handbook of Individual Differences in Cognition. The Springer Series on Human Exceptionality. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1210-7_4

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