Type theories of personality
There has been a great deal of controversy over the concept of types in psychology, and this chapter can only summarize some of the different views offered, without providing a satisfactory conclusion. Before considering these different approaches it will help to try to sharpen the distinction between a type theory and the dimensional point of view which has been assumed in Chapter7 to 11.
In common thinking , the best analogy to a type the only would be the awareness of species differences. We are not, for example , surprised when a dog ignores a worm. The one “type” is recognized as having different properties from the other. There is no question of comparing the two species on a quantitative scale for worm-seeking behavior. Quantitative comparisons are, of course permissible on certain dimensions such as length and weight , which ignore the type distinction .
Another way to think about the concept of type is to consider the difference between a triangle, a circle, And a square. The to type called a triangle obeys certain laws which simply do not hold for the others; e.g. the sum of the angles equals 180 degrees. For the circle, the area equals pi time r. but that rule holds only for figures belonging to this type again, we note that it is possible to make quantitative comparisons of triangle and circle as regards area, a dimension which disregards the typological classification.