The science of character

Abstract

Reviews the book, La Science du Charactère by W. Boven (1931). Character is defined as the psychology of an individual. This broad definition makes almost any psychological topic pertinent to the discussion. The early chapters deal with the nature or structure of character. Dispositions are correlated with the vegetative motor and sensory systems; traits with a hypothetical coenaesthetic brain center; and features (lineaments) with the reasoning process. These chapters are summarized by a sort of form or questionnaire for studying the character of any individual. In this questionnaire the first consideration is physiological, the second involves traits, (1) attitudes toward the bodily self such as eating and sex, (2) attitudes toward one's own personality such as pessimism and fear, (3) attitudes toward others such as dominance and obstinacy, (4) attitudes toward things such as love of nature, the third consideration includes types of reflection, fields of interest and attitude toward the abstract. This outline might be of some interest to the clinical psychologist as suggesting items to include in personal history blanks. The reviewer is not disposed to criticize detailed points (except the author's enthusiasm for graphology) because the work is largely a presentation of what others have written. However it affords a good summary of the field and the attempts at classification are helpful. The point of view is philosophical rather than experimental. Few psychologists will care to read the book word for word but many of them will find portions that are worth their consideration. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)