Personality in Nature, Society, and Culture ed. by Clyde Kluckhohn and Henry Murray (review)

.BOOK REVIEWS 115 unguided zeal of the reformer and the unfortunate failure ot the theologian to bring his spculative principles into the market place. Even at this late date, the full moral import of the just wage and the strike, for example, are but hazy notions in the minds of both capital and labor. The demands of both sides are concrete, but the meaning of the issues are still vague. Until this gap is bridged, the social movement will suffer setbacks. Perhaps Fr. Cronin's projected book on Social Action Principles will have the answer. Neither of these books has. Dominican House of Studies, Washington, D. 0. RAYMOND SMITH, 0. P. Personality in Nature, Society, and Culture. Edited by CLYDE KLucKHOHN and HENRY MuRRAY. New York: Knopf, 1948. Pp. 5!32, with index. $4.50. This book is a collection of forty papers, most of them published previously in various periodicals and repinted here with some slight alterations or abbreviations. Thus, the presentation of the subject matter differs from that employed in larger works to which many authors contribute. In these treatises, each contributor deals with a definite part or aspect of the whole matter; however, no problem is discussed in its totality. Yet, many issues are brought up; many particular problems are dealt with in a searching manner; and, the relation of each of these with the whole is made clear by the brief systematic exposition of the editors and by short introductions preceding each of the sections of the book as well as each article. This procedure has its definite didactic advantages. It places the reader in the midst of the matter and lets him see to better advantage than in a textbook, how the various studies concerned with the· problem of personality approach their tasks. Though there is a basic agreement among the authors as to the nature of the problems and the principles of methodology, there is also a great variety of individual standpoints, so that-again otherwise than in a textbook-the reader does not conceive of the matter as a rigid and final mass of information. Rather, he realizes how many questions are still unanswered, whether regarding facts or interpretation. The early part of the book is a concise formulation of some fundamental concepts by the two editors: Dr. Kluckhohn, a professor of anthropology, and Dr. Murray, until recently head of the psychological clinic of Harvard University. This section on the "Conception of Personality" furnishes, together with the opening consideration of part two: " The Determinants of Personality Formation," by the same authors, the conceptual framework for the whole work. 116 BOOK REVIEWS Personality is stated to be " an actual, concrete organization of the processes with which the psychologist is concerned "; as such, it must be located " within some field where there is a togetherness of all these processes _or of representations of all these processes." Personality refers to the functioning of the individual as a whole; hence, it is to be located in the "highest or regnant level of control," i.e., the brain. Personality, further; is the " organization of all the integrative processes in the brain "; considered historically, it is the "entire sequence of organized governmental processes in the brain from birth to death." Personality has several functions : ,tension reduction, self expression, reduction of conflict~ by scheduling (following social conventions, schedules of organizations which together with the disposition to conform, the program of a man's own prospective actions systems, and many other factors, determine the actual order of events), reduction of conflicts by social conformity and identification. Generally speaking, personality " operates to reduce ' dissatisfaction·' and extend 'satisfaction.'" Questionmay be raised why all this has to be referred to brain processes, the nature of which is so unknown as to make the reference of hardly any explanatory value. Also, it appears difficult to conceive of" self-expression" in terms of brain processes. Actually, this terminology is superfluous; all the things which these two authors say and what the other contributors report can be stated without any reference to the brain. This is important to note; the further studies are independent of this particular terminology and may, therefore, be considered in themselves.·Not even...