Hierarchy of the sciences and personality features of their representatives
Abstract
The idea of the hierarchy of the sciences has a strong tradition especially in the sociology of science. It is shown that organisations of sciences according to various criteria are very similar: “hard”, exact and theoretical disciplines are always placed at one end of the continuum, and “soft”, social or applied sciences at the other end. The aim of this study is to find connections between a position of a science at the hierarchy and personality traits of its representatives. The research sample consists of 132 experts from Palacký University in Olomouc who have been administrated three personality inventories (NEO-FFI, PSSI, SSI). The results suggest that representatives of the “soft sciences” incline to extraversion, openness to experience, and emotional expressivity more than representatives of the exact disciplines. “Soft sciences” experts also score relatively high on the PSSI-scale ambitious/narcissistic and endearing/histrionic style, and low on the PSSI-scale reserved/schizoid style. Research findings are interpreted in the context of Baron-Cohen E-S theory and the psychology of science.
(Fulltext in Czech)
Keywords
hierarchy of the sciences, social intelligence, extraversion, openness to experience, personality stylesLiterature
Baron-Cohen, S. (2002). The extreme male brain theory of autism. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 6(6), 248–254.
Baron-Cohen, S. (2010). Empathizing, systemizing, and the extreme male brain theory of autism. Progress in Brain Reserach, 186, 167–175.
Cleveland, W. S. (1984). Graphs in scientific publications. American Statistician, 38(4), 261–269.
Cole, S. (1983). The hierarchy of the sciences? American Journal of Sociology, 89(1), 111–139.
Conant, J. B. (1951). Science and common sense. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Dostál, D., & Plháková, A. (2011). Sociální inteligence a styly osobnosti představitelů exaktních a humanitních věd. Československá psychologie, 55(5), 385–399.
Fanelli, D. (2010). „Positive“ results increase down the hierarchy of the sciences. Plos One, 5(3), 1–10.
Feist, G. J. (1988). A meta-analysis of personality in scientific and artistic creativity. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 2(4), 290–309.
Feist, G. J. (2006). The psychology of science and the origins of the scientific mind. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Feist, G. J., & Gorman, M. E. (1998). The psychology of science: Review and integration of a nascent discipline. Review of General Psychology, 2(1), 3–47.
Ferré, F. (1997). Auguste Comte. In McGreal, I. P. (Ed.), Velké postavy západního myšlení (418–422). Praha: Prostor, 1997.
Fins, J. J., & de Melo Martin, I. C. P. (2010). Snow’s two cultures fifty years later: An enduring problem with an elusive solution. Technology in Society, 32(1), 1–4.
Fitzgerald, M., & James, I. M. (2007). The mind of the mathematician. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Hřebíčková, M., Urbánek, T. (2001). NEO pětifaktorový osobnostní inventář. Praha: Testcentrum.
Kerr, N. L. (1998). HARKing: Hypothesizing after the results are known. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 2(3), 196–217.
Kuhl, J., & Kazén, M. (2002). PSSI – Inventář stylů osobnosti a poruch osobnosti. Praha: Testcentrum.
Kuhn, T. S. (1997). Struktura vědeckých revolucí. Praha: Oikoymenh.
Ludwig, A. M. (1998). Method and madness in the arts and sciences. Creativity Research Journal, 11(2), 93–101.
Lutchmaya, S., & Baron-Cohen, S. (2002). Human sex differences in social and non-social looking preferences, at 12 months of age. Infant Behavior & Development, 25(3), 319–325.
McDowell, J. M. (1982). Obsolescence of knowledge and career publication profiles – some evidence of differences among fields in costs of interrupted careers. American Economic Review, 72(4), 752–768.
Plháková, A., & Reiterová, E. (2010). Rozdíly v pěti dimenzích osobnosti a sociální inteligenci mezi studenty exaktních a humanitních věd. Československá psychologie, 54(2), 147–159.
Riggio, R. E., & Carney, D. R. (2007). Social skills inventory manual. Czech version. Translated by L. Krejčová. Menlo Park, CA: Mind Garden.
Roeckelein, J. E. (1997). Hierarchy of the sciences and terminological sharing of laws among the sciences. Psychological Reports, 81(3), 739–746.
Schachter, S., Christenfeld, N., & Ravina, B., et al. (1991). Speech disfluency and the structure of knowledge. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60(3), 362–367.
Simonton, D. K. (2004). Psychology's status as a scientific discipline: Its empirical placement within an implicit hierarchy of the sciences. Review of General Psychology, 8(1), 59–67.
Simonton, D. K. (2005). Creativity in psychology: on becoming and being a great psychologists. In Kaufmann, J. C., & Baer, J. (Eds.), Creativity across domains: Faces of the muse (139–151). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Simonton, D. K. (2009). Varieties of (scientific) creativity: A hierarchical model of domain-specific disposition, development, and achievement. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 4(5), 441–452.
Smith, L. D., Best, L. A., & Stubbs, D. A., et al. (2000). Scientific graphs and the hierarchy of the sciences: A Latourian survey of inscription practices. Social Studies of Science, 30(1), 73–94.
Stephan, P. E., & Levin, S. G. (1993). Age and the Nobel-prize revisited. Scientometrics, 28(3), 387–399.
Storer, N. W. (1967). Hard sciences and soft: some sociological observations. Bulletin of the Medical Library Association, 5(1), 75–84.
Strauss, J. P., Connerley, M. L., & Ammermann, P. A. (2003). The “threat hypothesis,” personality, and attitudes toward diversity. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 39(1), 32–52.
Suls, J., & Fletcher, B. (1983). Social comparison in the social and physical sciences: An archival study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44(3), 575–580.
Wilson, G. D., & Jackson, C. (1994). The personality of physicists. Personality and Individual Differences, 16(1), 187–189.
Zuckerman, H., & Merton, R. K. (1973). Age, aging and age structure in science. In Merton, R. K. (Ed.), The sociology of science: Theoretical and empirical investigations (493–560). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.