A Problem of Personality: Scientist and Practitioner Differences in Psychology

ABSTRACT Differences between scientists and practitioners have been one of the most consistent and controversial topics throughout the history of American psychology. Even though many qualitative arguments and indirect quantitative studies have been offered in the literature, scientist and practitioner personality perspectives have never been measured directly. We have done so in this study, and we argue that these differences can be conceptualized within a personality framework. Results of our study demonstrate that interest in scientist activities and interest in practitioner activities were both predicted by theoretical orientations and vocational personality styles. Scientist and practitioner interests were predicted by these variables in opposite directions. We conclude by noting that while the conflict between scientist and practitioner personality styles is often said to be solvable by appropriate education, training models provide only partial solutions. It would be useful for training models to examine the role of personality differences in scientist-practitioner orientations in order to design realistic programs and objectives.