Type Theories
It seems natural, even if incorrect, to classify people as though they came out of some mold. Early theories of personality as determined by body build are oversimplified for modern psychology although there are residuals of such thinking. Sheldon speaks of the round, soft person as an "endomorph," one who is fond of food, apprehensive, insecure, and conformist. The "mesomorph," in whom muscle and bone predominates, is characterized as the adventurous type who can withstand discomfort. The nonadvenrurous "ectomorph" is fragile in body build. Controversy about such classifications has stimulated much research. Freud has spoken of the "erotic" type, gregarious and self-dramatizing; the "obsessional" type, critical and skeptical; and the "narcissistic," or self-satisfied, type. He regarded these types as normal modes of adjustment, but when adaptation failed, they could become maladjusted.
