Abram Kardiner

Abram Kardiner was an American psychiatrist and anthropologist who developed the concept of basic personality structure. He proposed that shared child-rearing practices and social institutions shape the personalities of individuals within a specific culture. This work linked psychoanalytic theory with the comparative study of culture.

Kardiner worked to link traditional psychoanalytic theory with the comparative study of global cultures. He theorized that a society's primary institutions—like family structure—directly create neuroses or specific personality traits in its people. He famously conducted seminars at Columbia University collaborating with renowned anthropologists.

Yes, Kardiner frequently collaborated with prominent anthropologists like Ralph Linton and Cora Du Bois. He hosted influential seminars where psychoanalysts and anthropologists would combine their disciplines to analyze field data from various indigenous cultures. This cross-disciplinary approach was highly innovative for his time.

Kardiner defined basic personality structure as the shared personality traits formed by a culture's specific child-rearing institutions. He argued that these shared psychological traits then influence the secondary institutions of that society, such as religion and folklore. It was a pioneering attempt to psychologically map entire societies.