SINCE THE CONCEPT OF 'DANGEROUSNESS' FIRST EMERGED IN CRIMINAL RESEARCH, MANY NEW STUDIES HAVE BEEN UNDERTAKEN--ESPECIALLY IN THE FIELD OF THE OFFENDER PERSONALITY. IN THIS CONTEXT, THE TERM 'PERSONALITY' IS USUALLY DEFINED NOT AS A SET OF UNIQUE HUMAN CHARACTERISTICS BUT AS 'A STRUCTURE OF MORE OR LESS FIXED TRAITS WHICH PERMIT PREDICTION OF A PERSON'S BEHAVIOR IN A GIVEN SITUATION' (KRETSCHMER, JUNG). THIS DEFINITION HAS COME UNDER ATTACK SINCE IT ENTAILS A PROBLEMATICAL ABSTRACTION OF A FAR MORE COMPLEX REALITY. ALTHOUGH EXPERTS ARE FULLY AWARE THAT 'PERSONALITY' IN THIS SENSE IS AN ARTIFICIAL CREATION, TOO MANY PEOPLE HAVE TAKEN LABELS LIKE 'INTROVERTED' AS LITERAL FACTS. IN ADDITION, TYPOLOGISTS GENERALIZE ON FEW DOMINANT CHARACTERISTICS WHILE IGNORING OTHER MORE SUBTLE VARIABLES OF THE HUMAN PSYCHE. IN THIS RESPECT, TWO KINDS OF PERSONALITY RESEARCH DESERVE SPECIAL MENTION. FIRST, SEVERAL EXPERIMENTS STUDYING THE WILLINGNESS TO COME TO THE AID OF A DISTRESSED PERSON SHOWED THAT HUMAN 'COMPASSION' CANNOT BE STUDIED IN ISOLATION BUT DEPENDS ON A COMPLEX SET OF PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS AND SITUATIONAL IMPULSES. SECONDLY, IN A STUDY OF IMPULSIVENESS, THE MOST IMPULSIVE SUBJECTS SHOWED CHARACTERISTICS THAT ARE COMMONLY ATTRIBUTED TO PSYCHOPATHS. DETAILED ANALYSIS REVEALED THAT THE REASON THE TRAITS OF THE PSYCHOPATH ARE USUALLY CONSIDERED NEGATIVE IS THAT RESEARCHERS HAVE CAREFULLY EXCLUDED ALL OTHER ASPECTS SUSCEPTIBLE TO A DIFFERENT INTERPRETATION FROM THE 'PERSONALITY'. THE FIELD OF PERSONALITY RESEARCH SHOULD BE EXTENDED FROM MERELY DELINQUENT BEHAVIOR TO OTHER TYPES OF PROBLEMATICAL HUMAN BEHAVIOR. THE ARTICLE INCLUDES FOOTNOTES. --IN FRENCH. (SAJ)