This trio of terms acquired relevance within the nascent psychology between the 800s and 900s through two different channels: “physiological” psychology on the one hand and psychoanalysis on the other. Throughout the history of psychology, in fact, the term personality was preceded by the term temperament, first, and the term character, later. The temperament-character-personality succession allows us to read very clearly the gradual passage from a physiological conception to an increasingly more psychological one, to then integrate the whole into a global perspective. In this Psychology-Online article we will see together the dDifference between temperament, character and personality.
What is personality
In common use, the meaning of the term can be identified with social ability or insight, the personality of an individual being evaluated based on their ability to act positively in contacts with different people and in the most varied circumstances.
A second meaning considers inherent to the personality of an individual the most intense and vivid impressions that he or she arouses in others; The reaction of others to the way an individual interacts defines their personality: for example, arrogant, fascinating, difficult, etc.
Personality can still be understood as set of qualities and characteristics of a subjectI mean, like sum of its biological and psychological aspects susceptible to objective observation and description, abstracting from interpersonal reflections.
In other definitions, the concept of personality includes the unique, unrepeatable or most representative aspects of an individual. In short, personality is the set of terms used to describe the individual, terms chosen based on different variables and dimensions, depending on the field of interest of the scholar.
What is temperament
Speaking of temperament, we connect to the innate psychophysical basisstill focused on the structure biologicalof the provisions and peculiar tendencies of each individual to act in the world, to react to the environment and to behave, with special reference to the emotional sphere. In this article you can find them with examples.
Temperament must be considered as difficult, if not at all, modifiable. Although life experiences, the particular characteristics of interpersonal relationships and family relationships, as well as the commitment of will to determine one’s own social position, the adventures of existence, frustrations, justifications, the different possibilities of fulfillment, In a word, the infinite existential circumstances affect the temperament, making the subject assume modalities of behaving and reacting even different from the innate ones, they do not produce alterations, but rather they interact with complex modalities, guiding the character building of the individual.
What is character
The character represents the result of the interaction between temperament and environment: it is not, therefore, a static component of personality, but rather a dynamic component that changes over time and with the vicissitudes of life that make up its aspects. This modifiability of the character, on the other hand, is relative, possible in some expressions, but not in its deep core; Also inherent in the concept of character is a component of habitualness and predictability, as an aspect if not rigidly permanent. However, it has persistence.
Character, furthermore, is the less modifiable the more it progresses with age: we speak of evolutionary age, which ends with maturity, to underline the still wide possibility of modification of the character of young people.
In the following article you will find the different characteristics of a person.
As we have seen, character, personality and temperament are closely related aspects and with certain differences. Next, we will see exactly how personality, temperament and character differ.
Differences between temperament, character and personality
Every human person has from birth a biological foundation: the innate organic heritage that each one receives through hereditary transmission (hereditary constitution), from which the shapes and proportions of the body (morphological constitution) and vital functions (circulatory) are derived. , respiratory, digestive, etc.) dependent on the nervous and endocrine system (physiological constitution).
- The set of these elements determines an initial psychic structure or temperament: initial because the conditioning of the hereditary factors due should be added to the environmental factorswhich affects the entire life of the subject.
- Personality is the result of these “external” conditioning and the reaction to these conditioning.
- The word temperament means the natural psychic response to the hereditary organic set: it expresses impulses, instinctive tendencies, dispositions, emotional states, etc.
- Character, on the other hand, is the result of the initiative of the subject under the influence of the environment. In children, character is not yet distinguished from temperament, decision is not distinguished from impulse, inhibition processes are poorly developed, mental schemes are too simple, etc.
- Personality not only unifies biological aspects of temperament and psychic aspects of character, influenced by the environment, but also creates values, models of behavior, forms of social organization capable of modifying the environment and one’s own personality.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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