Personality is a psychological construct for which there is a wide variety of definitions, but all of them point out as constitutive elements a set of immanent and stable qualities and characteristics of the person, which are called traits and which are manifested through behavior. . Where does this set of traits come from? Is personality inherited or learned? In this Psychology-Online article you will discover the secrets of personality formation.
Dimensions of personality according to the Big Five Factors model of Costa and McCrae
Taking as reference the McCrae and Costa’s Big Five Factors (GBF) model which postulates that personality can be explained by a set of primary, stable and consistent traits that constitute by definition permanent ways of thinking, feeling and behavinga wide spectrum of possible traits can be pointed out between the maximum and minimum extremes of each of the five factors:
- Neuroticism or emotional instability: It ranges from , , and anxiety, to calm, balance, empathy and tolerance.
- Extraversion: It is an important factor in the establishment and maintenance of social relationships, it includes everything from the sociable, fun, friendly and affectionate person to the distant, withdrawn, sober and reserved person. Here you will find the.
- Openness to experience: indicates the receptivity to undertake new actions in the face of habituation and routine, to the search for new ideas and acceptance of new values. It ranges from original, imaginative and curious behavior, to conventional, prosaic and indifferent behavior.
- Cordiality: defined by the willingness to trust people, to be frank, altruistic, kind, kind and forgiving as opposed to being irritable, ruthless, vindictive and rude.
- Responsibility: referring to a heightened sense of obligation and duty towards oneself and others. The range goes from the scrupulous, organized, trusting and careful person to the negligent, disorganized, distrustful and careless person.
The formation of personality
Since we have defined personality as a set of traits, the question at hand will be to describe how a trait is formed. Two brain structures that complement each other intervene in this work: a biological structure that determines the person’s potential abilities to think, feel and act; and another psychological which specifies the content of thoughts, emotions and specific behaviors in response to environmental stimuli that arise from their habitual relationship with the environment (personality would thus be the result of the association of their biology and their biography).
The biological structure of personality
The organic and functional structure of the brain constitutes the physical support of the mental processes that provide the psychic abilities necessary for the perception of oneself and for the establishment of relationships with one’s environment, interpreting the stimuli coming from it and choosing the response to them. . The importance of this structure in the formation of traits can be verified in those cases in which its anomalies cause, such as, obsessive-compulsive or .
Brain structures and personality traits
It has been proven that traits related to anxiety, conditioned fears or avoidance of harm are associated with a increased amygdala activity and the serotonergic system, while impulsivity, search for new sensations or psychoticism are mainly related to the striatum nucleus and the dopamine system.
Relationship between brain and personality
Considering that personality reflects the person’s way of thinking, feeling and acting, the brain structures that make these functions possible are found in the cognitive, emotional and motor systems; and their formation, organization and functionality comes determined by the genetic characteristics of the person (the genome). In this sense, a basic premise of behavioral genetics is that any observable psychological characteristic, such as personality traits, is genetically encoded. Likewise, the German psychologist stated that personality variables have a clear genetic determination, include specific physiological and hormonal structures, and are verifiable through scientific experiments, concluding that it is a psychobiological model of personality.
The main function of these three brain systems in the construction of personality traits is to provide the following capabilities:
- Cognitive system: ability to interpret and evaluate events in the environment (reasoning) and to perceive one’s own mental states (introspection) resulting from that work.
- Emotional system: ability to recognize and express one’s own emotions (emotionality)be receptive to the emotions of others and share them (empathy).
- Drive system: ability to respond appropriately to the presented stimulus (impulsiveness) taking into account the circumstances in which it takes place.
Brain chemistry and the way you are
We use these abilities to process information received from the environment in order to understand the world around us and choose how to relate to it. A fundamental factor in the processing and transmission of information is the type and concentration of neurotransmitters and synaptic receptors that act as mediators in the cognitive, emotional and motor processes that intervene in the formation of a certain trait.
For example, they are associated with poor emotional regulation (dysthymia, aggression, bad mood, negative thoughts, etc.), and low levels of are associated with problems of social anxiety, apathy, anhedonia, etc., while high levels are associated with with hyperactivation, and hypersocialization.
Also hormones intervene (especially the thyroid and adrenal glands), thus, physical, emotional and mental apathy can be due to low levels of catecholamines (adrenaline and norepinephrine) or low levels of thyroid hormones, and they have high levels of catecholamines while the most introverted, quiet and calm have lower levels. Likewise, there is a close relationship between the characteristic behavior of the aggressive person and higher testosterone levels.
These abilities are available in any person, but they do not contribute equally to the formation of their personality, since the potential and degree of development of each ability vary depending on the person (it depends on the genome). Actually, What determines capacity is a tendency or predisposition towards a specific way of interpreting stimuli, evaluating them and choosing a response, aspects that are fundamental in the formation of the trait.
Thus, a great cognitive capacity will cause a predisposition towards traits of self-confidence, self-sufficiency and self-control, however, a reduced capacity will towards traits of prudence, withdrawal, insecurity or distrust. Likewise, high emotional sensitivity will direct it towards traits of sociability, kindness, solidarity and affection, while low emotional sensitivity will direct it towards aggressiveness, intolerance or authoritarianism. The same will happen in cases of high or low impulsivity, which will set the tendency towards an active response (enterprising, restless, impatient) or passive (submissive, calm, calm).
Temperament: the inherited part of personality
This tendency or predisposition of genetic origin towards one trait or another constitutes the basis of temper. According to psychologists and geneticists Arnold Buss and Robert Plomin, temperament would be “inherited personality traits, present from birth and having a greater genetic basis.” Through factor analysis, both authors identified three dimensions of temperament on which it is possible to speak of genetic influence:
- Emotional vs. impassive. The emotional person is easily excited and responds with greater intensity than the impassive one.
- Active against lethargy. The active person is usually busy and in a hurry compared to the slower paced lethargic person.
- Sociable versus separate. He seeks out others and has a preference for being with other people, however the separated person tends to prefer to be alone.
Furthermore, Buss suggested that temperaments are considered as a subset of personality traits delineated by manifestation in the first year of life, subsequent perseverance and genetic transmission. Emotionality, activity, and sociability are three personality traits that meet these measures. What is inherited tend to fit into a particular range on each of the temperament dimensions.
The psychological structure of personality
As noted above, the biological structure defines behavioral tendencies within a certain spectrum of traits, but it does not specify or determine the behavior to follow when faced with a specific stimulus that is presented to us. It does not tell us, for example, why we interpret a stimulus as beneficial or harmful and how we should act under the circumstances. Therefore, the question that arises is: how is an action chosen in response to the perceived stimulus and how is it maintained over time until it forms a trait?
From predisposition to personality trait
This task depends fundamentally on the way in which the person uses and develops abilities psychics mentioned to elaborate thoughts, affects and behaviors. This function is carried out through the psychological structure, which contains the necessary instructions to perceive a stimulus from the environment, interpret it, give it a meaning and an evaluation and choose the response to it (the stimulus-response model is followed). In this sense it could be said that the psychological structure It does not modify the biological structure, but rather “manages” it. to adapt it to the requirements of environmental stimuli.
The influence of the environment
These instructions are contained (according to the functional model of the mind) in the various mental programs: perception, attention, evaluation, interpretation, memory, emotionality, motivation, intentionality, choice, etc., that are generated. through learning obtained through the interaction of the person with their close environment, whether family, work or social (the figure of attachment is important). It is, therefore, the environment in which a person develops (in which the prevailing culture has a great influence) the source of knowledge, beliefs, traditions, experiences, moral values, motivations, etc. that contribute to the formation of these programs.
In this sense, Buss and Plomin suggest that various innate or inherited dispositions that contribute to the structuring of personality are influenced by interaction with the environment and that this interaction is important particularly in early childhood, although there are limits to how much it can modify the environment the basic layout.
But every situation is accompanied by…