What
makes humans so special in this world?This
special significance must be seen in the conscious human mind [1],
the most intriguing phenomenon of nature that we know.More
specifically, the essence of the human mind includes certain specific capabilities
or characteristics – mental creativity, ethics, the values individuals
or cultures pursue and judge by, and individual personality.There
also are the arts – and there is humor.These
basic capabilities or characteristics give uniqueness and significance
to our own lives and shape their course.They
also give strength and direction to the development of our civilizations.
Mental
creativity allows humans to overcome practical misery and build civilizations.Ethics
– morality, moral standards – facilitate communal life and lend nobility
and warmth to human existence.The
“values” pursued by individuals and societies give their existence purpose
and set standards for personal expression, behavior, and thought.Personality
(or “character”) is the key factor in defining individual uniqueness and
shaping an individual’s course through life.The
arts can bring an emotional response to our lives, sometimes joy.
All
these basic capabilities and characteristics are anchored in the human
brain or mind and modified by body chemistry or psychological effects.An
understanding of this natural foundation and functioning of our existence
is essential.Such understanding may
possibly allow better development and better use of these capabilities
and characteristics.
Two
essays have already been presented by this author, describing the natural
foundation of some of these human capabilities:
*“The
Brain, the Mind:Mental Creativity”,
an abbreviated essay on mental creativity in terms of neurophysiology and
psychology, based on four basic hypotheses (based, in turn, on the more
comprehensive essay, “Creative
Thought”)
*“The
Brain, the Mind and Ethics”, an abbreviated essay on ethical thought
and behavior in terms of neurophysiology, psychology, culture and thought
(based on the more comprehensive essay, “Ethics,
Overview”)
The
following writing presents:
*“Brain,
Mind:Human Personality’s Stability,
Variability and Multiplicity”, an analysis of personality based on neurophysiology,
biochemistry, and psychology – with emphasis on the importance of the multiplicity
of human personality expressions.
Future essays are intended
to focus on:
*“Human
Values”, an essay on the analysis of values and their use as guides through
life or as standards by which to judge expression, behavior, and thought
*“Aesthetics,
Art, Culture”, an analysis of the human capability for sensibility and
expression in terms of aesthetics, art, culture – based on thoughts and
emotions and anchored in neurophysiology, biochemistry, and psychology.
About
“Personality”:
“Personality” – including
character or temperament – is considered a firm characterization of an
individual’s intellectual and emotional constitution, and, mainly, of the
individual’s behavior patterns.Consequently,
a person’s personality is the most important influence on the individual’s
course through life and is considered to often lie at the core of successes
or problems.
A proper personality is
thought to be one that facilitates the maintaining of proper values, the
pursuit of suitable priorities, and the maintenance of valuable goals in
life.Furthermore, the well-adjusted
personality is expected to optimize cooperation with other individuals
and personal effectiveness in society.
It is not surprising that
many individuals are not totally happy with themselves – with how they
are, how they are perceived by others, their station in life, with their
personality.Many individuals with
serious concerns want to be better human beings or attain more significance
in society.Many spouses would like
to see their partner’s personality a little modified, or that of their
children, whom they care for and whom they try to set on a good and successful
approach to life.All education concentrates
not only on the acquisition of knowledge, but largely on personality development
or modification (or “building of character”).Many
people have problems with the personalities of their associates at work.All
major churches and philosophical schools have tried for centuries to influence
or help their followers in changing their personalities toward religious
or philosophical ideals.Charitable
organizations helping the needy in society often find that personality
problems are to be found at the root of their clients’ problems, whether
originating in upbringing, social setting, or physiological causes.In
many cases, personality changes are hoped to bring more strength and more
self-control of desires, emotions, or unfavorable habits.Personality
changes should improve the utilization of personal energy, time, and financial
resources.We all reject personality
manipulation; yet, many of us think that we could do better in life if
we could change our personality just a little bit – or even a lot – and,
mainly, change the personalities of others.
Can a favorable personality
be maintained under unfavorable influences?Could
one voluntarily bring about personality changes, permanently or temporarily?Could
it be that different personality traits are physiologically interconnected?That
is important to know, because changing one trait may then change others
as well.And before one begins to
influence personality, does one really know what changes in character traits
one wants to be permanent – or for which situations or circumstances of
future life only?Should one actually
want everybody to have one and the same personality?
It is recognized that personality is naturally formed
by the individual’s neurophysiology and biochemistry.Both
are, to some extent, variable.There
are natural personality changes that occur at a very slow and continuous
rate with age, as commonly observed.Personality
changes occur at a more rapid and often perturbing rate during puberty
or as a consequence of traumatic occurrences.Personality
is psychologically influenced through the cultural environment, peer group,
role models, learning, and one’s own thought.In
other words, personality is not a constant.Changes
do occur all the time.
Brain physiology and body
chemistry are the “hardware” foundations of personality.Is
this “hardware” stable, or does it change in the course of time and under
the influence of external factors, circumstances of life, or experiences
of the mind?Do we know what would
have to be done to accomplish a “hardware” change in the brain or in body
chemistry – or to prevent such a change?It
is important to know that some of the biochemical factors of personality
can actually be influenced by personal lifestyle and by psychological factors.
The psychological factors
of personality relate to experiences, learning, being embedded in a social
environment or culture, and own thought.These
form the “software” foundations of personality.Can
personality be changed or improved through education, critique, or lifestyle?Psychologists,
religious leaders, philosophers, rulers of people, business leaders, social
workers, teachers, and parents have all tried to accomplish changes in
personality of their followers, subjects, assigned cases, or dependents
through one form or another of “programming”.Many
approaches have been tried – teaching, setting an example, presentation
of role models, transfer to a different social environment, prayer, meditation,
induced thought – some with a certain effect on some of the subjects, mostly
with only limited effect for a limited time or under limited circumstances.
One can always question
the justification for psychological personality change, manipulation or
goal-setting.More interesting in
the context of this essay is a discussion of what worked, and why, or what
didn’t, and why.Furthermore, there
could be a discussion of the effectiveness of the psychological approach
to personality change (software) when coordinated or when in conflict with
physiological or biochemical approaches (hardware) – for example, through
psychopharmacological agents.
There is another point
of special importance – one not sufficiently recognized:Each
individual is capable of a variety of personality expressions, usually
proceeding from situational conditions.As
can easily be observed, personality expressions often change swiftly or
instantly, as upon the arising of conflict situations with outsiders or
in returning to a peaceful setting at home after a day of struggle.The
situational changes of personality expression are the fastest and most
dramatic changes of personality.The
same individual can be harsh to perceived adversaries and – only moments
later – rather warmhearted to offspring, siblings, or a temporary sweetheart.
This capability to
express a variety of individual personality traits in a multiplicity of
ways deserves better investigation.Together
with the understanding of neurophysiologic and biochemical foundations
of personality, it could potentially provide for the answer to some of
the above mentioned predicaments: the desire to function as better human
beings or to be more significant in society; the wish of many spouses to
see their partner’s personality express itself a little differently [2],
or that of their children, whom they care for and whom they try to set
on a good and successful approach to life.After
all, too often personality issues lie at the core of our and our society’s
successes or problems in life.
An understanding of the
multiplicity of personality expressions under different circumstances may
also increase our tolerance toward others – and lead to emphatic, skillful,
creative responses in social situations – different from inflexible separation,
reprisal, retribution, and egocentric behavior.
Our language provides three
different words to describe the emotional, mental, or behavioral individuality
of a person – “temperament”, “character”, and “personality”.Do
we need all three concepts?If all
three are not needed, which one should we prefer?One
should look at the various definitions, their similarities, and their differences:
Personality:
“....what
constitutes an individual; a distinct person; .... an application of remarks
to the conduct, character, or appearance of some person; traits that characterize
an individual; reference to personal traits; ....”
Character:
“....
the peculiar qualities impressed by nature or habit on a person, which
distinguish him from others; a distinctive quality assigned to a person
by repute; reputation; sometimes restricted to good qualities or reputation;
strongly marked distinctive qualities of any kind”
Temperament:
“....that
individual peculiarity of physical organization by which the manner of
acting, feeling and thinking of each person is permanently affected (a
person of a sanguine, or a melancholy, temperament ....”
Personality:
“..
totality of the personal (characteristic, individual) properties of a person,
..”
Character:
“....Individual
formation of an individual through inherited and acquired moral characteristics,
as becomes apparent in the uniformity and consistency of his or her objectives
and actions, ....”
Temperament:
“....the
relatively constant and for an individual specific manner of feeling, experiencing,
acting, and reacting (a sanguine, choleric, melancholic, apathetic temperament)....”
Personality:
“The
behavior as a whole, the capabilities, the motivations, etc. the unity
and permanence of which constitutes the individuality, the uniqueness of
everyone”
Character:
“Usual
manner of reaction for a person, personality (passionate, apathetic).Aptitude
to assert one’s personality, firmness.Somebody’s
distinctive mark, ......”
Temperament:
“The
innate dispositions as a whole of an individual which determine the character
(e.g. a violent temperament).To have
temperament = to have a strong personality”
Personality:
“.....
what makes the individuality of a moral person......
appearance of a person;aspect under
which a person considers itself....what
differentiates one person from all the others .... personality can be strong,
powerful, banal, without personality .... character, individuality, nature
.... a remarkable person by social standing.”
Character:
“...attribute,
mark, ... what allows to distinguish one person from another .... the sum
of the habitual manners of sensing and reacting which distinguish one individual
from the other ..... individuality, personality, temperament .... the character
is a manner to be constant, the mood is a passing disposition .... manner
of a person to act .... character can be cold, apathetic, heavy, serious,
exuberant, passionate .... accommodating, humble, friendly, charming, conciliatory,
sweet, happy, peaceful, patient, sociable, sympathetic .... optimist ....
bitter, aggressive, brusque, brutal, choleric, difficult, hard, irascible,
irritable, morose, violent .... noble .... courage, determination, energy,
firmness, tenacity, will .... idealist, martyr, hero, utopist .... character
of a nation.”
There are substantial parallels
between the definitions of “temperament”, “character”, and “personality”.It
looks as if the writers of these definitions had tried to use different
words to express very similar ideas for the three concepts.However,
the various definitions are not identical.The
Webster definition of personality lists “conduct, character, or appearance”
as constituting elements.The Duden
definition of character brings in “moral” characteristics as defining elements.The
definition of temperament more clearly includes feeling and emotions.
In common language, “personality”
is often used to describe how dominant a person is within society.For
many people, that is the only usage of this term, as when speaking about
a “strong” personality or a “weak” one.However,
when asked to describe the personality of a certain individual, a large
variety of descriptive terms are being used, mostly in the form of descriptions
of various “personality traits” covering every aspect of that person’s
behavior or expression.
“Character” is often used
to indicate how consistent or predictable a person is considered to be,
even when negatively judged (for example, to be vicious or devious).
“Temperament” generally
indicates a dynamic aspect of behavior – fast or slow, ready for action
or passively preferring rest, in expressiveness or reserve – and, thereby,
relates to an emotional aspect of personality.
In sum, “personality” appears
as the widest-ranging concept.Furthermore,
the concept of “personality traits” is commonly equivalent to specific,
detailed aspects of “character” or “temperament”.Therefore,
and for reasons of the similarity of the three concepts and for the purpose
of simplification of writing and reading, only the concepts of “personality”
and “personality traits” shall be used in this article.
Resulting from the prior
considerations and for the specific use in this essay, personality can
be defined as follows:
·“Personality”
is the repertoire of an individual’s patterns of expression in emotions,
thoughts, words, actions, and reactions to the environment or in communication
with the environment (expressions = mind-based configurations describing
mental conditions, providing internal or external communications, or causing
actions).
·An
individual’s repertoire is assumed to show little variation, although some
of the possible expressions (roles) in the repertoire may be suppressed,
while others are added in the course of time.This
may be caused by physiological changes, new insights, experiences, or changing
expectations presented by the environment.
·One
specific expression may be prevalent most of the time under many circumstances,
but not always and under all circumstances.The
prevalent expression constitutes the commonly recognized “personality”
of an individual.
·Any
specific expression of personality of an individual is of temporary nature,
as personality is somewhat variable in the course of the individual’s life,
where gradual and continuous changes with age are normal, but where sudden
changes – under the influence of insights, circumstances, or events – may
also occur.
·The
specific personality expressions at any one time are conditional upon circumstances,
including situational conditions, group expectations, and cultural
settings.
·These
circumstances can be external conditions or events; they can be of physiological
or metabolic nature, or they can be of psychological nature, including
the individual’s own thoughts.
·Personality
– being a function of the mind – is a function of neurophysiologic,
biochemical, and psychological factors.These
three types of basic factors of personality are interrelated.The
interrelation is given by the plasticity of the structure of the
brain in the dedication of brain domains to mental tasks, by the variability
of the synaptic connectivity through biochemistry, and by the behavioral
selectivity of all individuals in selectively seeking, in being offered,
and in experiencing psychological situations.
·A
multitude of underlying factors contribute to the neurophysiologic, biochemical,
and psychological factors, respectively, including (but not limited to)
genetic factors, accidents and diseases, lack or intake of substances,
climate, learning, social conditions and expectations, personal experiences,
and one’s own thought.Some of these
underlying factors are interrelated.
1.4.Description
of Personality and IndividualPersonality
Traits:
The human “personality”,
on the most basic biological level, relates to the functioning of a human
being in basic reflexes, and it appears at a very early age.Some
individuals are described as “slow”, others as “alert”; some as tolerant
or friendly, others as irritable and easily excited.Personality,
on a fundamental level, also relates to the functioning of an individual
in fulfilling basic tasks.Some people
are described as “smart” when they can handle complex tasks, others as
“dumb” when they cannot.However,
in general, the description of the human personality concerns wider and
more complex areas of mental functions, indicating more holistic patterns
of human expressions in emotions, thought, speech, or actions.
The task of describing
“personality” appears rather simple in discussions with people who have
not given much thought to the subject of human personality.There,
the general assumption is that individuals have one specific and invariable
personality, and that the main characteristic of personality is either
“strong” or “weak”.The discussion
changes if one asks for a specific personality description of a variety
of different people.Then, one can
hear someone described as “cool”, phony, dull, sparkling, a saint, courageous,
a bureaucrat, or anything else in a selection from an endless variety of
descriptive words.
The establishment of a logical or practical order
of personality traits is not easy.Any
simple listing of possible personality traits would look like a linear
order.But personality covers the
individual’s multitude of moods and responses to the multitude of diverse
human endeavors and involvements.At
best, a description can attempt to point out some major categories of personality
traits and a few specific traits within each of them.
From a physiological
point of view, one should order the description of personality expressions
in accordance with their physiological base or source; that means in accordance
with the structure of the brain, or the main biochemical components influencing
personality expression.There would
be a listing of the personality traits or personality expressions related
to the various hypothalamus nuclei and their functions, the amygdala, the
caudate nucleus, the various endocrine glands, the multitude of hormones,
the various neurotransmitters, et cetera.Such
an analysis should, further, include the interrelation of some of these
physiological factors.This approach
will be pursued in the next chapter of this essay, “Formative Factors of
Personality”.
A psychological
approach would result in another mode of describing and categorizing personality
traits.This, too, will be briefly
mentioned in the respective chapter.In
doing so, one could proceed by using the respective, standard terms or
categories of the various schools of psychology. This analysis should also
include the interrelation of most psychological factors.
A more dynamic and developmental
approach would consider how an individual handles the various challenges
arising in the course of life, from childhood through adolescence, to mid-life
periods, and to old age.
In practical terms,
one would develop a descriptive list of different personalities by looking
at how individuals are coping with causations for personality expression
– how individuals handle their drives, emotions, thoughts, and reactions
to the circumstances of life.One
could think of individuals as troubled, well-adjusted, or highly successful.One
could, for example, think in terms of abilities, social skills, and pervasive
dispositions.
Another interesting, related
approach would consider the cultural conditioning of personality
by following the cultural evolution of mankind.One
could describe the origin and occurrence of ever more complex recognitions
of personality traits in the course of the last 5,000 (or 15,000) years
and their differences in the various cultures of our times.Primitive
people had to cope with survival under different conditions and the fulfillment
of basic drives.They would have
described their personalities in accordance with their strength or weaknesses
in those areas.As society became
more complex, the need for restraint, cooperation, rank, and leadership
became apparent.Early historical
records indicate personality descriptions accordingly.More
recently, we learned to appreciate moral and humanistic values.Refined
emotions, cultural sensitivity, fairness, charity, mental growth, and human
dependability became recognized as significant personality traits.
In our most recent times,
we have recognized the importance of scientists, revolutionaries, bureaucrats,
and entrepreneurs and began to describe people’s personalities accordingly.Now,
we strive to learn global tolerance and innovation, expressed in related
character traits.In sum, there
seems to be a correlation between culture and personality description or
expression.
It is interesting to note
that the relation between the recognition and the development or expression
of personality traits may work in both directions, one forming the other.Personality
expression may be based on cultural expectation (or prevalent role models),
and vice versa.On the other hand,
the evolution of a culture may be influenced by the recognition of new
personality traits (or the appearance of new leaders or heroes).This
is specifically so when two different cultures come into contact with each
other or when individuals enter new cultural environments.
Following is a small random
list of personality descriptions or personality traits illustrating their
diversity:
“....cold,
phlegmatic, heavy, serious, exuberant, passionate, dynamic, .... accommodating,
humble, friendly, charming, conciliatory, sweet, happy, peaceful, patient,
sociable, sympathetic .... optimist .... bitter, brusque, brutal, choleric,
difficult, hard, irascible, irritable, morose, violent .... noble, generous
.... courageous, determined, energetic, firm, tenacious, strong-willed
.... idealist, martyr, hero, utopist .... sensual, uninhibited, restrained,
disciplined .... alert, phlegmatic .... focused, scatterbrain, drifting,
persevering, orderly, chaotic, loner, sociable, grouchy, cheerful, dignified,
calm, compassionate, insecure, self-assured .... aggressive, easy-going
.... ”
The best-known – and, possibly,
most widely used – psychological inventory for personality assessment,
the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), contains 556 items.The
California Psychological Inventory (CPI) contains 480 items.Others
simplify the work by offering groupings or separate scales.Some
personality analyses concentrate on only 4 traits:
*dominance-submissiveness
*social
timidity-social dependence
*introversion-extroversion
*talkativeness-silence
Obviously, this represents
only a very limited aspect of total personality.The
widely recognized Personality Research Forms (PRF) for personality analysis
concentrate in their “short” version on only 15 variables, of which the
last one is only a “validity scale”:
*achievement
*affiliation
*aggression
*autonomy
*dominance
*endurance
*exhibition
*harm
avoidance
*impulsivity
*nurturance
*order
*play
*social
recognition
*understanding
and:
*infrequency
In the long form, 6 variables
and 1 “validity scale” are added:
*abasement
*change
*cognitive
structure
*defendence
*sentience
*succorance
and:
*desirability
In other studies, the following parameters are commonly
included:
*dominance
- submissiveness
*social
timidity - social dependence
*introversion
- extroversion
*talkativeness
- silence
None of these lists of
psychological variables for personality analysis includes personality traits
related to the following areas:
*morals
*culture
in the sense of the arts
*humor
*justice
or fairness
*compassion
and charity
The moral variables could
refer to the individual’s attitude toward doing right or wrong.The
cultural/artistic variables could refer to the individual’s sense of beauty,
courtesy, ritual, or sensitivity to nature.As
indicated earlier, personality traits vary in time and are circumstantially
(situationally) influenced.This
includes the above traits.
A further categorization
of personality traits includes the distinction between source traits and
surface traits.
Describing an individual’s
personality presupposes that one can determine personality in an objective
manner, possibly even “measure” it.There
are a number of problems with attempting to do so.Specifically,
there can be a distortion or selectivity in observation and assessment
occurring through the preferences, attitudes, personality, professional
bias, or cultural setting of the observer.Could
personality assessment and valuation be in the mind of the beholder? [3]
Even professional personality testing methods carry with them the baggage
of their culture in what they measure and what they do not – and how they
may assess values to specific personality traits.Any
personality test will conform to the school of thought of the one doing
the description or test, including the influence of current professional
or public opinion (as in “political correctness”).Thus,
the famous Scholastic Aptitude Tests and standard intelligence tests were
criticized and important new “multiple intelligence” theories developed.
Most great personalities
of history have undergone reanalysis by deconstructionism.On
the other hand, previously insignificant people became significant and
their personality traits important.Some
people are seen differently by their good friends or their own children,
and differently again by their immediate neighbors, or their adversaries
and detractors.Some politicians have
been described quite differently by the adherents of their own parties
or their opponents, or by different political parties of their time or
later times.On a shorter time scale,
there is still the variability of personality expression under the impact
of circumstantial conditions.
Such vagueness or variability
of personality assessment would have to be kept in mind when considering
changes in personality, even in educating one’s own children.In
the world they will live in or in the lives they will choose for themselves,
different personality traits may be significant from those recognized or
emphasized by their parents.
Is there anything more
permanent in personality assessment and goal recognition?As
indicated above, intelligence and temperament are recognized as varying
little, but not necessarily as equally significant for all at all times.Even
the basic moral codes of society may become variable at their fringes,
as in premarital sex or abortions.In
the modern business world, the call for aggressiveness – if not ruthlessness
– may yield to the preference for cooperation, or vice versa.In
political terms, traditional nationalism may have to yield to global cooperation.In
spite of all moral demands, nature favors the one who prevails.Our
values expect us to do right.
1.5.Personality
Traits:Linear Valuation or Bipolar
Balance
In regard to a specific
personality trait, an individual either has it or doesn’t have it.For
a positive personality trait, a virtue, the more one has of it, the better.For
a negative personality trait, a vice, the more one has of it, the worse.This
is a linear valuation of personality traits and corresponds to the common
view of virtues and vices.
There is an alternative
– the ancient Greek, Aristotelian view of “character”.In
this view, every virtue is the balance between two extremes – where each
extreme has a negative value, but the proper balance point is a positive
one.A typical example is “courage”.It
is the positively valued balance between cowardice and foolhardiness.This
view can also be perceived in Theophrastus’ famous descriptive collection
of “Characters”, where all vice is presented as an exaggeration. [4]
Could it be that there
is an interesting physiological background to the Aristotelian view of
character?Could it be that one could
see any action, behavior, or performance as a balance between an initiating
or accelerating physiological force and a restraining force?For
example, as an animal rushes forward to obtain food, it is restrained by
caution not to be captured by a lurking predator.If
the animal is a predator, it is restrained by caution to bring its capture
strategy to success.Hunger is the
driving force.Perceived consequences,
as learned from prior threat or failure, are the restraining force.The
two originate in different parts of the brain, the biological drive
in the hypothalamus, the negative valuation most likely in the amygdala
or in stored memory.
Also, humans in the process
of initiating an action consider the consequences.The
more extreme the action being initiated, the more of restraining caution
sets in.
Personality and all personality
traits could be seen as the sum of initiating and restraining factors.Lack
of sufficient initiating or accelerating factors (or their excess) cannot
be favorable in life, nor can lack or excess of restraint.Thus,
an Aristotelian view of personality may find some background in physiology
or psychology.Any analysis of personality
or personality traits, and attempts to change them, should keep this in
mind.While much is known about
initiating factors, there is a need for the specific study of the mental
mechanism of restraint in neurophysiologic terms.
In a detailed analysis,
the Aristotelian or Theophrastian view of virtue as a bipolar balance appears
understandable in most cases, but it also appears a little forced in some
cases, as when trying to prove the universal validity of this theory.Life
may not be that simple; only further analysis of the physiological and
psychological formative factors of personality will show.
The fact is, when talking
not only about virtues but about personality traits in a wider sense, the
Aristotelian view does not always apply, as in the case of “intelligence”
as a personality trait.Intelligence
is not a “virtue” and is not a bipolar balance between two extremes.It
is linear.
1.6.Stability,
Variability, or Multiplicity of Personality:
Most people think that
the “personality” of an individual is a constant.Every
serious person knows how hard it is to change one’s own or anybody else’s
personality.We know that genetic
factors, personal experiences, and our own thought form
our individual personality.But
most of these foundations of personality are somewhat dynamic – e.g., variable
over time.How, then, can personality
remain constant?Furthermore, accidents,
afflictions of the brain, and drugs can have important influences on personality.
Of special importance is
the fact that most people express different personalities under different
circumstances of life.This occurs
in many basic situations of life.Some
people are very slow in getting started in the morning.A
cup of coffee or immersion in their business chores helps them “sharpen-up.”They
may get hectic under the stress of business, but then they take an aspirin
to keep themselves calm.In late afternoon,
they may slow down and unwind during a “happy hour” with friends and a
drink at the bar.On the way home,
they get choleric about a bad driver cutting-in in front of them.Finally,
they return home to harmonious family life.In
a more dramatic setting, there is the “Godfather” dichotomy, describing
a man who is a mobster in society at large, but a caring father for his
own family.
In practical life, it is
very important to be aware of the different circumstantial personality
expressions of other people.Many
marriages, business contacts, school and business careers could be saved
if people were able to motivate their partners to project more the favorable
personality expressions they actually are capable of.Such
circumstantial motivation becomes the key to practical personality variation
and may work better than mere talking or teaching.
The analysis of this variability
of human personality is further complicated by the fact that many factors
of personality expression are interrelated.
Any
dog that knows exactly where to scratch when it itches somewhere, demonstrates
consciousness of itself.Any dog
that searches for food at the right place – or any wolf that arrives at
a valid strategy to hunt for prey – demonstrates consciousness of the surrounding
world and the capability to reflect upon it.This
is also visible in dogs that dream of a chase while sleeping.Consequently,
consciousness is not limited to humans.There
is no clear limit between no capability for consciousness and full consciousness
when looking at various levels of complexity of existence as between advanced
automatic machinery, animals, and humans.There
only are quantitative differences.At
a very low level of natural evolution, memory of perceptions (images,
sounds or smells of next of kin, of food, or of enemies) occurs first.This
can be seen as a precursor of consciousness.At
a higher level, varying degrees of thought capability permits the
appearance, handling, and valuation of visualizations in the mind, and
consideration of consequences of visualized sequences – completely independent
of sensory perception.Combined
with this – at a capacity varying with level of development – is the capability
for memory retention of such visualizations and of complete sequences of
those, sometimes called a train of thought. This effect is
all that constitutes consciousness, a purely virtual effect derived
from the capability for thought and proportional to the memory capacity
for prior perceptions, own thought visualizations, andthought
sequences – augmented by the degree of complexity of the addressability
for recall of memory – including their valuations and assessment
of outcomes.This can result in the
impression of retaining a virtual reality in one’s own mind
– often described as the human mind spanning the universe, the human mind
reflecting upon itself, the universe reflecting upon itself – but mostly
not spanning much more and reflecting upon much else but the immediate
daily needs – and not admitting that animals also do belong to this circle
of conscious beings – even though a dog’s consciousness can very well span
itself, its food, its owner, the mailman, and the neighbor’s cat.
The
emotional sensation of consciousness is not different from the emotional
reaction to many perceptions – e.g., a works of art or visualizations in
thought.This emotional reaction occurs
only as one reflects upon consciousness, as it does when reflecting upon
anything else.
For
neurophysiologic explanations of thought visualizations and thought sequences,
see the essays on “Creative Thought” or “Mental Creativity” by H. Schwab
on “www.schwab-writings.com”.