The
term personality can be best used to
describe an individual. Personality consists of the most salient features of an
individual. It is the most representative of an individual, manifesting what
and who that person actually is, and what differentiates that person from the other.
It is the attribute that is
highly typical of the individual and is an important part of the overall
impression created in others.
The salient features of an individual as
well as typicality are reflections of fixed behavior patterns. It is these behavior
patterns that depict who and what a person is all about. These behavior
patterns are determined by the brain structure of the individual. Personality,
then, can be said to be a composition of specific patterns of behavior that are
determined by the brain of the individual.
Personality is said to be relatively
stable. This suggests that an individual, throughout his or her life, more or
less remains the same. However, there have been psychologists who question this
notion of personality. It has been suggested that throughout life people have a
wide range of experiences that impact an individual in many ways. These can be
extremely satisfying experiences or sad experiences, and even traumatic
experiences, all of which can bring about some change in an individual. Life
experiences, then have been found to be so impactful, that they do change an
individual.
This idea of life experiences changing an
individual can be understood by the concept of neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity is the changing of neural networks
and neural pathways leading to changes in the structure of brain areas. These
changing of structures further enables to changing or deviation of the specific
functions associated with those brain areas.
Neuroplasticity suggests that the brain
is constantly changing. It is the environment and the surroundings of the
individual that is bringing about this change. This means that life experiences
in the form of new information, social interactions or a lack of it, major life
events, etc., are all causing the brain to change. When indulging in repeated
behavior or being exposed to repeated stimulus, specific brain regions
associated with that behavior begin to change. The consequences of this change
in structure and function of brain areas are changes in behavior patterns and,
thus, personality.
It is due to this that when people are
born with a specific brain pattern, and thus temperament, characteristics, and
personality, there is a likelihood that the person does not always remain the
same.
For instance, people may be born as being
shy, timid, or melancholic. Their neural circuitry is built in such a way that
they are born in this manner. Similarly, the brain structure of individuals
determines if a person is an introvert or an extrovert. But the environment in
which they are brought up in, and the kind of life experiences that they may
have, they may not always be the same in the years to come.
According to the research done by the
developmental psychologist, Jerome Kagan, people who are shy have a highly sensitive
amygdala, the brain area, which is said to be the seat of emotions. Their
overly sensitive amygdala makes them highly reactive and prone to fearfulness
and discomfort in social and unfamiliar situations. Similarly, timidity has
been found to be associated with chronically high levels of the
neurotransmitter (brain chemical) norepinephrine. This makes their amygdala
easily get excited, leading to discomfort in social situations, and thus,
avoiding such situations.
These individuals are said to be born
with what is referred to as the inhibited temperament. Studies have shown that
they remain inhibited in adulthood as well, suggesting that they remain the
same. However, it has also been found that there have been a lot of instances
in which shy individuals tend to be relatively comfortable in specific social
situations. There are people who have been shy and yet are into leadership
positions or teaching jobs, which do require a lot of interactions with others.
This can be attributed to their
upbringing, experiences, and lifestyle. A shy individual, for instance, being
brought up in a way or has certain experiences in which he or she has to have
continuous interactions, the neural pathways in the amygdala would change in
such a manner that those specific situations may not seem to be as fearful, and
the individual no longer feels uncomfortable. This can really happen if a shy
child is encouraged by his or her parents to have more and more friends, and
then he or she grows up to become relatively comfortable around people. It can
also happens in case of shy teachers, when in their initial classes they are
hesitant and uncomfortable, but as they gain experience with respect to taking
more and more classes, their neural pathways change in such a way that they
become used to it, and do not feel as uncomfortable as they may have felt
initially.
Like
being born as shy and timid, some people are also born as melancholic. Such
individuals have greater levels of brain activity in their right-frontal lobe,
the right-front part of the brain. They experience negativity and sour moods,
and are easily fazed by the difficulties in life. But this melancholic
nature may not be there during adulthood if the child is given the kind of
upbringing that involves a lot of nurturance, assurance, and is given a happy
and pleasant environment, which could all change the neural circuitry in such a
way that the individual no longer experiences negativity. Here again, the life
experiences play a vital role in changing the brain activity, bringing about a
change in the individual.
The
idea of life experiences changing neural pathways can also be seen with respect
to introversion and extroversion. The personality psychologist, Hans Eysenck,
based on his research, found that introverts have a high level of brain
arousal, specifically in the reticular activating system (RAS). This high brain
activity makes them get easily aroused in stimulating situations, often leading
them to get drained out, especially when interacting with a large number of
people. It is due to this that introverts prefer to keep to themselves, and
interact with people only when they feel like to do so. Extroverts, on the
other hand, according to Eysenck, have low brain activity in their RAS, which
makes them have a high threshold for stimulation. This develops a need within
extroverts to be energetic, outgoing, and have many social interactions.
However,
there have been many instances in which introverts have been found to be
relatively comfortably interact with a large number of people and extroverts
preferring to spend time by themselves. In such instances, as mentioned above,
the continuous experiences that they may be having will lead to changes in their
brain activity, making them relatively comfortable in situations that may not
be suitable to their temperament. An introvert, for instance, due to work
(teaching, social work, marketing, media), might have continuous
experiences of having many social interactions with people, gradually changing the
brain activity, making him or her feel relatively comfortable in such
situations. Likewise, an extrovert may have to be involved in certain activities
such as writing, editing, composing, programming which require a lot of alone-time,
gradually changing the brain activity, making the individual not feeling that
much of discomfort in similar situations.
It
is therefore quite evident that people due to their varied life experiences, because
of the process of neuroplasticity, do not necessarily remain the same.
Individuals constantly have a wide range of experiences, which suggests that
the process of change takes place throughout life.
If individuals change constantly, throughout
life, it gives rise to the question that is there a possibility that
individuals completely change? For instance, can an introvert completely change
and become an extrovert, can an extrovert completely change into an introvert, or can a shy and timid individual completely change
into a highly confident person? The answer to this lies in the rubber band
theory.
The rubber band theory suggests
that individuals change only up to a certain extent. Just as a rubber band can
be stretched to a certain limit, after which it may break, meaning that it
cannot be stretched beyond that, the change in individuals is also in the same
manner. This means that an individual will not completely change.
Thus, a shy person will not completely
transform into a highly confident person. The person will largely be shy, but
in some specific situations in which the person has got used to, he or she will
feel confident. In the same manner, an introvert will always remain an
introvert. There will be situations in which the introvert will be energetic,
enthusiastic, and comfortable in interactions. But the introvert will still
want that alone-time, to be with himself or herself. The introvert will never
completely change into an extrovert.
The notion of an introvert not completely
changing into an extrovert, but being like one only in specific situations goes
in line with Eysenck’s conception. Eysenck suggests that introversion and
extroversion are not mutually exclusive traits; they lie on a continuum. This
suggests that individuals have tendencies of both introversion and extroversion,
and depending on where the individual lies on the continuum, one of the
characteristics will be more dominant.
A similar perspective of introversion and
extroversion, before Eysenck, has been suggested by, the psychoanalyst, Carl
Jung. According to Jung, people tend to be both introvert and extrovert, but
one of them is more dominant. It is due to this that an introvert sometimes may
behave like an extrovert and an extrovert may sometimes behave like an
introvert. But an individual will never be either completely an introvert or an
extrovert.
Therefore, according to the rubber band
theory, it can be said that individuals do change over the years, due to their
life experiences, but this change will be to such an extent that he or she will
not completely transform into a completely different person.
This change, however, is not that simple
as it may sound to be. Genetic studies indicate that the genotype (gene
structure) of an individual eventually determines the environment in which the
individuals are brought up in. For instance, a person due to being shy will be
avoiding interacting with others. This, in turn, will make others avoid that
person. The person, therefore, will be living in an environment that has
limited social interactions, with very little possibilities of changing the
neural circuitry in such a way that it will make that person less hesitant in
specific situations.
Nevertheless, the right kind of
environment, nurturance, and life experiences, due to the process of
neuroplasticity, bring about a change in the personality of the individual. This
change, however, according to the rubber band theory, takes place only to a certain
extent, and does not necessarily mean that the individual will transform into a
completely new person.
1 comment:
Very well written article, and very true. I can relate to this. I am, by nature, an introvert. Due to the nature of my work, I have to meet new people very frequently. At the beginning of my stint at my current position, I would always be uncomfortable going to meetings or gatherings where I had to interact with many people. But having been exposed to many situations like this has made me somewhat comfortable going into such them and that fear factor is not there anymore (although I still do not enjoy it).
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