Psychological context

From a psychological point of view, person designates a concrete being,

encompassing both its physical and psychological aspects to define its character
singular and unique. Perceives and interprets the mood, character, and form.
of people's actions, it also studies the qualities and abilities that
The person has, like reason, feelings and values that distinguish them.
of other beings.

There are several difficulties in the study of the human person considered.
unsalvageable for psychology. Let’s remember only the greatest: the person is not
neither an object nor a manifestation susceptible of being objectified, but a spring
or structure of acts; it is not a phenomenal reality nor a sum of
qualities, but an ungraspable singular unity; it is not a made, definitive formation,
it is a concrete process that only ends with death; finally, the acts that
original and that constitute its reality do not lend themselves to psychological reflection,
Well, they occur immediately and concretely, especially in participation.
loving.

Rae

(From the Latin persona, actor's mask, theatrical character, this

from Etruscan, and this from Greek πρόσωπον).

1.f. Individual of the human species.

2.f. Man or woman whose name is unknown or omitted.

So, we are going to focus simply on the aspects that must

be present if we want to have an adequate understanding of the
personality.
1. Personality is a hypothetical construct, inferred from the
observation of behavior does not feel like an entity in itself. 2. The
the use of the term personality does not imply connotations of
value about the characterized person. 3. Personality includes
traits or internal dispositions, stable over time
consistent from one situation to another, which explains the style of
response of the individuals. This stability and consistency allow
that we can predict the behavior of individuals.4. The
Personality also includes cognitions, motivations, and states.
affective factors that determine behavior and explain the lack of
consistency and the lack of stability of the same in certain
situations. 5. Personality will encompass both behavior
manifests as private experience, that is, the totality of the
functions and behavioral manifestations.6. The behavior will be the result
as many stable elements (psychological or biological) as
of aspects more determined by the
personal influences (perception of the situation,
previous experiences), social or cultural. 7. Personality is something
distinctive and unique to each individual from the
peculiar structuring of its characteristics and elements.8. The
individual will seek to adapt their behavior to the characteristics of the
environment in which it unfolds, taking into account that the
the perception they have of the environment will be guided by their own
personal characteristics (about what is important or not,
stressful, positive, etc.
By combining these elements, Bermúdez proposes the following definition:
"Relatively stable organization of those characteristics"
structural and functional, innate and acquired under special
conditions of its development, which shape the peculiar team and
defining behavior with which each individual faces the different
situations
Costa and McCrae, relying on the definition
from Allport "dynamic organization within the individual of those
psychophysical systems that determine their characteristic form of
think and behave,” they consider the elements that must be present
present in a definition of personality must be the ss (1, 2 and
3 derive from Allport's definition):
1. A dynamic organization or set of processes that integrate the
flow of experience and behavior. 2. Psychophysical systems, which
they represent basic trends and capabilities of
Individual. 3. Characteristic way of thinking and behaving (habits,
attitudes or peculiar adaptation of the individual to his
environment). 4. External influences (immediate situation and influences
social, cultural, and historical). 5. The objective biography, or each
objective event in each person's life. 6. The self-concept, or
the sense of the individual of who he is.
 BIOGR
AFÍA
OBJECTIVE

TRENDS BASIC ADAPTATIONS

CHARACTERISTICS EXTERNAL.INF
SELF-CONCEPT
based on the elements described above, Costa and McCrae represent
this model: - The basic trends include the arrangements
personal, innate or acquired, changeable/
modifiable or not with experience throughout the life cycle (traits
extroversion, perseverance, sexual orientation, intelligence or skills
artistic). - Throughout the development of the basic trends X with the
external influences = adaptations characteristics (lifestyle habits,
beliefs, interpersonal adaptations -relationships and social roles-
self-concept or personal identity is the vision that one has
individual of how it is.- ALL THE ARROWS OF THE PREVIOUS SCHEME
THEY REPRESENT DYNAMIC PROCESSES, which are the
mechanisms that relate the different elements of the model.
For Costa and McCrae, the basic trends and influences
externals would be considered the ultimate sources of explanation of
behavior, understood as the basic units of
personality.
Caprara and Cervone give more weight to the other elements. According to
They, the psychology of personality must go beyond the identification of
the superficial level trends, as they call them, for analysis
the affective and cognitive mechanisms that contribute in a way
causal functioning of personality.
Pervin offers the following definition: 'Personality is an organization'
complex of cognitions, emotions, and behaviors that provides orientations and
guidelines (coherence) to a person's life. Like the body, the
personality is comprised both of structures and processes
it reflects both nature (genes) and learning (experience).
In addition, personality encompasses the effects of the past, including the
memories of the past, as well as constructions of the present and of
future
From this definition of Pervin, we can extract the following aspects:
The true objective of personality psychology is the analysis of the
organization of the parts of the person in a system of
total functioning. (the study of the individual differences would be a
part of the field of study)2. The study of cognition is emphasized,
 emotions and behavior being central to personality
the interrelation of these elements (what we think, feel and
we do

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The personality

Among the various definitions of personality, there is one that defines it as

the dynamic organization, within the individual, of those psychophysical systems that
determines their unique adjustments to their environment (Allport). It is a concept that
it alludes to both the universal and the individual aspects of the human being, and in which
determination and development involve biological and social factors. Personality,
a concept different from character and temperament has been conceptualized as
various ways by authors such as Allport, Filloux, Lewin, and Lersch, while others
as Millon has emphasized the psychopathology of personality.

1. Person
The term personality derives from person, which is why it will be convenient
begin by reviewing the main senses in which this word was
understood.

In ancient times, 'persona' was the mask worn by the actor in the theater (Allport,
1981). The mask shows others, but also hides an interiority. From this
Dichotomy gives rise to two conceptions: Anglo-Saxon and Central European personality.
Anglo-Saxon places emphasis on the social: personality as a product of the
social interaction, of the influence of the external. The Central European conception emphasizes
the interior, the essence of being, sees personality as what singularizes in form
stable to the subject. For example, Lersch and his architectural structure of personality,
or the personalism of Mounier (Fernández, 1995).

Person also comes from "peri-soma" or immaterial substance that surrounds the
body, and also from "per se una" referring to the uniqueness of the individual, which makes it
different from the other (Fernández, 1995).

Cicero (Allport, 1981) systematized his initial meanings into four major ones
sentidos: 1) Persona como la apariencia (en oposición a lo que uno realmente es); 2)
Person as a paper or role played in life (for example, philosopher); 3) Person
as a set of personal qualities that enable a man to perform his work;
4) Person as distinction and dignity (for example, slaves were not considered persons; or
good people are those who represent a group or institution, or important and
distinguished in some sense). Note the contrast between the first meaning (person
like the false, the simulated, the appearance) with the last (person like the vital, interior
and essential).

Allport (1981) reviews the various meanings that were assigned to the word
person

Theological meanings: they were used when speaking of the three persons of the Holy Trinity.
Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). They were three persons in one, that is, for the
church were not masks or appearances but three ways of being that they shared the
same essence.

Philosophical meanings: the definition of person as a rational individual, given by

Boethius was dominant throughout the Middle Ages. Of the philosophical definitions, the
psychology will later rescue the attributes of rationality, self-awareness, effort
conative and absolute uniqueness.

Fernández (1995) states that the Greeks sought to refine the idea of person.
to objectify the individuality of man. Indeed, from Socrates-Plato
it seeks to separate man from nature and identify his peculiarity, which
It was correlative to the emergence of the polis.
 Here arises the idea of 'hypostasis' (what underlies, true reality, the 'being' in
strong sense) and of 'ousía'. The latter as the essence of a group, that is,
man as belonging to a community of equal beings before the law. From the
The idea of hypostasis will give rise to the idea of subject, and from ousia will come the idea of substance.

Both Greek words were later translated into Latin as 'person'. With
the substance was sought to differentiate the human substance, to which it was attributed.
rationality. Substance will be related to person according to Christianity, for
who the relationship of man with God generates interiority (subjectivism of San
Agustín). One moves from a subject that is subdued to a self-affirmed subject. Ousia has to
to see with the subject being held (by the community).

Legal meanings: for Justinian, a slave was not a person, and only they were.
free men. In modern times, due to Christian influence, a person became
every being endowed with life, intelligence, will, and separate individual existence, a
individual of the human race; a being with mind and body, etc. with which it disappeared
the difference between free and slaves. Then, a person also designated a group of
individuals or corporation (artificial person), the latter definition which had influence
in sociology more than in psychology.

Sociological meanings: in sociology, an important first sense is person as

individual human being, as the unit of the human social mass or the final particle of
human group. It also designated the bodily aspect, the idea of contempt (what
person!), and the subjective aspect of culture, that is, the subjectivization of the
social customs and traditions. A broad and synthetic definition is that of Burgess,
that points to personality as an effective social situation: Personality is the
integration of all the traits that determine the role and status of the person in the
society. Therefore, personality can be defined as social effectiveness.

Biosocial meanings: define personality based on a deceptive appearance,

or the external appearance, etc. Jung, for example, defines persona as a mask
that hides the true self to present an acceptable appearance to the world. Another
the meaning is that of personality as charm or 'I don't know what'. The biosocial meaning is
summarizes well in the definition of May, which defines it in terms of its value as
social stimulus stating that an individual's personality is defined by the
responses that it provokes in others. All these senses have two disadvantages: a)
they only attend to one part of what man is (the apparent or superficial), and b) only
they consider personality based on its influence on others and not in terms of
its internal organization.

2. Personality

The various psychological meanings of a person start from considering them as

set of personal qualities, and it is here that the concept begins to be used
of personality, perhaps except for Lewin, who tends to prefer the term person instead
from the term personality. From here, these various definitions can
classified, according to Allport (1981), into five basic groups:

1) Additive definitions: personality is a sum or catalog of attributes. Its

the problem is that they do not take into account the organization of these attributes in a
Unit. 2) Integrative configurational definitions: they take into account the organization
of the attributes, but they tend to put in the background the distinctive and unique character
of personality. 3) Hierarchical definitions: they consider several levels of integration
and organization. For example, James' theory of the four levels of the self (material,
social, spiritual and pure). 4) Definitions in terms of adjustment: biologists and behaviorists
see in personality an instance of survival, which serves to adapt or
adapt to the environment. 5) Definitions based on distinctiveness: define personality
as the system that characterizes a member of the group as different from any other
another member. It is not a substantive personality but an adverbial one, as it points to a
lifestyle, a way of being.

Some of the many scientific conceptualizations of personality are the

next:

Personality according to Eysenck.- "The structure of personality is the set of

personal characteristics of a human subject; such characteristics (partly innate,
partially acquired) constitute the behavior of every human individual
making it unique and unrepeatable. The personality structure is composed of two
parts: one congruent and consistent and the other plastic or modifiable. The first is
that permanent one which encompasses biological structure and the most learnings
strongly acquired (generally those from early childhood). The second one is
mainly deals with the learning and behavioral adjustments that the
the subject acts more late and in many cases consciously. According to Hans
Jürgen Eysenck's structure of personality has three "dimensions": 1 Intelligence
(or cognitive dimension). 2 Temperament (or relational dimension). 3 Character (or
affective-emotional dimension). These three dimensions must be balanced between
they, otherwise pathological states may occur" (Wikipedia, 2004).

Personality according to Koldobsky.- "Personality is a complex model, of

deep psychological characteristics, which are generally unconscious, which do not
they can be eradicated, and they are expressed automatically in every facet of
individual functioning. Intrinsic and persistent, its traits emerge from a
complicated matrix of biological arrangements, of learning, of experience, and
understands or encompasses the distinctive individual model of perceiving, reasoning, and facing the
situations and to others" (Koldobsky N, 1995:303).

Personality according to Betta.- Personality is the result of a complex

conjunction of factors and dispositions that ancestral inheritance transmits to the species,
those amalgamated with somatic characters constitute the psychophysical unit
about which intelligence is based, which drives personality towards evolution
psychic-spiritual, reaching, thanks to criticism and reason, the realm of the
aware, self-driving, and self-determination.

Personality according to projective psychology.- From the perspective of Abt (1988) there is
You can see the following significant trends in the conceptualization of the
behavior and personality in projective psychology:

a) More than a static set of traits, personality is a temporal process, of

there that the therapist must also explore the person's past and future. The
personality is influenced both by the needs of the individual and by the
physical and social environments. Culture and personality form a continuum.

b) Projective psychology increasingly tends to rely on field theory to

organize the projective data of behavior. This is studied then in terms of
the person-situation relationship.

c) Psychoanalysis influenced the consideration of personality from both the perspective

dynamic (the field) as genetic (historical and developmental). Hence, the
psychologists in projective tests conduct both cross-sectional and
longitudinal of personality.

d) It seeks to consider personality as a 'whole'. Since it cannot be seen

"completely" the entire personality, it seeks to consider the largest amount of
variables, useful for a specific purpose.

e) There is an increasing effort to build a conceptual framework that serves to identify,

for clinical purposes, different personalities. The idea is that of all science: to explain
past behavior and predict future behavior.

The postulates about personality that seem useful in projective psychology,

they can be formulated in this way (Abt, 1988):

Personality is a system that acts in the individual as an organization.

between the stimulus and the response that attempts to relativize. In other words, the stimulus produces the
response only if it connects with a functioning organism. The stimuli are
they are selected through selective attention, and others are rejected (inattention
selective).

Personality is dynamic and motivational. Its ability to select and

interpret the stimuli, on one hand, and to control and fix the responses, on the
Another is a measure of its integrity and unity as a functioning system.

Personality is a gestalts configuration of functions and processes.

The growth and development of personality proceeds through differentiation and the
integration. These last two processes depend on learning and maturation.
 In its growth and development, personality is influenced by factors
environmental, and among these the cultural ones matter a lot. All these
postulates only present the beginnings of the development of a theory of the
personality that can be useful in projective psychology.

The various conceptualizations of personality took into account, to a greater or

smaller measure, the universal-individual and nature-culture oppositions. In the first
In this case, an attempt was made to show personality as something very generic common to all.
men, and as that unique and unrepeatable thing that differentiates one person from another. In
In the second case, biological determinants were sometimes emphasized in the
formation of personality, and in other cases its social determinants.

The universal and the individual

All people have something in common, and that is why psychology studies the universal.
Everyone has something that makes them unique and distinguishes them from others, and for
Psychology also studies the individual.

In some way, the work of the psychologist is similar to the game of the seven errors.
where two approximately identical drawings are presented and the differences must be discovered
differences. In the same way, the psychologist faces human beings daily, it is
to say, entities approximately equal to other human beings, but nevertheless
different and unique. This is how we can abstract a psychological orientation that
focuses on the common, and another that deals with the individual. For example:
every person, when perceiving an ambiguous image, selects some
attributes and do not attend to others. This is a general law. But it is also true that
cadapersona will make a selection different from the others. This is a characteristic.
individual that depends on history, expectations, and personal configuration of
individual at that moment.

According to Allport (1984), personality must be studied both in its general aspect or
universal as in its aspect of studying individuality.

Psychology as a science of the general by itself, Allport holds, does not serve to provide
reason for the individuality of each person, as the common functions of the
men are eclipsed by the individual use that these give them. The person is a
a unique and unrepeatable phenomenon, and the generalized human mind is a myth because it
According to Allport, many essential characteristics are missing: the localization,
organic character, the reciprocal action between the parts and self-awareness.
Excluding the individual from psychology brought several anomalies: psychologists were unable to
understand all the richness of the personal through general laws. In reality
there are no generalized minds. For example, there is not much uniformity regarding
the colors that people prefer, and even a single person can have
different preferences depending on their mood, situation, etc. There are only experiences
'personals', which determine the meaning and value of the contingent quality 'color'.

The same Wundt, a typical representative of psychology as the science of the general, had
that recognizing that exceptions are more numerous than the cases that comply with the
law, and foresaw the need to extend psychology to the study of individuality.
He maintained that individuality should be studied through 'characterology' or
'practical psychology', which is outside the scope (and in this it was mistaken) of psychology
properly speaking, what he called 'individual' psychology (and that today is actually the
general psychology) (Allport, 1984).

Allport states that as he got closer to individuality, psychology

it was becoming increasingly liberated from the scientific method (with its steps of analysis,
abstraction and generalization), but is it therefore less scientific? No, because new
methods can also be incorporated as legitimately scientific. For Allport,
the task of psychology involves expanding its territory to include the study of the
individual.

Titchener himself defined psychology as the 'study of understood experience.'

as a dependent of the experiencing person" (a very personalistic approach), but
however, he remained trapped by the convention of the method of traditional psychology. The
new approaches in psychology tend to be personalistic, but this should not
make us forget the value of traditional methods. Thus, the experimental method
it can be applied to the study of individuality: for example, recently there have been
studied complex levels of behavior with this method (gait, modes
individuals of thought, etc). If these experiments cannot be repeated such
because a person changes, the same happens in psychology experiments
elementarist. In certain studies (ecstasy, infatuation, guilt, etc.) it is not feasible.
apply the experimental method, but then alternative methods must be sought.
Another concept of law should be used, for example: not to take law as what is common to
many individuals, but law as a regularity of behavior of a single individual.
Although the individual never repeats itself, it has a natural order, and as such
can be described or explained in terms of laws.

The personal should be studied with the assistance of general and experimental psychology.
Otherwise, it may fall into metaphors and metaphysical assertions. There were attempts
for separating psychology into two parts (general and individual), like that of Bailey and others
like the philosopher Windelband, who spoke of nomothetic sciences (which study the ...
general) and ideographic (which study the singular). But instead of dividing drastically
Psychology should be conceived as using methods that complement each other and
They help. An 'expanded' psychology would have these characteristics, according to Allport.

The study of the individual will continue to use the experiment, but applied to functions.
more complex (traits, interests, etc.), will be interested in the laws of learning but
he will seek to coordinate them in the nexus of individuality. He will not be impressed by the
individual example, which can be confusing, and will even address topics such as that of the
intrapersonal coherence and inter-individual uniformities.

It will also seek laws not only of the mind in general but also those that occur in
each individual mind. If we were to summarize Allport's point of view, we could
neither psychology as a science of the general nor psychology as
science of the individual is sufficient to provide us with an adequate understanding of
human psyche. Psychology must include both viewpoints and coordinate them
between themselves.

Nature and culture

Personality is a product of biological and social determinants or, if you prefer,

of nature and culture (nature and nurture in Filloux's terms). By
example, authors like Betta (1984) distinguish two aspects of personality: a)
static personality, which is everything that one has in potential at birth: the instinctive and
a) temperament, and b) dynamic personality: which is personality in its evolution
within the social matrix.

There are those who emphasize the influence of the social environment more, like Lewin, and in fact
certain investigations seem to give him reason: "genetics influences much more in
the body that in psychology, since it powerfully conditions height of a
a person or the risk of suffering from high cholesterol, but it barely affects the composition
of personality, which is mainly nourished by the environment, according to a study
conducted on 6,148 genetically related people from Sardinia" (Marsh, 2006).

Filloux (1983) asks to what extent the constitutional given (nature) influences and
acquired environmental (nurture)? The same author emphasizes that experimental psychology
he sought to see the proportion in which each one appears in a given behavior, but it is a mistake,
because it assumes that they are two isolated and independent factors. In reality, they are
very linked. For example, intrauterine traumas are nurture (because there is influence
environmental) that contributes to forming nature (because it is brought from birth). It
the same happens with maturation: the child may be ready to walk (nature)
but the effective possibility of doing so comes from environmental influences (nurture).

Consequently, it becomes very difficult, if not impossible, to determine experimentally.

the influences of the given and the environment: a) To see the influence of the given there would be
that keeping the environment the same is impossible, as the parents will act differently
with legitimate children and with adopted children. b) To see the influence of the environment there would be
that keeping the given the same is also impossible because, even when one
if they were placed in different environments, identical twins (same inheritance) could differ in
the congenital or the prenatal (which, along with inheritance, is part of the constitutional)
in a broad sense) (Filloux, 1983).

In reality, predisposition and environment cannot be separated as entities.

independents: Lewin showed that there was interaction between them: the predispositions
'sensitize' regarding the environment, and this, in turn, 'precipitates' the dispositions.
Everything would be easy if we could reduce everything to the scheme P = f D x A (personality is
function of the given and the environment) Unfortunately, D and A are essentially dependent.
one from the other. The mistake in wanting to conduct experiments by isolating each factor is based on the
belief that D does not influence A and vice versa. Moreover, such studies only make
cross-sectional studies, when the ideal will be to combine clinical studies
longitudinal studies with cross-sectional tests (Filloux, 1983).

Filloux (1983) highlights that in each individual, the given and the acquired interfere in
singular form, specific to its own personality. The laws of natural interaction
nurture is the very object of all personality psychology. It is preferable
to frame the problem in terms of 'trends'. In reality, there is a maturation of
the trends themselves, and as they appear, the means of satisfaction
open ones depend both on the environment and on individual history. What is given is not something
fact on which the environment will exercise changes: it is more of a set that
excludes certain possibilities (sex does not vary and imposes certain behaviors and not others) to
same time that involves a high number of virtualities.

Filloux (1983) finally points out that, by definition, temperament would be more
related to what is given as it is related to the neuroendocrine, but we do not know.
at the same time what influence could it have had on the environment regarding such biological factor. It
The same happens with intelligence: a favorable environment raises children's IQ.
Regarding disruptive behaviors, the role of the given (nature) predominates.
when the disturbance is a direct function of the anatomical or functional, but when the
disorders are of a psychic origin, it seems that nurture predominates.

Filloux's reference to temperament requires differentiating personality,

temperament and character.

5. Personality, character, and temperament

When scientific literature addresses personality, it usually differentiates it from concepts

such as character and temperament, and sometimes also to establish their connections
with them.

Character - In the past, character was sometimes used as a synonym for personality.
(Allport, 1981). However, from then on, character was differentiated from that of
personality, and it has been conceptualized in different ways:
a) Character as moral strength: character is understood as a moral quality,
as willpower and determination in adhering to moral standards (Allport,
1981). In this sense, one can trust a person 'with character' because they are capable
of controlling their impulses. Allport questions this conception of character as
psychological construct for two reasons. First, it has moral connotations and
then the psychologist runs the risk of not judging human behavior objectively.
Second, character is understood as a 'part' of personality just like
the temperament, the intelligence, etc., and Allport does not agree with this additive idea
of personality that considers this a mere sum of parts.

b) Character as the opposite of temperament: some authors (Betta, 1984:259)

they see in the character those aspects of personality shaped by the environment
social, as opposed to those other aspects determined biologically and that
they constitute temperament. The mentioned author refers to them as the 'I
psychological' and 'physiological self', respectively.

c) Character as a set of stable traits: character is understood here as the

the usual way of behaving of a person. A typical example is offered by Freud
(1908) when describing the anal character in terms of stubbornness, greed, or obsession
for the cleanliness. In this psychoanalytic sense, "character is the habitual way of
establish the self a harmony between the tasks represented by internal demands
and the external world. A particular pattern or type of character becomes pathological.
when their manifestations are not so exaggerated that a behavior occurs
destructive towards the individual or towards others, or the functioning of the person is
It returns distorted or restricted, and represents a cause of discomfort for one.
same or for others" (Kaplan and Sadock, 1992:88).

Filloux's conception (1983) seems to align with this same line of thought.
thought, with a special concern to distinguish the study of character
(characterology) of the study of personality (personology). According to Filloux, both
disciplines differ in the following points:

1) Characterology makes character the very center of personality, but from

Personology is nothing more than the expressive aspect of personality.
Characterologist individuality is a static set of traits that in turn,
organized, they constitute types within which a person can be placed. The
Character is an invariant or a basic structure into which each person fits.
In contrast, personology inserts individuality within an evolutionary perspective,
historical. The characterologist works as a portraitist and the personologist as a
historian. 3) In general, the characterologist pays little attention to the sources of
behavior, while personality psychology addresses its
intimate motivations or dynamic factors. 4) Characterology pays little attention to
how and why of the individual. It only seeks to create "types" of character based on traits.
and individuality doesn't matter that much.
Temperament.- Since ancient times, the meaning of 'temperament' has varied greatly.
little, and designates the mental aspects that depend on the physical or constitutional.
It would be the climate or constitutional basis on which personality develops. It is
It is convenient to use the term 'temperament' to refer to almost dispositions.
invariables since childhood and lasting a lifetime, having a basis
constitutional or hereditary, and characterized by an emotional quality
constant in terms of liveliness, humor, intensity, etc. (Allport, 1981).

For Allport, then, the term temperament designates the characteristic phenomena
the emotional nature of an individual, phenomena such as their susceptibility to the
emotional stimulation, its intensity and usual response speed, its state
of predominant mood and all the peculiarities of fluctuation and intensity of
same; all of these phenomena are considered dependent on their structure
constitutional and therefore, primarily of hereditary origin.

Among the classical classifications of temperament, there are two (Betta, 1984:259):
a) According to the morphological constitution: leptosomic type, athletic type, pyknic type and type
dysplastic. b) According to other criteria: eunuchoid giants, adipose
pluriglandular and eunuchoid, and hypoplastic and infantil (Betta, 1984:259).

It can be said, in summary, that both character and temperament are tendencies.
relatively stable in behavior, only that in the first case they are more
determined by the social environment, and in the second case by the constitutional background
inherited. Temperament and character will be some of the aspects that will define
personality.

6. Theories of personality

Montmollin (1984) analyzes the various theories of personality based on the

terminology they use or the topics they address the most.

From the terminology, two groups of theories can be identified: theories of

pronoun and theories of the adjective.

Theories of the adjective seek to qualify and classify. They aim to assign personality.
adjectives, qualities and seek to categorize, classify the different types of people.
The theories of the pronoun rather use personal pronouns (I, you, me, with me,
us, etc.) and emphasize what has been lived, what has been experienced, what is historical, what
causal and sometimes, the phenomenal. The theories of the adjective seek to describe and those of
pronoun, understand.

From a thematic point of view, the most common topics to understand the concept
of personality, were:
Totality: personality is an organized whole from which one can make a
exhaustive description of its components and that, based on all of this, it can be
to predict (Cattell) how a person will behave at a given moment.

2) Individuality: personality distinguishes one subject from another. But it is not the simple
inter-individual variability, as it emphasizes the stability of differences
through the different situations and over time.

Concrete: personality allows us to predict what a particular person will do.

a concrete situation.

4) Unity: it implies interrelated parts. We see this in Allport's definition.

when it says when it says that 'personality is the dynamic organization of systems
psychological factors that determine an individual's original adaptation to the environment; in other words,

the parts are in function of a whole, of a unity.

5) Stability: personality entails consistent characteristics of behavior

Even if the situations and the time elapsed vary. The personality adapts to a
model, especially a homeostatic model (returning to an equilibrium).

For his part, Lewin (cited by Montmollin, 1984) distinguishes between two types of theories of the
personality: Aristotelian psychology and Galilean psychology.

Aristotelian psychology studies unique, isolated objects grouped into categories.

static. In contrast, Galilean psychology studies dynamic processes, interactions
between variables in the context of a global and concrete situation. The Aristotelian studies
the universal, and the Galilean the peculiar and unique of each subject and each situation. In this
It is important to place Lewin's system, as it is a psychology of states.
momentary, of the hic et nunc. In this context, person and environment are two regions.
differentiated from the total field, the only one that can explain the behavior in a
given moment.

Various authors have explicitly or implicitly constructed a theory of the

personality, including Freud (1933). What follows is an overview
Overview of some of the most representative theories on the subject: Allport-Filloux,
Lewin and Lersch.

7. Personality according to Allport and Filloux

Allport (1981) considers that individuality, as the separate and unique character, does not
it is what primarily interests the psychologist, because they are also individual
stone and a mouse. He is also interested in the surprisingly complex way in which
the human being is organized, the multilateral individual total psychophysicality
commonly called personality.

Allport defines personality as the dynamic organization, within the individual, of

those psychophysical systems that determine their unique adjustments to their environment.

Such definition contains in germ the hierarchical, integrative, adaptive definitions and
distinctive of personality, and therefore it can be considered a synthesis of use
psychological contemporary of that concept.

The components of the definition are: 1) Dynamic organization: organization by

opposition to mere addition, and dynamic because the organization is in constant
development and change, it is motivational and self-regulating. Personality can also
'disorganize'. 2) Psychophysical systems: Personality is neither pure mind nor pure...
nervous system. Psychophysical systems with habits, attitudes, feelings
and other provisions. The term 'system' refers to features or groups of features in a state
active or latent. 3) Determines: The systems of personality are tendencies
determinants: when stimulated, these systems 'do' something to adjust to
Halfway, they become expressive and the personality becomes observable. 4) Unique: Although
there are common traits, each adjustment is unique to each person, time, place and
quality. 5) Adjustment to the environment: Personality is a form of survival:
tends to adjust to the environment to survive. The environment is not only the behavioral or
significant for the individual, but also the geographical in general. Regarding the
adaptation, there may be mismatches or maladaptations, but it is always about
active adaptations, not merely reactive as seen in animals and plants.

In the same line of thought, Filloux (1983) argues that personality is neither
an influence ('notable personality'), nor just an appearance ('to adopt a
personality), nor an ideal (cultivating personality), nor a metaphysical entity (the
personality is individual.

Filloux defines personality as the unique configuration that takes shape over time.
from the history of an individual, the set of systems responsible for their
conduct

Four elements can be identified in this definition: personality is unique, it is

an integration is temporary, and it is an intervening variable, that is, a style that is
it asserts through behavior and by means of it. Such a definition is not far off, as
can be appreciated, from that offered by Allport.

According to Filloux (1983), finally, four facts are important to study in individuality:
a) inheritance and maturation; b) sociocultural influences; c) the systems of
action and d) the unity of the self and personal identity.

These four elements arise from considering the following: given that personality is,
in summary, the organism that develops its characteristic behaviors within
social, the systems of action that at every moment concretize their adjustment to the world, are
fusion, "at the same time", of the past (habits, reaction complexes, etc.) and of the present
socio-environmental demands. This is what enables change.

Therefore, a double causality must be considered: the 'transversal plane' (reactions

current) and the 'longitudinal' plan (temporal succession of studies that preserve a
own style. The cross-sectional analysis stops this flow like a photo, while the
Longitudinal analysis seeks the connections that link one photo to another in the film.

8. Personality according to Lewin

Lewin emphasizes the relationship of personality with the social environment, highlighting the
importance of interaction with the environment in which, by which, and for which it
It constitutes and manifests personality. It helped to understand the person in interaction.
social, placing it within a framework that is both cognitive and dynamic. In
specifically, made four contributions: 1) explained the genetic development of the self by a
progressive differentiation of areas; 2) studied and explained the structural characteristics
of the person: the person is a dynamic structure with interdependent parts; 3)
Lewin's priority that he grants to the cognitive: the self is a cognitive structure.
well filters and controls its relationship with the environment through processing of
information; 4) Lewin explains behavior not as a reduction of need
(return to a balance), but rather as the search for a higher balance even though it
it implies temporary imbalances (Montmollin, 1984).

The environment that determines behavior at a given moment is not the whole.
of the physical environment or physically present, but the medium insofar as it exists
for the individual. The psychological environment is determined by the characteristics
of the objective medium and by those of the person (Montmollin, 1984).

The person is the set of systems of needs, values, motives and

perceptions that constitute the internal regions of vital space. Therefore the
vital space is the result of the interaction between person and objective environment or space
Geographically. Lewin represents the person as follows (Montmollin, 1984):
The perceptual-motor zone is in contact with the outside: through there pass the
stimulations coming from the environment and motor actions go towards the environment.

Each of these systems is a strong Gestalt, and is separate from the others.
systems or regions by barriers that may be strong or weak depending on the moment.
A force can impact the system (for example, an object with valence
positive or negative); this creates a tension within him that can spread to other regions.
neighbors, which will depend on the barriers. That tension must be reduced so that
restore the balance between the systems. For example, in stress the barriers between the
the internal peripheral and central region become weak, and between the internal region and the
perceptual-motor skills become rigid (difficulty acting: motor skills problem).

The personal space changes not only in situations of stress or extreme tension, but
it also evolves: the living space is becoming increasingly differentiated
more (there are more areas and barriers) the more mature a person is and also how much
less mentally deficient is. In addition, in the mentally deficient the internal barrier
the peripheral is stronger (it has more difficulties for senso-motor exchange with the
medium).

The living space also has levels of reality or unreality. The field will be more unreal.
impossible goals, etc.) the smaller the child is, and also the further away
(in the past or in the future) located in living space (Montmollin, 1984).

Three factors differentiate one living space from another: first, the degree of differentiation.
from the psychic areas; second, the way changes occur (ease,
speed, etc.), which depends on the thickness of the barriers (to all this, Lewin calls it
‘psychic matter’), and third, the content itself of the systems, which depends on
the story of each one (Montmollin, 1984).

9. Personality according to Lersch

Philipp Lersch, contemporary thinker born in 1898, has developed a theory of
the personality in his work The Structure of Personality (1971). According to this
Author, it can be considered that the person is configured as a structure in
two dimensions: a vertical dimension and a horizontal dimension, both
intertwined and interrelated with each other:

Structure of personality

Each of these dimensions also contains intimately related parts. Thus

for example, in terms of the vertical dimension, the individual is made up of a
vital fund, for an endomyctic fund and a personal superstructure. When the layers
the endo-timic background and the personal superstructure maintain a relationship with each other of
mutual opening and cooperate fully, the so-called personal self is constituted
in the intersection with the horizontal dimension. Likewise, they can occur
imbalances between both parties, which we will address at the end of this note.
All these parts of the vertical dimension are oriented towards the world through
from the horizontal dimension, and they do so both when the soul perceives and orients itself in the
world (perception), like when it acts upon it (action).

Let's take a closer look at this structure of personality, focusing on its

functioning. It is possible to explain this dynamic of personality in the following
way, taking almost verbatim expressions from Lersch, and guiding ourselves through the
next scheme.

Functioning of the personality

The vital fund appears as the lowest layer, of support, and still pre-animal of the
global experience. On this vital background is the endo-timic background, which
finds open, allowing vital processes to spread through it. In the
the depth of the endotymic background develops experiences, which unfold as
an interrogative search that, in the horizontal development of the functional circle
mood, he heads towards the world and finds his answer in its perception
positive or negative. What is perceived is transmitted, through feelings, to the
depth of the endolymphatic sac. In the last link of the emotional functional circle,
in active behavior, both the motion configurations contained in
feelings, like the trends that nuance the perception of the world and shape
its contents as significant wholes. Perception and active behavior
they actually run together, and are not solely determined by the background
endothelial but also by the 'higher structure of the person' centered on
the core of the Self, whose functions are precisely thought and will. For
so, what takes place in the external sector of experience (the world) is not
determined exclusively by the endolymphatic fluid, it is not merely a reception
of the world in the mirror of instinctive themes and an immediate realization of the
tendency towards what is perceived in the heart of the world, but at the same time it is
formed and directed through intellectual understanding and voluntary actions by
the highest layer that Lersch called the superior structure of the person. Like this
very general framework, we can now see in more detail each of the parts
described.

Vital fund.- First of all, man is a living being, as living things are something more
encompassing that which is emotional. Therefore, the emotional cannot be sufficiently understood
if we do not see it emerging from the vital background and in relation to it.

We understand as vital background the set of organic states and processes that
take place in our body. It is not a psychic reality but rather pre-
psychic, predecessor of the experience. As we will see shortly, the ones called by Lersch

From all of this, we conclude that organic bodily occurrence is a necessary condition for
the psychic life, but not enough, because it would be totally erroneous to pretend
to consider the emotional as a product of the vital corporal background, thus attributing it to
physiological causes. They actually co-involve and mutually influence each other, representing a
integrated totality with coexisting poles, which leads us to see that Lersch proposes the
unity of body-soul, opposing the Cartesian dissociation of a thinking reality
and a corporeal reality (res cogitans-res extensa).

The vital fund is the deepest layer of personality, still pre-animic.

it is separated from the other upper layers, and moreover: in the vital depth, in the
the body itself, all layers of personality are represented (the abdomen
the vital fund corresponds to the vital fund, the chest to the endo-timic fund, the head to the superstructure
The vital fund is always active, even when it does not appear in the
state of wakefulness of the psychic life, as occurs in deep "unperturbed" sleep
for dreams.

Endotymic background.- If we move from the vital background to the cluttered and incessantly
fluctuating of the mental processes that man knows through introspection, then
we enter the sphere of endothymic experiences. It is here that the idea of
experience, which we will clarify next.

It has been said that everything spiritual is living, but not everything living is spiritual.
the emotional state only occurs when life 'is illuminated' from within by experience. For
So much so that the experience implies becoming aware, realizing, perceiving in a very
broad (that overflows the rationalist sense of knowledge of objects). From this
In this way, there is an inner life where life reaches the clarity of experience.

In the following scheme, we see that there are three types of experiences. The experiences
Pulsions (instincts and tendencies) are what put life into motion.
anemic, and by which it is directed towards the realization of possibilities
from being, towards development, and for this reason they point to the future. When these experiences
pulsations interact with the world through perception, experiences are generated
momentary experiences, such as emotional experiences, and permanent experiences, such as the
feelings. These recent persistent moods are related to the
past because they can appear as an echo and as a reflection of current emotions or
presents.

Experiences

Experiences of the Experiences of the individual self Transitional experiences (in

vitality (personal superstructure) relationship with the world
relationship with the
vital fund

Experiences Impulse to the Instinct of self-preservation Towards others

pulsional activity individual (togetherness, etc.)
instincts and
Tendency to enjoyment Selfishness Serve for another (to help)
trends)

Libido Desire for power Trends to create, to know,

love and trends
Experiential impulse Need for estimation regulations and
transcendent
Desire for revenge

Desire for self-esteem

Experiences Pain, pleasure, Experiences of conservation Emotions linked to

emotional boredom individual
(emotions) satiation, joy trust antipathy
pena, embeleso, etc)
Experiences of selfishness
panic
(happy, envy, triumph) Emotions of being-for-
another (hate, erotic love,
etc)

Joy of creating, knowing,

etc.

States Vital feelings Feelings of the Self Cosmic feeling

experiential (cheerful spirit, feelings of oneself (optimism-pessimism,
permanent sad humor power and worth, happy and seriousness, feeling
feelings anguish, ecstasy discontent nihilist of the world.

Emotions and feelings are above all ways of relating: because the
perceptible target horizon contents receive directly from our
Intimacy, vital values, of significance or meaning, creates a particular relationship.
between the outside world and our own being. It is worth saying that the feelings and the
movements of feeling (emotions) not only discover the meaning and value
not only concrete contents of the world, but also our own being in them
experience its realization as satisfaction or failure. Every experience has a sector
internal and another external. The internal sector refers to the experiences of the fund
endothelial are given to us as coming from within, from an intimacy, like
contents of a subjective core. In contrast, the external sector of experience has
relationship with the world or horizontal dimension: the awareness of the world and the
active behavior takes place on the periphery of a horizon that surrounds the
intimate center of experience and represent its external sector. For Lersch,
the world is the place of perception or awareness and the place of behavior
subject's asset. Let’s now talk about this world or horizontal dimension of the
person.

World.- The external sector of experience is the place where the subject perceives and acts.
perception implies awareness and orientation in the world, and encompasses both
sensitive perception, such as representative activity (memories, fantasies, etc.) as
the intellectual apprehension (concept, judgment, reasoning). On the other hand,
active behavior or action can be immediate or voluntary, or, from another point
from a perspective, it can consist of either an instinctive act, an experiential action, or in
an intelligent behavior (which in perception are related, respectively, to the
sensible perception, representative activity, and intellectual apprehension.

Personal superstructure - or higher structure of personality, is the top layer

elevated, being above the endothymic background and the vital background. The experiences
endotimics determine the theme of individual existence, but it is a task of
I, governing our behavior, oriented in a certain direction by the theme.
of existence. This is done through will. But this needs, to
to carry out this task, the collaboration of the mental process called thought,
through which man tries to know and dominate the reality of the perceived in the
world and arrange objects and essences in a comprehensible form. Lersch points out that the
the human being has his dignity, his freedom and his responsibility; he appears as a being
personal, because it faces endo-timic experiences, inhibiting and repressing
some, and instead letting others act in the direction of their life, which makes
precisely thanks to his will and thought.
It is worth saying that it is always the endothymic experiences that provide life
humanizes its content and depth, 'its color and its vigor.' From them, it receives life.
its fullness, its creative dynamism. The function of thought is to clarify,
organizing and structuring the world captured in the reflection of endothermic experiences, and it is
Function of the will does not allow the endo-timic dynamism to act without inhibition or
control, but deciding, thanks to self-determination, what must be done or what
It must be omitted in the conduct and configuration of human life.

Imbalances.- Regarding the vertical dimension of personality, imbalances may occur.

perturbations in the integrative equilibrium between the endo-thymic background and the structure
superior of the person: for example, one of them may prevail, they may be
both dissociated, or they can function inharmoniously as in the case of the
inauthenticity. In each case, the imbalance may be occasional or permanent. The
the following scheme illustrates these possibilities with some examples, taken from
same Lersch.

Imbalances between the endogenic background and personal superstructure

Temporary imbalance Permanent imbalance

(Characterizations)

Due to the accentuation of a In dreams and phenomena of In sentimentals, the background predominates.
cover the background predominates endothelial and in intellectuals the
endothelial personal superstructure

Due to dissociation between Operational dissociation Permanent repression, with experiences

layers momentary suffocated endothymic (here the dream
has a compensatory character

For inauthenticity Inauthenticity Permanent inauthentic characters

circumstantial (similar) hysteria
sadness at a wake

In summary: "we have obtained two viewpoints to guide us on the path of

emotional life: the horizontal of the functional emotional circle, which corresponds to
communicative exchange between the soul and the world, and the vertical ordering of the
processes and emotional states that aim to justify that the emotional life in itself (...)
represents a structured totality. When saying that the psychic life is found
structured, we refer to those processes, content, and different states
they have a function of members within a whole that is more than the sum of
its parts. If this organization is also thought of as a vertical structure we
we find ourselves before a special conception of the psychic life, that of the structure in
layers, which has developed in recent years (...) in German psychology, and that
is based on extensive experience" (Lersch, 1971:77).

10. Psychopathology of personality

In general, the various psychopathological theories about personality have been

worried about establishing a typology of pathological personalities. Some of
they are merely descriptive (DSM-IV), others reflect the psychiatric tradition
(Betta), and others, much more recent, try to develop a theory where the
normal and pathological aspects are on a continuum (Millon). In what follows,
They will briefly describe the arguments of Betta and Millon.

For Betta, the psychopathology of personality encompasses two aspects: 1st) Defects
constitutional personalities or psychopathic personalities. 2nd) Alterations
personality pathologies (Betta, 1984:263):

Defects 1st) Instinctive personality: Instinctive impulses. Perversions

constitutional instinctive. Nutritional instinct (malacia, pica, coprophagia, bulimia,
o dipsomania). Sexual instinct (sadism, masochism,
exhibitionism, fetishism, bestiality, necrophilia
psychopathic homosexuality). Gregarious instinct (kleptomania, impulse
suicidal, homicidal impulse, pyromania, dromomania.

2º)Personalidad paranoica: a) Sobrevaloración. b) Sentimiento

exaggerated self-love. Pride. c) Great susceptibility. d)
Creates conflicts when wanting to impose their reasons. e) Feeling of
dissatisfaction
fighters. Preponderance of the disposition for eagerness.

3rd) Paranoid personality: Predominance of predisposition

activity. Cyclothymic in more: Euphoria. Satisfaction, optimism.
Communicative, extroverted. Ecotimia; hyperactivity.
Hyperbolic. Feeling of triumph. Cyclothymic in less:
Sadness, pessimism, introspection, lack of energy, depression.
Withdrawn. Introverted.

4th) Schizotypal personality: A type of schizoid according to Kretschmer.

Leptosomic-asthenic somatic constitution. Deficit of the
cohesion disposition. Exterior or superficial face. Represents the
mood in front of the world and society. clumsy affectivity
of scarce emotional reaction. Unexpressive and cold personality
effectively. It makes interior or deep: It represents the world
 interior and subordinate to their experiences.

On the one hand, a very rich affectivity. Inclination towards art, philosophy, to the
books and nature. On the other hand: instability and emotional anesthesia.

5th) Evil personality: Deficit of "goodness". Uncaring,

evil, antisocial. Tendency towards harm, evil, cruelty.
He is unaware of kindness, affection, and ethics.

6th) Hyperemotional personality: Responds to constitution

“emotive” by Dupré. Predominance of the disposition “emotivity”.
Strong emotional reactions to weak stimuli. Intense
somatic repercussion. Distress and anxiety.

7th) Mythomanic personality: Tendency to deceit, to lies, to

the fabulation, to the imaginative. Delmás and Boll: excess of
sociability. Hysterical constitution. Constitutional fragility of
the psyche.

8th) Asthenic hypophrenic personality: Predominance of the

disposition "fatigability". Easy physical and mental exhaustion.
Constitution with a marked tendency to fatigue and asthenia.
Lability in biopsychic balance. Predisposes to states
simple insane.

Alterations Appearance of new characters, of a pathological nature, that

pathological of they modify personality.
the personality
Loss of personality: 'Destruction' or 'ruin' of the
personality. Collapse and disintegration of the psyche. Weakening
global. Dementia. It is evident in the introspective aspect and
experiential and in the introspective or practical.

2nd) Depersonalization: It is observed in Melancholics: Due to

cenesthetic disorders. Diminution of vital feeling.
Decrease in general sensitivity. Psychic impotence. In
schizophrenics: Due to the break in the balance between the inner world and
exterior. In puberty: Due to the transition between thought
concrete and abstract. In psychasthenia: Due to constant self-criticism.

3rd) Transformation of personality: Subjective disorder.

Total feeling of transformation of the person. Due to
perturbations of the general cenesthesia. Sensation of strange
physical modifications; the body cohabited by several beings.

4th) Splitting of personality: Coexistence of two

different states; as if they were two personalities
different. Hysterical: splitting or second personality.
According to Ruiz Sánchez and others (2003), Millon's personality theory has
presented over time in two models: the biosocial learning model
(1969-1989) and the evolutionary model (from 1990 to the present).

a) Biosocial model.- The biosocial model is based on the combination of biological factors.
and learning experiences that give rise to styles of interpersonal relationships that
they perpetuate through their interaction with the environment from childhood to
current affairs. The styles of interpersonal relationships are operant behaviors for
obtain certain reinforcements and avoid aversive stimulation. They constitute
coping strategies that are used by individuals to deal with the
challenges of his life. These strategies constitute a "reinforcement matrix" based on
of two variables: a-How the subject seeks reinforcement (active, passive) and b-Where to search
the subject the reinforcement (independent, dependent, ambivalent, disengaged), with it
What is the following typology:

Independent Dependent Ambivalent Disengaged

Active. Personality Personality Personality Personality

violent sociable sensitive inhibited

Disorder Disorder Passive disorder Disorder of the

antisocial of the histrionic of the aggressive of the personality by
personality personality personality avoidance

Disorder Borderline Disorder Borderline disorder

paranoid of the of the personality the personality schizotypal of the
personality personality

Passive. Personality Personality Personality Personality

safe cooperating partner respectful introverted

Disorder Disorder of Disorder Disorder

narcissist of the personality by compulsive of the schizoid of the
personality dependency personality personality

Disorder Borderline disorder Disorder Disorder

paranoid about the of paranoid personality of the schizoid of the
personality personality personality

Each quadrant includes three personality categories: the top one is the normal, and
The further down you go, the more it evolves towards gravity.

Operant behavior pattern: a) Active: Individuals who actively seek the

Reinforcers are individuals inclined to action, seeking objectives and reinforcements.
concretes. b) Passive: Passive individuals are basically reactive, waiting for
the environment provides them with reinforcement.

Sources of reinforcement: a) Independent: Those who seek reinforcement in a way

Independent individuals trust in themselves and seek reinforcement in their own goals.
personal. b) Dependent: Those who seek support in a dependent manner
they rely on others to provide reinforcement. c) Ambivalent: Those who seek
The reinforcement in an ambivalent way is unsure about seeking the reinforcement itself.
the same or in others. d) Disassociated: Those who seek reinforcement in a way
disassociated, they are not actually seeking any reinforcement, just distancing themselves from others and

they lack personal aspirations.

b) Evolutionary model.- Millon attempts to abstract the deepest laws of

human functioning, and identifies four basic dimensions or axes:

Personal existence: fundamental objectives that the subject pursues in their life.

Mode of adaptation: strategies to adapt to the conditions of life

each person.

Replication: the subject's interest in personal survival or that of their descendants.

(4) Abstraction processes: personal styles to represent experiences of the

life in the form of personal meanings.

In evolutionary theory, the four dimensions would appear as evolutionary phases in the
life of each subject in a sequenced manner: existence, adaptation, replication and
abstraction. In this second model, Millon groups personality disorders.
according to the pattern of difficulties that characterizes them:

1st - Personalities with difficulties for the 2nd - Personalities with problems
pleasure interpersonal

Schizoid personality disorder Dependent Personality Disorder

Avoidant personality disorder Histrionic personality disorder
Depressive personality disorder Narcissistic personality disorder
Antisocial personality disorder

3rd - Personalities with conflicts 4th - Personalities with structural deficits:

intrapsychic

Schizotypal personality disorder

Sadistic personality disorder Borderline Personality Disorder
Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder Paranoid personality disorder
Oppositional Defiant Disorder Decompensated personality disorder
Masochistic personality disorder

Millon understands mental disorder as a result of a dysfunction of capability.

of personality to face the difficulties of life. Regarding the
personality and its disorders maintain nine principles (Ruiz Sánchez J and others, 2003):

1st-Personality disorders are not diseases but styles of

behavior, cognition, and structured emotion.

2º-Personality disorders are differentiated functioning structures.

3rd - Personality disorders are dynamic and structured systems, where some
levels are more permanent and others more changeable.

Personality is a set of constructs based on observed data.

Personality exists on a continuum between normality and pathology.

6th - Personality pathology is related to the imbalance of the systems that

they make up.

7th - The assessment of personality must account for the systems that make up
their theoretical constructs.

8th-Personality disorders can be approximately assessed in a

I continue.

9th-Personality disorders require combined treatment modalities and

strategically designed in a sequenced manner.
laudividnI

(From the Latin indivisus).

1.adj.individual.

2.adj. That cannot be divided.

3.m. and f. colloq. Person whose name and condition are unknown or
they don't want to say.

4.m. Each organized being, whether animal or plant, regarding the

species to which it belongs.

PERSONA, PERSONALITY, AND INDIVIDUAL

The object of psychology as a science is the being.

human and its behavior, the causes that
they determine behavior and the way it is
develops, thus differentiating itself from biology, which
it pertains only to the human being as a living structure,
with some physiological functions.

In a way, that's where the 'quid' of the eternal lies.

struggle between the psychological doctrines known as
"mentalists" and "behaviorists". The former
they consider the human being basically as an entity
thoughtful, whose experiences influence with little
intensity in their conduct more or less predetermined. In
change, pure behaviorist schools base the
human behavior exclusively in a
adaptive behavior and conditioned by the
vital experiences.

The advances in psychology made it necessary to

emergence of new currents with a more ideological approach
flexible and intermediate. Why not conceive the being
human as a thinking entity, endowed with
own personality, but susceptible to modification
their behavior in response to external conditions?
His behavior would no longer be a mere set of
stimulus-response interactions, but rather a
individual disposition towards certain
stimuli that provoke peculiar responses
according to the person. It would no longer be studied only a
behavior, but to a subject that behaves
in a certain way.

At this point, it is necessary to define

concepts such as:

Individual: Indivisible subject, unitary element

within its species.

Be intelligent, thinking.
Personality: Set of psychophysical qualities
that distinguish one being from another.

Man as an individual. Considered as such, the

the human being is a complex living organism with a
motor, sensory, and vegetative functions.

The man as a person. Adds to the above the

psyche —let's call it consciousness, intellect or capability
of reasoning—, which is what sets it apart from the rest
of living beings. A dog is an individual within
of its kind (canid mammals), but it is not a
person.

The Cartesian dualism already affirmed that man

It consists of a physical body part and another cognitive part.
psychic. And philosophically it is said that "the name
it is the only animal that is aware of being a
animal that has consciousness. It seems like gibberish or
a play on words, but if we pay attention,
Indeed, the irrational animal feels, but it is not.
aware of it (at least, with the level or 'quality'
of the consciousness of a human being.

Without rational consciousness, human behavior would be

automatic and there would be no possibility of progress. If
we observe the behavior of some animals, such as
the bees or the ants, it draws our attention how
some beings, seemingly so simple, possess a
social organization almost as complex as the
human. Yes, it is amazing. But that behavior is
has been repeating from generation to generation since
thousands of years without any progress or change,
precisely because they are not aware of it, and
they act this way only out of instinct. Without conscience, there is no

neither improvisation nor innovation.

Consciousness implies a reflective activity and this

reflection is connected to a Self, a subject that integrates the
set of activities of one’s own consciousness.

Man is capable of becoming aware of his

past, its present and even making projects
about his future, unifying all of it into his own Self,
that persists despite all changes over time or
in the way of living. There is an adaptation to the
environmental or circumstantial modifications, but
this adapted I is the same in essence.

Man as a personality. We have just defined

to the human being as an individual and as a person, but
we must add one more identifying attribute: its
personality. With this, we no longer refer to a
any person, but to a specific one
of the group.

Personality combines the physical and mental substrate with

the disposition and way of reacting to the environment
that each subject adopts and distinguishes it from another. It comes
determined by a series of factors that the
configurations: conditioning, sensations,
emotions, experiences, learning, character
etcetera.

We can summarize by saying that the human being is the

result of a triad where: a substrate joins
biological physical (individual), a provision of
consciousness (person) and some qualities or
own and identifying characteristics
(personality).
But the question arises, what is meant by individual? Individual comes from
Latin, individual which is literally what cannot be divided. Thus it
we can understand as the elemental unit of a greater or more extensive system
complex with respect to which something smaller than an individual makes no sense.
I mean, within a human society, something lesser than that would not make sense.
a human being understood as 'an individual'. In everyday life
an individual is understood as a set of thoughts and 1
Psychology, 5th year, Andrés Bello University. 2 actions that are considered
as an entity responsible for its actions. According to the RAE, an entity
It is everything that exhibits existence, autonomy, and differentiation.