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Personality: Where does it come from and how does it work?
How do our personalities develop? What do we come with and whatis built from our experiences? Once developed, how does personalitywork? These questions have been steeped in controversy for almostas long as psychology has existed.
In an article in Psychological Review, Carol Dweck tackles theseissues. She proposes that our personalities develop around basicneeds, and she begins by documenting the three basic psychologicalneeds we all come with: the need to predict our world, the need tobuild competence to act on our world, and because we are socialbeings, the need for acceptance from others. (She also shows hownew needs emerge later from combinations of these basic needs.)
Infants arrive highly prepared to meet these needs -- they arebrilliant, voracious learners on the lookout for need-relevantinformation. Then, as infants try to meet their needs, somethingimportant happens. They start building beliefs about their worldand their role in it: Is the world good or bad, safe or dangerous?Can I act on my world to meet my needs? These beliefs, plus theemotions and action tendencies that are stored with them, aretermed \"BEATs.\" They represent the accumulated experiences peoplehave had trying to meet their needs, and they play a key role inpersonality -- both the invisible and the visible parts of thepersonality.
The invisible part of personality consists of the needs andBEATs. They form the basis of personality and they drive and guidethe visible part. The visible part happens when the needs and BEATscreate the actual goals people pursue in the world -- what peopleactually do.
Take the following example. Some people are conscientious; theyactively pursue achievement and exercise self-discipline andperseverance. That's the visible part. Everyone has a need forcompetence, but how people pursue competence-whether they do so ina conscientious manner -- will depend on their BEATs (the invisiblepart, such as their beliefs). Research shows that some people holdthe belief that their abilities are simply fixed traits. When theyare confronted with a challenging task, they may choose an easierone instead because the challenging task carries a risk. It couldexpose their fixed ability as deficient; it could undermine theirsense of competence. However, other people believe that theirabilities can be developed. They are more likely to welcome thechallenging task and stick to it in the face of setbacks in orderto develop their competence. They display the hallmarks ofconscientiousness. In other words, underlying BEATs can have apronounced effect on the visible \"personality\" people display asthey pursue their goals.
Temperament can also be important. For example, if children areshy or fearful it can make certain needs (such as the need forpredictability) stronger than others and it can affect the way theyreact to things that happen to them -- both of which can mold theBEATs they develop and carry forward.
What are the implications of this theory? First, it means thatour personality develops around our motivations (our needs andgoals) and is not simply about traits we're born with. The theoryalso reveals the invisible parts of personality and shows how wecan identify and address important BEATs (particularly beliefs) topromote personality change.
In short, like large, classic theories of the last century, thecurrent theory brings together our motivations, our personality,and our development within one framework and helps shed light onprocesses that contribute to the well-being and human growth.
