Personality cluster: what is it and what types are there?

We all have different tastes, different opinions, different ways of doing things, and even see the world in a distinctive and personal way. We are unique people, who have been shaped by both their biology and their life experiences. But we do not stop being members of the same species.

In this sense, it is possible to establish different types of personality with a certain resemblance to each other, in which some basic elements are shared. And from the field of psychology and psychiatry these types of personalities have been organized into what has come to be called personality clusters.

What does this concept refer to? What is a personality cluster? Let's see it throughout this article.

• Related article: "The main theories of personality"

What is personality?

Before considering what is meant by the clustered concept of personality, you can be useful to make a brief definition of the most important component of this: the personality.

We call personality pattern or set of behaviors, cognitions, emotions, perspectives and ways of seeing and interpreting reality and relating to the environment

and with ourselves that are habitual to us and that we tend to maintain in a relatively stable way over time and through situations throughout life.

Personality is defined throughout our growth and in the course of our cycle vital, configuring itself partly based on our genes and based on our experiences and learnings. It is what defines our way of being and acting, and in general it is usually adaptive to relate effectively with the environment.

However, sometimes a series of circumstances cause that for some reason we acquire characteristics or ways of thinking or doing that, although they allow us to survive and adapt to the environment, they can cause us great difficulties in spheres such as relationships interpersonal, work or the ability to enjoy life, and can generate a certain dysfunction in us or in our environment, discomfort and suffering.

This is the case of people with a personality disorder. And it is with respect to this type of disorder that the three main types of personality clusters that are usually used have been elaborated, a concept that we will define below.

What is a personality cluster?

A cluster is understood as an organization or way of classifying variables of different types quantitative in different groups which include them based on some type of characteristic or common element.

Thus, when we speak of a personality cluster, we are referring to a grouping of various personality types that have some kind of element between them that allows them to be grouped together. That is, the existence of common factors between different classes or types of personalities is established, which allow defining largely as a whole, so that the different categories are homogenized and encompassed around said quality or aspect.

The three personality clusters

Although technically it would be possible to carry out personality clusters based on different criteria, when When we talk about this concept, we are generally referring to three in particular, those in which personality disorders have been classified and cataloged. In this sense, three large personality clusters are currently contemplated, based on the type of behavior pattern that they habitually manifest.

Cluster A: Weird-eccentric

Cluster A includes the types of personality disorder that have as a common element the performance of acts and the maintenance of ways of thinking and interpreting the world considered extravagant and very unusual, sometimes resembling the functioning of the population with psychotic elements (although in this case we are talking about personality traits and not about a disorder itself).

It is these behaviors and ways that generate dysfunction or discomfort in the subject. Included within this cluster are paranoid, schizoid, and schizotypal personality disorders..

• You may be interested in: "Schizotypal Personality Disorder: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment"

Cluster B: Unstable/Dramatic-emotional

The grouping or organization of personality disorders known as cluster B refers to the set of alterations of personality that have as a common feature the presence of a high emotionality, which is highly labile, and tends to introduce dramatic and sometimes theatrical behavior.

The presence of a lack of control over emotions and affections is commonly observed, as well as a certain distrust towards others and/or their esteem. Within this group we find antisocial, borderline, histrionic and narcissistic personality disorders.

Cluster C: Fearful-anxious

This third cluster integrates a set of disorders which have in common the presence of a high level of of fear or anxiety (or not doing it), which leads them to act in a way that decreases as much as possible. possible. The axis or core of much of their behavior is the avoidance of what they fear. Also there is usually a low tolerance for uncertainty.

Within cluster C we find avoidant, dependent and obsessive-compulsive personality disorders.

• You may be interested in: "Type C personality: traits of this behavior pattern"

A useful concept, but not as closed as it seems

The concept of personality cluster, as it refers to at least the three types that are commonly used, was used for the first time in 1980 with the DSM-III. This was done with the purpose of making a grouping of personality disorders that would make it possible to classify the disorders in a simpler way, at the same time that more research was promoted in this type of alterations.

Since then, personality clusters have been routinely used to identify the sphere in which personality alterations move. That's not to say they're used for diagnostics (since cluster isn't a diagnostic itself nor does it set one), but it can give an idea of ​​the type of characteristics or implications that a specific problem may have in the day-to-day life of a subject.

However, although the organization in clusters can be very useful when it comes to establishing delimited categories between the different types of personality, the truth is that performing various factor analyzes does not consistently support that these clusters are always so tight and separated from each other: for example, in clinical practice it is not uncommon for the same patient to present characteristics and even disorders belonging to different clusters.

Bibliographic references:

• American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Fifth edition. DSM-V. Massón, Barcelona.
• Buratti Hamlin, M., Casas Losada, A., Conde Amado, M., Fernández Hierro, J., Flóres Menéndez, G., Forti Sampietro, L., Martínez Valente, J. and Veiga Candán, M.J. (2015). Personality: Exploration, Diagnosis and Treatment. GALICIAN forum. PERSONALITY STUDY. ADAMED.
• Millon, D. (2007). Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III (MCMI-III). Professional Handbook. Madrid, TEA Editions S.A.
• Million, T. (1997). Disorders of personality: DSM-IV and beyond. New York: Wiley.