Character and personality: what we are and what we interpret

Often used as synonyms, the terms "personality" and "character" are as different as their lexical construction. And this is so because their etymological origin, that is, the use for which they were created, was different.

Each of these words had a specific meaning, although the evolution of language has diluted and merged them over time. We will try to explain the psychological relevance of understanding this subtle difference, and the practical use it can have on our internal well-being.

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Personality: that character we play

The term “personality” has the same genealogy as the words “person” or “character”. They all come from Latin person, which in turn arises from the expression “per sonare” (so that it resonates, so that it is heard louder), and was used to designate the masks that theater actors used in ancient times, and that they had a small sound box so that their voice could be heard more intensity. By extension, the term began to be used to describe the specific character being played.

This way, personality was understood as "what we show outside", that is, the role we play in a given social context. Therefore, this representation can be modulated by the place where we are, the people with whom we interact or the state of mind that we are experiencing at a certain moment. The character, however, covers more specific aspects of each one.

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Character: what we carry engraved

This term comes from the Greek kharakter, which designates “what is recorded” or to the "subject that records or prints something", and it was used, for example, in the brands that were put on cattle to designate it as property. From this perspective, the word character, in its use towards the human being, would come to be what we are going to imprinting on ourselves, and that configures our cultural heritage and our thought schemes own. From the same origin as the word character comes the word "characteristic", since the character is, precisely, what characterizes each one of us in a specific way, differentiating us from others the rest.

Character is created and “printed” over the years, and we could consider it as "what we really are", regardless of how we behave in society, how we enjoy leisure time or how we make decisions. But in all these acts there is, or should be, an influence of our own character, of our internal register.

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What is the use of differentiating character and personality?

Personality is something that psychology has been studying for many decades. Sometimes in an academic and rigorous way, such as the explanatory model of "the 5 great general features", and other times less scientific but widely disseminated, such as the 9 types of the Enneagram. In all of them common personality types are shown and in which many people can be included, since almost we all tend to display similar behavior to other individuals, even though our characters are different.

That's why, the origin of neurotic behavior can be identical in two people with totally different life paths, since the personality they show is modulated by the society in which they live, even though internally they are radically opposed.

The act of showing a certain personality responds, from this perspective, to the desire to interpret a certain role, and that may be motivated by specific personal objectives, to achieve acceptance in a social environment, or by the way of adapting to a context concrete.

This "character" that we adopt can be the same in almost all the situations that we experience or different, which explains how we can behave very differently at work, at home with family, or with our friends. But in all these scenarios, the character shown is usually conditioned by our specific way of being. That is, the character influences the various personalities displayed. However, what happens when that is not the case, and some personality has nothing to do with character?

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When personality supplants character

If someone behaves in an unnatural or forced way, he draws our attention and makes us think that her behavior is artificial or false. Sometimes we even appreciate, for example, a desperate attempt to be liked, to try to be nice, or to try to connect with someone. Somehow, we intuit that he is playing a role that does not represent what he really is, nor what you really think or feel. That is, he is showing a personality that he understands is useful to him at that time and in that place.

In this sense, if we go to a sales course in which they teach us how to treat a potential client, they will treat to teach us to display a personality that is convincing, that does not seem artificial and that conveys trust. The psychological risk of adopting such a powerful and structured personality lies in the fact that it can make the character supplant the individual, that the personality usurp the position of character, and let us continually display behavior that has little to do with what we really are.

This happens a lot to actors, singers or media people, who have chosen to play a role that It brings them job success and social recognition, but from which they have not been able to free themselves later in their lives private. That is, the character has annulled the human being, and this causes restlessness, anxiety, frustration, and a deep sense of loss of identity.

Representing what you are not can be exhausting, especially if you do not know how to define the specific area in which to display a certain personality. Because at some point, we need to take off our mask and be ourselves. This simple analysis can explain the origin of some of the most common personality disorders such as narcissistic, obsessive-compulsive or antisocial. Characters who try to adapt to a complex society, but who end up representing highly codified and common behaviors, which nullify the individual himself.

What are my characters and who am I?

A practical proposal to understand the interpretive game that each one of us plays consists of delimiting our habitual social contexts, for example: work, family, sentimental and leisure. It is very likely that in some of these contexts we do not use expressions that we do use in others, that in some we say words rude and in others not, or also that the disposition to affect is different, which will generate a bodily attitude different.

The next step would consist of delimit how many of these things we really feel identified with and which ones we do not. The objective is not to eliminate what we find incompatible with what we really are, that is, with our character, but only to be aware that there, and only there, we are playing a role with specific objectives to adapt to that environment, even if it is not a reflection of our character.

We all tend, for example, to behave in a restrained and responsible manner at work, even if we are more chaotic and disorderly in other contexts. For this reason, we can represent all the characters that we want or that we think we need, but it is It is important to know who we really are, or ultimately: what is our character and what are our personalities.