Differences between personality, temperament and character

In everyday language the terms "personality", "temperament" and "character" are frequently used interchangeably; However, from Psychology, clear limits have been established between these three concepts, which account for differentiated aspects of the human experience.

In this article we will define what are personality, temperament and character. For this we will do a brief review of the etymology of the terms and the use that has been given to them throughout history, as well as from the point of view of scientific psychology regarding their differences and similarities.

• Related article: "The 5 great personality traits: sociability, responsibility, openness, kindness and neuroticism"

What is temperament?

When we speak of temperament we are referring to the biological and instinctual dimension of personality, which manifests itself before the rest of the factors. During the life of any person the environmental influences that it receives interact with its temperamental base, giving rise to the traits that will characterize it and differentiate it from the rest.

Temperament is determined by genetic inheritance, which greatly influences the functioning of the nervous and endocrine systems, that is, in the relative influence of different neurotransmitters and hormones. Other innate aspects, such as brain alertness, are also important for personality development.

These individual differences generate variations in different traits and predispositions; for example, the hyperresponsiveness of the sympathetic nervous system favors the appearance of feelings of anxiety, while extroverts are characterized by chronically low levels of cortical activation, according to the PEN model described by Hans Eysenck.

Historical evolution of the concept

In Ancient Greece the famous physician Hippocrates stated that human personality and disease depended on the balance or imbalance between four bodily humors: yellow bile, black bile, phlegm, and blood.

In the 2nd century AD. C., some 500 years later, Galen of Pergamum created a temperamental typology that classified people according to the predominant mood. In the choleric type, yellow bile predominated, in the melancholic type black, in the phlegmatic type, phlegm, and in the sanguine type, blood.

Much later, already in the 20th century, authors such as Eysenck and Pavlov developed theories biology-based personality traits. Like the models of Hippocrates and Galen, both used stability (Neuroticism-Emotional stability) and the activity (Extraversion-Introversion) of the central nervous system as differentiating criteria basic.

• You may be interested: "Emotional people: 10 traits and characteristics that define them"

Defining the character

The character is the learned component of personality. It appears as a consequence of the experiences we live, which influence our way of being by modulating biological predispositions and tendencies, that is, temperamental ones.

Although there is not as high a degree of agreement regarding the definition of character as in the case of temperament, most proposals highlight the fact that stems from social interaction. This means that it depends on the context in which we develop, and therefore has a cultural origin.

At the beginning of century XX the study of the character, or characterology, was a predominant tendency that would end up being replaced by the Psychology of the Personality; Ultimately, these perspectives were not very different from current models. Among the authors who worked with the concept of character, Ernst Kretschmer and William Stern stand out.

At present in many cases no distinction is made between these elements, character and personality. Strictly, the first term specifically designates the part of our nature that is determined by the environment, but the difficulty of separating it from temperament causes the definitions of character and personality to overlap frequently.

Personality: the sum of biology and environment

In psychology, the term "personality" is defined as a organization of emotions, cognitions and behaviors that determine the behavior patterns of a person. Both the biological basis (temperament) and environmental influences (character) are involved in the formation of the personality.

Therefore, the most remarkable aspect of personality compared to the concepts of temperament and character is that it encompasses both. Given the difficulties in defining which part of the way of being is given by heredity and which by the environment, this term It is more useful than the previous ones on a theoretical and practical level.

From psychology a large number of conceptions of personality have been offered. One of the most influential is that of Gordon allport, which also highlights the mental and behavioral manifestations and the organizational component, if it either adds a factor of dynamism (continuous interaction with the environment) and of individual specificity.

Every psychological theory about personality he highlights different aspects of the human experience. In addition to Allport's individualistic theory, among the most important we find that of Eysenck, which focuses on biological dimensions, and those of the humanists Rogers and Maslow.

It is important too mention the situationist models, which bring the concept of personality closer to that of behavior. From these perspectives it is proposed that human behavior does not depend so much on mental constructs as of environmental influences in a specific situation, or that personality is a repertoire behavioral.

History of the word "personality"

In Ancient Greece the word "person" was used to refer to the masks worn by theater actors. Later, in Rome, it would come to be used as a synonym for "citizen", designating mainly the social roles of privileged and influential individuals.

Over time, the term "person" began to refer to the individual as being differentiated from his environment. "Personality", which was derived from this word, has been used since the Middle Ages to describe a series of characteristics that determine the behavioral tendencies of a person.

Bibliographical references:

• Church, A.T. (2000). Culture and personality: Toward an integrated cultural trait psychology. Journal of Personality, 68 (4), 651–703.
• Corr, Philip J.; Matthews, Gerald. (2009). The Cambridge handbook of personality psychology (1. publ. ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Harris, Judith Rich (1995). Where is the child's environment? A group socialization theory of development. Psychological Review. 102 (3).