Personalities

Psychologists define personality as the enduring characteristics and behavior that comprise a person's unique adjustment to life. You might love to interact with other people, that would be a characteristic which makes up part of your unique personality. In this lecture we will learn about personalities in terms of intelligence. In the theory of neurological intelligence there are 12 parts to an intelligence. An intelligence's personality is the characteristics and behavior that come from focusing on different parts of their intelligence. For reference the different parts to intelligence are listed in the chart below. Details about these are in the first lecture titled The Basics of Neurological Intelligence.

Intelligences tend to focus on one part of their intelligence more than the others. We can organise these focuses into personality traits. There are many different personality models that have been created over the years, each with their own set of personality traits.

Even though this model does not perfectly match any other personality model it does not mean that other models are incorrect; they could just be organised in a way that was less obvious to me.

That being said I will try to link the personality types in my model to other well known personality types. From the big five personality types I will use extraversion and introversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Although it is not a category that I will use I will also explain neuroticism, as it is the only remaining trait of the big five. I will also include a drive for power, and left and right handedness.

Why do people have personalities?

The reason people have specific personalities could be for a number of reasons including the needs that they perceive are unmet, the benefits that they gain from a certain part of their intelligence, or a natural disposition for one personality. A person's personality may also be influenced by the role they have in society.

The personality model created by the theory of neurological intelligence explains not only what the different personality traits are, but also the intelligent functions they relate to. Using this knowledge we can also relate it to the different needs that an intelligence has. Together these give a greater insight into why an intelligence has its specific personality. The model of needs is shown in the chart below, and it is explained in the lecture titled Needs.

Introversion and Extraversion:

Introversion means that you are inward focused, you like to do things on your own, and that you prefer not to be in groups. Introversion is an emphasis on the first two levels of intelligence. The similarity between these levels is that their interactions are local or immediate. Since their interactions are local there is no need to focus outwardly.

These levels correspond with the need for completeness, consistency and stability. Therefore an introverted person will find comfort when their lives are complete, meaning they have everything they need to survive, and they have all the skills that they need as well; when their lives are consistent, meaning that the rules put in force in their life agree with each other, and the way that they behave is consistent with the way they feel they ought to behave; and finally their lives are stable, meaning that they are safe from outside threats and they are mentally stable as well. Those three needs are called the temporal needs.

Extraversion means you are outward focused, you like to do things in groups and to get to know others. Extraversion comes from an emphasis on the last two levels of intelligence. The similarity between these intelligences that their influence is non-local, or in other words when a neuron operates using either of the last two levels of intelligence it not only affects itself and closest neighbors, but also all other neurons in the intelligence.

These levels of intelligence come with the needs for realization, observability, and control. Therefore an extroverted person will find comfort when they are able to realise their desires, when they are able to understand both themselves and the people and things around them, and when they have control over their lives. These three needs are called the spiritual needs.

Openness to Experience:

If you are open to experience then you enjoy trying new things. This comes from an emphasis on the second and third levels of intelligence. What these have in common is that they both require you to change your assumptions about how the world works. You do this as you test your assumptions which requires new experiences.

This also corresponds to the inner needs. So a person who is open to experience will find comfort when their inner needs are met. The inner needs include having the skills they need to accomplish tasks, believing in rules that align with your behavior, being mentally stable, living like and having the skills to become the person you want to be, understanding yourself, and having self control. When their inner needs are fully met then the variation in outer needs that comes from having new experiences is not a bother to people who are open to experience.

If you are closed to experience then you prefer to stick to the things you already understand. This comes from an emphasis on the first and fourth levels of intelligence. Neither of these types of intelligence require you to change your assumptions about the world or try new things. Actually these levels of intelligence are better performed when things don't change.

Closedness to experience correspond to the outer needs, which include having the things you need to survive, having consistent rules in place, being safe from danger and from outside instability, having the resources to realise your desires, being able to understand others, and having control over what happens to you. If a person does not want to experience new things it is very important that they have their outer needs met, that way they will never have to experience new things.

Left and Right Handed:

Right Handed: A right handed personality comes from an emphasis on the first and third levels of intelligence. These levels of intelligence both have a forward orientation for their epistemological methods. These methods are proposition, and induction. In epistemological proposition you make a proposition, and then act as if it were true. In epistemological induction you take your knowledge you gained from interacting with a few things, and apply it to everything similar to those things. In both of these methods you project your own ideas onto the world.

They also have a backward orientation for both their anti-epistemological methods. In anti-epistemological proposition you accept the things that others propose to you, and in anti-epistemological induction you use a few interactions that you have with the world to shape your perception of the world. In both of these cases you let others project their ideas onto you.

Together these show an individual that is straightforward and bold, if they have an idea they apply it, and if others have ideas they accept them.

A person with a right handed personality will be comforted by the outer temporal needs and the inner spiritual needs. When the outer temporal needs are met their surroundings are not likely to change, so they can be bold about their predictions and statements. When the inner spiritual needs are met a person understands and can control themselves. This gives them the power to be bold.

Left Handed: A left handed personality comes from an emphasis on the second and fourth levels of intelligence. These levels of intelligence both have a backwards orientation for their epistemological methods. In epistemological abduction you adjust the propositions that you have about the world according to the experiences that you have. In epistemological deduction you deduce which of your ideas was responsible for your actions. In both of these cases you are compelled to reflect on your own ideas.

In anti-epistemological abduction you adjust what you are willing to accept about the world based on the ideas you have about it. In anti-epistemological deduction you deduce which parts of the world align with your theories. Both of these require you to reflect on and think critically of information that you recieve.

Together these show a person who is critical of the ideas they have and the information they come across. They like to make certain that they are right, but they are also stubborn to accept ideas from others.

A person with a left handed personality will be comforted by the inner temporal needs and the outer spiritual needs. The inner temporal needs will let their inner state be constant and predictable, this allows them to know whether their ideas are accurate. The outer spiritual needs give them control and understanding over their environment, this gives them power to test their ideas and the ideas of others.

Drive for Power:

A drive for power comes from an emphasis on identity. This corresponds to the need for completeness, and the need for realization. They are comforted when they have all of the skills and things that they need to survive and to achieve their goals. People who focus on their identity care a lot about their position in society, the power that they hold, and if they are able to achieve their goals.

Conscientiousness:

Conscientiousness comes from a focus on the methods of intelligence. It is related to the need for consistency, and the need for observability. A contientious person is comforted when they are able to do things consistently, and so that other people understand. They also appreciate it when others are consistent, and can be understood. They are driven by a desire to be correct and to understand things.

Agreeableness and Neuroticism:

Agreeableness comes from an emphasis on relationships. It is related to the need for stability, and the need for control. An agreeable person will find comfort when their surroundings are stable and controllable, as well as when they have emotional and mental stability and self control. When you have inner stability and control you are able to adapt and contribute to new relationships and to changes in your relationships. When you have outer stability and control your relationships are not likely to change which gives you the chance to build them up, and rely on them.

Neuroticism is one of the big 5 personality traits and is defined by having low emotional stability, and low emotional control. Notice that these correspond to inner stability and inner control which are both needs of intelligences, furthermore they are located adjacent to each other in the model of needs. Therefore we can define neuroticism as a composite of other personality traits. A person with low neuroticism is strongly agreeable, and is open to experience. A person with these two traits will value inner stability and control. A person with high neuroticism will be unagreeable and closed to experience. This type of person will not value inner stability and control.

The traits agreeableness, contientiiusness, and a drive for power are all related to each other. If someone's personality closely resembles two of the traits they will likely not resemble the third. This may be why a drive for power is not part of the big 5 personality traits.

Character Traits:

You can imagine the intelligent functions as each having a double, one corresponding to the epistemological methods, and the other corresponding to the anti-epistemological methods. When you mix and match epistemological functions and anti-epistemological functions you can create new traits, however these are character traits and not personality traits. The difference is that a character trait has an inherent sense of virtue or morality associated with it, while a personality trait does not. You can see this morality clearly in the character traits of humility and pride.

A focus on the epistemological functions of intelligence leads a person to be humble. A humble person is able to learn from any situation, and tries to live their life the best way they know how.

A focus on the anti-epistemological functions of intelligemce leads a person to be prideful. A prideful person will reinforce their own views of the world with each experience. They will live their life the way they want to, and tend not to listen to others.

A person who is humble has a better character than someone who is prideful. That is why humility and pride are character traits. All other traits that are mismatched will have character implications making them character traits, therefore our personality model is complete.