Temperament and Character

by John M Oldham MD

I recently attended the annual meeting of the American College of Psychiatrists, where there was a fair amount of interest in the enduring debate about temperament and character. What makes us the way we are? Are we born that way (temperament), or are we made that way by life experiences (character). The answer is, of course, both. In the 1990’s, Robert Cloninger developed something called the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI), designed to evaluate 7 dimensions of personality. Four of these, he considered, are broadly in the “heritable” category—ie, personality features you’re born with. They are 1) Novelty seeking, 2) Harm avoidance, 3) Reward dependence, and 4) Persistence. The remaining 3 are character traits that are learned, shaped by life experience: 1) Self-directedness, 2) Cooperativeness, and 3) Self-transcendence. This conceptual model remains useful today.

In the language of NPSP25, what personality styles might correlate with these TCI dimensions? Novelty seeking would fit with Adventurous, Mercurial, and Dramatic styles. Harm avoidance would characterize those with Vigilant and Sensitive styles, while Reward dependence might be prominent in Devoted and Self-sacrificing styles. In turn, Persistence might show up in the Conscientious, and Serious styles. In the TCI model, these would be the “born with” features of personality. Learned features, on the other hand, are built by life experiences, particularly during the period from early childhood to young adulthood. Self-directedness fits with the Self-confident style and perhaps the Aggressive style. Cooperativeness would be seen in those with the Devoted and Sensitive styles, and Self-transcendence would show up in those with a spiritual bent, such as the Idiosyncratic style.

Note that these are generalizations, and some styles might be both inborn and later either magnified or minimized depending on life experiences. And as we learn more about the growing field of epigenetics, we now know that some genetic predispositions may be present at birth but dormant, then potentially “turned on” by key influences during development.