Three Natures of Personality
Brian Little's frame for what makes a person:
- Biogenic nature — neurophysiology; how you're wired
- Sociogenic nature (second nature) — culture and social shaping
- Idiogenic nature — what makes you individually you; your personal projects
Why Three Layers
Trait psychology (e.g. Big Five) captures biogenic and some sociogenic variance. It misses the idiogenic: Elizabeth and George may share neuroticism but have distinctively Elizabethan or Georgian behaviors that traits alone won't predict.
Little's summary: each of us is, in certain respects, like all other people, like some other people, and like no other person.
Connections
- big-five-personality — trait layer within biogenic/sociogenic
- personal-projects — idiogenic content
- free-traits — idiogenic override of biogenic tendencies