Personality: A Mirage of the Mind?

Beyond the Big Three: Unlocking the Hidden Depths of Personality

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Disclosure: I used AI to research and probe into this question. All the questions and interactions were my thoughts and words. AI was used to investigate, probe, and research. After the dialog, I asked it to summarize the conversation and used that to turn it into a draft post using my own voice. I then edited and revised the post.

The so-called "Big Three" -- DNA, environmental, social factors do NOT determine our authentic personality as believed and accepted. They shape the mask we wear for the external world but do not show who we truly are - our authentic selves. Until we tap into the 4th and the most important one, we are faking our personalities and remain strangers to our authentic selves, prisoners of inherited patterns, external conditioning, and societal roles.

What defines our personality?

This came up as a question this morning. I had the sense that it wasn’t what we are led to believe. As critical thinkers, we need to question the assumptions and rationale that underlie what we have been taught. We can learn to trust our intuition more over time. Just because we don’t have the ability to quantify certain things, doesn’t make it less important.

The first prompt to AI was:

What are the key factors that define one's personality? DNA, Social, Environmental?

Is it the genetic code embedded in our DNA, the environment we grow up in, or the social forces that shape our behavior? For decades, scientists have attempted to answer this question by studying measurable factors like genetics, environmental influences, and societal norms. While these factors play a role, they fail to capture the essence of what makes us who we are.

The "Big Three": DNA, Environment, and Social

Let’s begin with the three most widely accepted factors shaping personality: DNA, environment, and social influences.

1. DNA (Biological Factors): The Blueprint of Personality
   Research in behavioral genetics suggests that personality is partially heritable, with studies estimating that personality traits are influenced by genetic factors (Bouchard, 2004). However, DNA is not destiny. While it provides a blueprint, genetic predispositions interact with life experiences to shape who we become. This limits DNA’s ability to define personality fully, as it cannot account for individuality, personal growth, or self-awareness.

2. Environmental Factors: The Shaping Hand
   Our surroundings profoundly influence our personality, from childhood experiences to significant life events. Environmental factors like socioeconomic status, education, and trauma shape how genetic predispositions manifest (Caspi et al., 2003). For instance, a nurturing environment can mitigate the effects of a genetic predisposition to anxiety, while a stressful one may exacerbate it. Yet, even environmental explanations fall short. Two individuals in the same environment can develop vastly different personalities. This suggests that external conditions alone cannot account for the full complexity of who we are.

3. Social Influences: The Role of Relationships and Culture
   Socialization shapes behavior and personality through relationships, cultural norms, and societal expectations. Cross-cultural studies, for instance, highlight how individualistic societies promote traits like assertiveness, while collectivist cultures emphasize agreeableness (Triandis, 2001). While impactful, social influences often lead to conformity rather than authenticity. Many people mold their external persona to fit societal roles, which may not reflect their true selves.

I think that DNA is the least relevant of the 3. Environmental and Social play an outsized role relative to DNA but none of these are as relevant as the next one. As we experience life, this next one becomes the dominant factor.

To discover our authentic selves, our true personality, we must delve deeper—into the realm of the unconscious.

The unconscious mind is the missing piece in defining an authentic personality. By integrating these perspectives, we can understand personality not as a fixed set of traits but as an evolving journey toward self-discovery.

The Missing Piece: The Unconscious

The unconscious mind is the repository of our deepest drives, instincts, and suppressed emotions. Unlike the measurable factors of DNA, environment, and social influences, the unconscious operates beneath awareness, making it harder to study scientifically. However, it may hold the key to understanding our authentic selves.

Why the Unconscious Defines Authenticity

The unconscious bypasses the filters of external forces. It houses the raw, unfiltered truths about who we are, unaffected by societal expectations or genetic predispositions. This is where our deepest motivations, fears, and desires reside, often influencing behavior in ways we don’t consciously recognize.

Carl Jung’s concept of the shadow self—the hidden parts of our personality we suppress or deny—highlights how the unconscious integrates the contradictions and nuances of our being (Jung, 1953). Until we explore these hidden aspects, our understanding of personality remains incomplete and in authentic.

Alan Watts often spoke about the persona (from the Latin word for “mask”), arguing that what we call our personality is largely a social construct—an illusion shaped by cultural conditioning, genetics, and environment.

Modern Efforts to Study the Unconscious

While challenging to measure, psychologists and neuroscientists have developed methods to study unconscious processes:

• Implicit Association Tests (IAT): Used to uncover subconscious biases and attitudes.

• Dream Analysis: A cornerstone of psychoanalysis, dreams offer insights into unconscious fears and desires.

• Neuroscience: Brain imaging studies reveal how unconscious processes influence decision-making and emotional responses (Bechara et al., 1997).

Psychedelics: The Accelerant to Unveiling the Unconscious

One of the most promising tools for accessing the unconscious is the use of psychedelics. Research has shown that psychedelics can profoundly alter states of consciousness, dissolving the boundaries of the ego and allowing individuals to access repressed memories, unresolved emotions, and deep insights about themselves (Carhart-Harris et al., 2014).

Studies at institutions like Johns Hopkins and Imperial College of London have shown that psychedelics facilitate profound personal transformations by increasing neuroplasticity, increasing connectivity and reducing activity in the default mode network (DMN), the part of the brain associated with self-referential thinking (Robin et al., 2012). By quieting the conscious mind, psychedelics provide a unique opportunity to explore the depths of the unconscious, accelerating self-discovery and fostering authenticity.

The Case for an Integrated Model of Personality

While DNA, environment, and social factors provide valuable insights, they are insufficient to define personality fully or authentically. The unconscious adds depth, revealing the internal, hidden forces driving our actions and preferences. Together, these factors create a more holistic framework for understanding personality:

1. DNA: Provides the biological foundation and predispositions.

2. Environment: Shapes opportunities and constraints.

3. Social Influences: Adds relational and cultural dimensions.

4. The Unconscious: Offers the authentic, evolving core of who we are.

Exploring the Unconscious: A Path to Self-Discovery

If the unconscious holds the key to authenticity, how can we access it? Here are some approaches:

• Meditation and Mindfulness: Quieting the conscious mind allows unconscious patterns to surface.

• Journaling and Free Association: Writing or speaking without filtering thoughts can reveal hidden themes.

• Therapy: Approaches like psychoanalysis or Jungian therapy help uncover unconscious drives and unresolved conflicts.

• Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy: In therapeutic settings (nature, non-clincal), psychedelics can provide a safe and effective way to explore the unconscious, fostering breakthroughs in self-awareness and ultimately —- wisdom.

Knowledge is not Wisdom

By tapping into the unconscious, we move closer to understanding our authentic selves, integrating the hidden aspects of our personality within ourselves — what I call the internally driven experiential life — as a far more important and significant factor in shaping our personality going forward than any of the ones traditionally researched.

Conclusion

Defining personality can be nebulous, and while measurable factors like DNA, environment, and social influences provide important pieces of the puzzle, they fail to capture the full picture. The unconscious mind—a dynamic, evolving repository of hidden truths—offers the missing piece, providing a deeper, more authentic understanding of who we are.

Do you want to discover your authentic self?

Psychedelics, as an accelerant to exploring the unconscious, represent a groundbreaking tool for personal transformation. The substance is just a catalyst, and not a panacea. By embracing the unconscious and integrating its insights, we shift the focus of personality from static traits to a dynamic journey of self-discovery. In doing so, we honor the complexity, contradictions, and creativity that make each of us truly unique. We can think of our authentic selves as an infinite layered onion. Every time we peel one layer, a new layer is revealed.

References

• Bouchard, T. J. (2004). Genetic influence on human psychological traits. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 13(4), 148-151.

• Caspi, A., Sugden, K., Moffitt, T. E., Taylor, A., Craig, I. W., Harrington, H., ... & Poulton, R. (2003). Influence of life stress on depression: Moderation by a polymorphism in the 5-HTT gene. Science, 301(5631), 386-389.

• Jung, C. G. (1953). Psychology and Religion: West and East. Princeton University Press.

• McCrae, R. R., Costa, P. T., et al. (2000). Nature over nurture: Temperament, personality, and life span development. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78(1), 173.

• Triandis, H. C. (2001). Individualism-collectivism and personality. Journal of Personality, 69(6), 907-924.

• Bechara, A., Damasio, H., Tranel, D., & Damasio, A. R. (1997). Deciding advantageously before knowing the advantageous strategy. Science, 275(5304), 1293-1295.

• Carhart-Harris, R. L., Erritzoe, D., Williams, T., et al. (2014). Neural correlates of the psychedelic state as determined by fMRI studies with psilocybin. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(38), 13640-13645.