"PSYCHOLOGISTS HAD SPENT DECADES SEARCHING FOR TRAITS THAT EXIST INDEPENDENTLY OF CIRCUMSTANCE, BUT WHAT IF PERSONALITY CAN'T BE SEPARATED FROM CONTEXT?"
- Jonah Lehrer, Don't!
While scientists have been disregarding circumstance in their efforts to define personality types, they have forgotten that the circumstances are what mold and shape a person's personality. Therefore, such a variable should be considered to have an inextricable role in the final result. A person's upbringing and personal experiences all lend a hand in shaping every aspect of their personality - it could be said that there is no such thing as a pure personality. Such things cannot simply be categorized as Type A or Type B, as if they were templates of design. Every individual embodies a unique, undefinable persona that is wholly their own, cultivated throughout their life and interactions with their enviroment.
It's interesting how all of these complicated experiments yield lame results, and one with marshmallows and candy brings out the simple answers that come with a person's upbringing.
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