"Cognitive dissonance. One of the most irritating human traits."
I Power
Scientific Research & Self-Development Activism
I am the revolution! | Who you are and always will be... | The "base trait"
Hey guys,
Not done a proper forum post for ages and not done anything exclusive to I Power for a while either. So here goes something I thought only this forum would be appropriate for ;)
The other day, my gf and I were discussing how who you are can change over time and how we have changed throughout the past few years, especially changed the most in the past couple of years since we've known each other. While talking about how it seems when you go through dramatic changes to your lifestyle, you adapt to these changes because you have to in order to survive, whether physically or emotionally.
For example, my gf had to become a stronger person emotionally when she had to deal with moving to Eastern Europe for a year of study at the university there, living with foreign people she didn't know before. There was a time last year where I could barely afford food, and certainly couldn't afford nutritious food and my body adapted to surviving off a poor diet.
Eventually I came to the realisation about really, there are base traits that never change with personality. With me, the "base trait" is curiosity. I have always, no matter what, been curious about anything and everything. Now obviously, all children are born with some natural curiosity, as you can tell by the apathetical nature of modern society, this goes away. For me I've realised this is my nature from the way it has always led to me changing who I am. I am always who I am because of my curiosity.
For my gf, I think her "base trait" is being sentimental. She gets very attached to things and always has done. I can't go into details about some things which are too personal for me to put without her permission but there are many things she holds on to that most people would have let go of. Her career path is something she has always wanted, her desire to stay at home, her desire to stay in her home town when she has to leave home. It stayed with her even when she moved abroad for a while and now she holds that place in some special place, especially the people. Her friends from high school that she has not spoken to in years she still wishes she could check up on even though they abandoned their friendships.
Maybe it's just because I find it very hard to get attached to things because of all the pain I've felt in the past that I find it hard to understand her decisions like this but there are some things I can't mention here that I know would probably be let go of by most people.
Let me know if you have ever thought about personality traits like this at all and if you haven't, let me know what you think, let me know if you think you have a base trait or if you completely disagree, let me know why
Thanks guys :)
SparTom007
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Tim Young on -
I have never thought of things with regard to base traits however I have probably considered this idea using other means.
For example I myself have an intense curiosity about the way the human mind works; in particular the many ways in which it affects a person in both positive and negative ways and just how powerfully it can do so - more often than not without one even being consciously aware. So to use your words I guess this intense curiosity could be called a "base trait" of mine.
Thinking back to childhood I can see that I possessed a similar curiosity although at that age I had yet to comprehend much about humanity and so I tended to focus it upon inanimate objects - such as curiosity about how a mechanism worked. This curiosity has now made me someone who can work out the basics of most mechanisms - and has given me an ability to fix things that probably most people would not attempt to fix, by being inventive.
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Permalink Reply by SparTom007 - Tom on -
Would you consider this always a sense of curiosity or just interest in certain things? With my idea it is more like curiosity about anything and everything I encounter, not focusing on anything in particular. Always asking more questions when I know the answers, questioning the answers and then questioning why the answers are right or wrong or how they came to be etc.
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Permalink Reply by Tim Young on
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It's difficult to know whether the things that I find myself curious about today are more to do with my life experiences or simply a curiosity that has always been there.
Regardless - it is true to say that some things interest me more than others. The reasons for this are likely to be very complex.
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Permalink Reply by Tea Bitsadze on -
I think you are right, we change over time depending... on many bla bla bla... but our "base traits" stay the same.
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Permalink Reply by SparTom007 - Tom on
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What do you think your base traits are? :)
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Permalink Reply by Tea Bitsadze on
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freedom and fairness:) once i am going to write a post on these concepts...
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Permalink Reply by Jesse C on -
I would say our base traits are conditioned from a very early age.
Then if they remain later on in life perhaps they have developed a sort of near 'closed feedback loop'. A behavioral habit that is not too dependent on specific people/objects/circumstances to further reinforce its use. When you keep doing the habit you get your feedback (whether it be positive or negative) which reinforces the behavioral habit making it stronger and stronger.
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Permalink Reply by SparTom007 - Tom on
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Interesting idea. I think in a sense you are right because there are times in which I receive social feedback that makes me want to limit my curiosity. However it never makes it go away, it just make me curious about why people would want to inhibit it, neither making it stronger or weaker.
What would you say your base trait is?
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