The Foundations of Personality | Page 3

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THE FOUNDATIONS OF PERSONALITY

BY ABRAHAM MYERSON, M.D.

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
I. THE ORGANIC BASIS OF CHARACTER
II. THE ENVIRONMENTAL BASIS OF CHARACTER
III. MEMORY AND HABIT
IV. STIMULATION, INHIBITION, ORGANIZING ENERGY,
CHOICE AND CONSCIOUSNESS
V. HYSTERIA, SUBCONSCIOUSNESS AND FREUDIANISM
VI. EMOTION, INSTINCT, INTELLIGENCE AND WILL
VII. EXCITEMENT, MONOTONY AND INTEREST
VIII. THE SENTIMENTS OF LOVE, FRIENDSHIP, HATE, PITY
AND DUTY, COMPENSATION AND ESCAPE
IX. ENERGY RELEASE AND THE EMOTIONS
X. COURAGE, RESIGNATION, SUBLIMATION, PATIENCE, THE
WISH AND ANHEDONIA
XI. THE EVOLUTION OF CHARACTER WITH ESPECIAL
REFERENCE TO THE GROWTH OF PURPOSE AND
PERSONALITY
XII. THE METHODS OF PURPOSE-WORK CHARACTERS
XIII. THE QUALITIES OF THE LEADER AND THE FOLLOWER
XIV. SEX CHARACTERS AND DOMESTICITY

XV. PLAY, RECREATION, HUMOR AND PLEASURE SEEKING
XVI. RELIGIOUS CHARACTERS. DISHARMONY IN
CHARACTER
XVII. SOME CHARACTER TYPES

THE FOUNDATIONS OF PERSONALITY
INTRODUCTION
Man's interest in character is founded on an intensely practical need. In
whatsoever relationship we deal with our fellows, we base our
intercourse largely on our understanding of their characters. The trader
asks concerning his customer, "Is he honest?" and the teacher asks
about the pupil, "Is he earnest?" The friend bases his friendship on his
good opinion of his friend; the foe seeks to know the weak points in the
hated one's make-up; and the maiden yearning for her lover whispers to,
herself, "Is he true?" Upon our success in reading the character of
others, upon our understanding of ourselves hangs a good deal of our
life's success or failure.
Because the feelings are in part mirrored on the face and body, the
experience of mankind has become crystallized in beliefs, opinions and
systems of character reading which are based on physiognomy, shape
of head, lines of hand, gait and even the method of dress and the
handwriting. Some of these all men believe in, at least in part. For
example, every one judges character to a certain extent by facial
expression, manner, carriage and dress. A few of the methods used
have become organized into specialties, such as the study of the head or
phrenology, and the study of the hand or palmistry. All of these
systems are really "materialistic" in that they postulate so close a union
of mind and body as to make them inseparable.
But there are grave difficulties in the way of character-judging by these
methods. Take, for example, the study of the physiognomy as a means
to character understanding. All the physiognomists, as well as the

average man, look upon the high, wide brow as related to great
intelligence. And so it is--sometimes. But it is also found in connection
with disease of the brain, as in hydrocephalus, and in old cases of
rickets. You may step into hospitals for the feeble-minded or for the
insane and find here and there a high, noble brow. Conversely you may
attend a scientific convention and find that the finest paper of the
meeting will be read not by some Olympian-browed member, but by a
man with a low, receding forehead, who nevertheless possesses a
high-grade intellect.
So for centuries men have recognized in the large aquiline nose a sign
of power and ability. Napoleon's famous dictum that no man with this
type of proboscis is a fool has been accepted by many, most of whom,
like Napoleon probably, have large aquiline noses. The number of
failures with this facial peculiarity has never been studied, nor has any
one remarked that many a highly successful man has a snub nose. And
in fact the only kind of a nose that has a real character value is the