Daniel A. Bochner, Ph.D.

Personality is that part of the individual human system that is primarily built from one's experiences. Although genetics and environmental circumstances play a role, it is the relationships with those closest to a person that really form one's personality. The earliest years are most crucial in the formation of the personality because those are the years a person is most dependent and vulnerable. The personality forms as a way of making sure that emotional needs are met and the vulnerability of the self is protected. A person's personality can be dominant to ensure that others won't be able to hurt them. A person's personality can also be submissive for the purpose of always pleasing those who seem dangerous. Essentially, personality develops for the purpose of balancing and modulating extreme emotions, which have been variously churned up or soothed within widely disparate circumstances in our families. Once personality is formed, it is almost as if the personality is a very specific type of cog in the Great Life Machine. Each personality fits in a very specific way with other personalities. These diagnoses are central to understanding interpersonal dynamics. Many readers will want to find others in their lives within these pages. Some will want to find themselves. Either way, the articles here will help shed light on the dynamics one experiences due to being part of a greater machine, which itself has many other parts that are the many other personalities that surround us.