Science of Personality

Personality is what defines us as a person. It is our behavior patterns, our emotions and our cognitive abilities. The question is: how might this personality be preserved in our souls after death?

First of all we must delve into the meaning of personality. The psychologists break it down into five factors: openness to experience; conscientiousness; extroversion; agreeableness; and emotionality. Those are big words!

Openness to experience involves our inner feelings and how alert we are to them. It indicates how curious we are and whether we have aesthetic sensitivity and imagination.

Conscientiousness deals with how thorough and vigilant we are. Are we disorderly or do we have self-discipline? It determines if we can be trusted.

Extroversion is a Carl Jung idea and it indicates whether we are extroverts. It means how talkative and outgoing we are.

Agreeableness means how kind and sympathetic we are. It determines how cooperative and considerate we are. In other words it indicates how we get along with people.

Emotionality is obvious. It determines how excited we get when exposed to normal daily stimuli.

Personality is measured by means of personality tests (no kidding!) like the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. This has been around for a long time. I took this test when I was in college. It's supposed to determine how close one is to what psychologists consider a 'Normal Person'. I wasn't all that far away . . . then. This test relies on some very difficult questions like: Do you lie? If you answer no, then they know you're lying because everyone lies.

For psychologists the five personality traits are part of a person's mental health. If any one of these traits are abnormal than the psychologists look for a psychological cause.

However, the science of Neuropsychology studies how these personality traits are part of the brain structure. In other words, personality lies in the mind. Descartes was the first philosopher to explore this concept of duality. More modern scientists like Paul Broca actually attributed various aspects of speech to specific regions of the brain. Some psychologists believe that speech is a manifestation of personality.

There is a good deal of both clinical and cognitive experimental proof for the idea that our personality resides in the neurons of the brain. I think we can accept this concept.

Based on this idea that personality resides in the brain, then we could say that our souls also contain this personality because of the direct quantum connection between the soul and the brain. Thus, when we die, our personalities are preserved in our souls, and along with our memories our souls contain our complete psychological essence.

Of course, this is not a proof but rather a philosophical theory about how spirits work. Perhaps, science will find scientific proof some day.

Thanks for reading.