Language and personality (im-)maturity

What is it about?

When people think of "personality," they are likely to think of traits such as warmth or extraversion. But personality also develops from impulsivity and self-involvement, through conformity and loyalty, towards conscience and breadth of perspective. These developing aspects of personality are frequently understood as "maturation."

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Why is it important?

The work is important, in part, because it illuminates the notion that personality doesn't merely change, but broadly develops. World views such as conformity are developmentally prior to the achievement of conscience and are manifest in the words we use. At the earliest developmental levels, language was characterized by a preoccupation with impulse gratification. Subsequently, language was marked by a concern with appearance, then with "fitting in." The next and most common developmental stage was found to be characterized by self-doubt and the costs and benefits of being in the public eye. Following this, a concern for achievement becomes paramount. At still higher levels of development, abstract considerations such as privilege arise and, ultimately, a still-broader perspective on life goals.

Perspectives