Human Beings. We are complex! I found Daniel Nettle\u2019s book to be a valuable and interesting resource regarding human personality. Beyond this book, however, I was reminded of the amazing Creator who has woven us together in all of our intricacies, known and unknown to us.<\/p>\n
Personality: What Makes You the Way You Are<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n British psychologist, Daniel Nettle, in his book Personality: What Makes You the Way You Are,<\/em> takes on the ambitious task of describing the psychology of personality. He aims to show that people have “enduring personality dispositions that partly predict what they will do, and which stem from the way their nervous systems are wired up.\u201d[1]<\/a> He also highlights that \u201ca renaissance is underway in the study of personality,\u201d bolstering scientific credibility and revealing valuable insights.[2]<\/a> This renaissance is due to the recent development of the five-factor model of personality dimensions, recent strides made in the field of neuroscience, and progress made in understanding human genetics and genomics.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n Nettle devotes the bulk of his book to the five-factor model, which consists of five evidence-based personality traits, agreed upon by scientists, which create the most \u201ccomprehensive, reliable, and useful framework for discussing human personality that we have ever had.\u201d[4]<\/a> He goes on to explain that this model for understanding personality describes\u201d five major dimensions along which all human characters vary.\u201d[5]<\/a> These dimensions include: extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness.[6]<\/a> Together, they are known in the study of personality as the \u201cBig Five.\u201d Nettle discusses each of the five traits in the context of relevant brain research and genomic study, as well as illustrates his points through various case studies. He also \u201capplies evolutionary methodology to consider what happens physiologically with each trait, how it happens, and for what effects on natural selection the traits would have developed.\u201d[7]<\/a><\/p>\n Beyond the Book<\/strong><\/p>\n Upon finishing Nettles book on personality, I was, of course, motivated to take The Newcastle Personality Assessor at the end of the book and asked my husband to do the same.[8]<\/a> The results were interesting and predictable. I score high in agreeableness, my husband in conscientiousness. What struck me, however, even more than the practical and useful information in this book which helps us to understand ourselves and others, is the complexity and beauty through which God works to create each human being. Nettle especially caught my attention when he compared the human personality to fractals.[9]<\/a> I recently ran across fractals in my NPO research, which focuses on the benefits of nature on human health.<\/p>\n Fractals: Natural Beauty<\/strong><\/p>\n Here is what I learned, relevant to my NPO: Researchers have theorized many reasons why humans are attracted to the natural environment. Studies show that we are drawn to \u201cbeauty in nature that is rich in detail and diversity, while simultaneously ordered and organized. This quality of organized complexity is known as fractal geometry.\u201d[10]<\/a> Fractals are patterns in which the pieces reflect the whole and though the individual pieces are not identical, they are similar. Some examples of fractals in nature include snowflakes, leaves, fern boughs, river deltas, lightning bolts, and shells.[11]<\/a> How interesting that human personality construction is similar to the structure of many natural features in our environment. We are rich in detail and diversity, while simultaneously ordered and organized.<\/p>\n Nettle comments, \u201cJust as the self-consistent properties of fractals are generated by the mathematical functions that define them, so the self-consistent properties of personality seem as if they are generated by some physical property of the nervous system of the person in question.\u201d[12]<\/a> He continues in saying that talking about someone\u2019s personality is a way to describe how that person\u2019s \u201cparticular nervous system is wired up.\u201d[13]<\/a> Our unique wiring drives our \u201clarge-scale narratives\u201d that shape our careers and relationships, as well as the \u201ctiny interactions\u201d of our lives that steer\u00a0 how we shop, dress, and decorate our homes.[14]<\/a> Interesting! The wiring of our nervous system and the resultant actions reflect the fractal-like patterns found throughout nature.<\/p>\n Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n I find Nettle\u2019s presentation of personality and the renaissance in the study of personality interesting and valuable in understanding myself and others. Even more fascinating to me, though, is the reminder through this text of the complexity and beauty with which God has created humans and the world. There are many ways we benefit from the detailed glimpses of life we gain through science. Of one thing I am sure, however: we will never fully<\/em> understand the ways in which we are created, shaped, and connected to a beautifully complex universe. I\u2019m ok with that.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t have to understand it fully in order to appreciate it. I find it interesting to continually be learning more about our world and ourselves, but I also find comfort in knowing that the ways in which God has created humans and our world are far beyond what we can fathom. We can continue learning and growing and still, God and God\u2019s design will be too much for us to fully digest. That spurs me on to know God more deeply. Our God is immense, beautiful, present, and accessible. I am reminded of Walter Bruggeman\u2019s word: \u201cWe live our lives before the wild, dangerous, unfettered, and free character of the living God.\u201d[15]<\/a> Thanks be to God for enriching our lives with his full love and self, though we ourselves are only capable of seeing God, our world, and selves in part.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Daniel Nettle, Personality: What Makes You the Way You Are<\/em> (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2007),\u00a08, 13.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Nettle, 9.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> Nettle, 9-11.<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> Nettle, 9.<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> Nettle, 9.<\/p>\n [6]<\/a> Nettle, 29.<\/p>\n [7]<\/a> Ray Olson in Booklistonline.com, Booklist 17, December 1, 2007, https:\/\/web-p-ebscohost-com.georgefox.idm.oclc.org\/ehost\/pdfviewer\/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=74864d91-bf56-4d07-a18e-433cc5eb00a7%40redis<\/a>.<\/p>\n [8]<\/a> Nettle, 250-253.<\/p>\n [9]<\/a> Nettle, 7.<\/p>\n [10]<\/a> Patricia H. Hasbach. Grounded: A Guided Journal to Help You Reconnect with the Power of Nature \u2013 and Yourself<\/em> (New York, NY: Adams Media, 2022), 69.<\/p>\n [11]<\/a> Hasbach, 69.<\/p>\n [12]<\/a> Nettle, 8.<\/p>\n