Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Who Are You, Really?: The Surprising Puzzle of Personality
    Who Are You, Really?: The Surprising Puzzle of Personality
    Who Are You, Really?: The Surprising Puzzle of Personality
    Ebook122 pages1 hour

    Who Are You, Really?: The Surprising Puzzle of Personality

    By Brian R. Little

    4/5

    ()

    Switch to audiobook
    Read preview

    About this ebook

    This fun, smart read for anyone eager to better understand (and improve) themselves argues that personality is driven not by nature nor nurture—but instead by the projects we pursue, which ultimately shape the people we become.

    Traditionally, scientists have emphasized what they call the first and second natures of personality—genes and culture, respectively. But today the field of personality science has moved well beyond the nature vs. nurture debate. In Who Are You, Really? Dr. Brian Little presents a distinctive view of how personality shapes our lives—and why this matters. Little makes the case for a third nature to the human condition—the pursuit of personal projects, idealistic dreams, and creative ventures that shape both people’s lives and their personalities. Little uncovers what personality science has been discovering about the role of personal projects, revealing how this new concept can help people better understand themselves and shape their lives.

    In this important work, Little argues that it is essential to devote energy and resources to creative endeavors in a highly focused fashion, even if it takes away from other components of our well-being. This does not mean that we cannot shift from one core project to another in the days of our lives. In fact, it is precisely that ability to flexibly craft projects that is the greatest source of sustainability. Like learning to walk, forcing ourselves out of balance as we step is the only way in which we can move forward. And it is the only way that human flourishing can be enhanced.

    The well-lived life is based on the sustainable pursuit of core projects in our lives. Ultimately, Who Are You, Really? provides a deeply personal itinerary for exploring our personalities, our lives, and the human condition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster/ TED
    Release dateAug 15, 2017
    ISBN9781501119972
    Author

    Brian R. Little

    Dr. Brian Little is an internationally acclaimed scholar and speaker in the field of personality and motivational psychology. He is a Fellow of the Well-Being Institute and Director of the Social Ecology Research Group in the Department of Psychology at Cambridge University. Previously, he taught at McGill, Oxford, and Harvard Universities. Dividing his time between Canada and the UK, Dr. Little is also a Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus at Carleton University in Ottawa, and he lectures worldwide on personality, motivation, and well-being. Who Are You, Really? is his third book. 

    Related to Who Are You, Really?

    Related ebooks

    Psychology For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      No, You Can’t Feel Sorry for Everyone: The idea of empathy for all ignores the limits of human psychology.

      Apr 14, 2016

      The world seems to be getting more empathetic. Americans donate to charity at record rates. People feel the pain of suffering in geographically distant countries brought to our attention by advances in communications and transportation. Violence, see

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Infrastructure of Joy

      Jun 27, 2019

      The Infrastructure of Joy
      3 min read

    • Article

      4 Steps To Happiness

      Jul 10, 2020

      YOU HAVE AROUND 60-80,000 thoughts per day, according to neuroscientific research. Some of the research indicates that as much as 60 and 70 per cent of thought content can be negative in nature. It’s important to understand that most of your thoughts

      3 min read

    • Article

      How To Tame Toxic Self-talk

      Aug 12, 2021

      How To Tame Toxic Self-talk
      6 min read

    • Article

      Unleash YOUR NUNCHI!

      Feb 26, 2020

      Unleash YOUR NUNCHI!
      2 min read

    • Article

      Animal Identity

      Sep 6, 2021

      Animal Identity
      11 min read

    • Article

      Jamie Wheal Meaning 3.0

      Jul 17, 2022

      Jamie Wheal Meaning 3.0
      18 min read

    • Article

      Bookmark This

      Jun 18, 2019

      The Scientific Search For the Self Robert V. Levine • Robinson Dr. Robert V. Levine has taught psychology courses for over 50 years at California State University, Fresno, and has written and edited several books on social psychology. Given all of th

      4 min read

    • Article

      Our Web Of Connection

      Feb 22, 2022

      “Independent as a hog on ice.” That’s one of my favorite expressions from my days working in Washington. It’s a rich image. Yes, the hog is independent. He’s all by himself. Because nobody is going to come to the aid of a hog flailing around on ice,

      2 min read

    • Article

      Check Your Blind Spot

      Aug 21, 2018

      Check Your Blind Spot
      8 min read

    • Article

      The Choice Is Ours

      Mar 4, 2024

      In December 1866, mathematician Mary Boole wrote to Charles Darwin: Do you consider the holding of your Theory of Natural Selection, in its fullest & most unreserved sense, to be inconsistent,—I do not say with any particular scheme of Theological do

      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Who Are You, Really?

    4/5

    13 ratings2 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      This is an exploration of Dr. Little's theory of the personality. I found it to be concise and clear, thus worth filling out the quiz at the back. for an afternoon's engagement, a worthwhile use of time.
    • 3/5
      Who Are You Really is a TED Talk, not a research book or study. It reads like a talk, not a book. It is peppered with mild laugh lines to keep the audience with the speaker. You can see them coming, and you can hear Little cash in. Basically, you are reading a script.The script is a self-help through self-identification course. Little segregates people into buckets and deals with them that way. Do it yourself, and gain some perspective, perhaps. Or change your approach, your projects and your sensitivities to be more effective. There are five buckets: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism (OCEAN). On a scale of 1-5, you rate yourself, and formulas assign you a personality. If you are not self-aware or at least honest with yourself, this is the book for you.The scoring however, doesn’t make sense. For example, the average score for Conscientiousness is 11. But the formula is question 13 (maximum value 5) less questions 3 and 8 (maximum value 10). For Agreeableness, you add scores from questions 2 and 12 (max 10) and subtract from the score from question 7 (max 5). The average score is somehow 12. This quickly puts everyone in the bucket Subhuman.Possibly the most valuable chapter tackles authenticity, buzzword without equal in western society. Little says we can have multiple authenticities, conflicting authenticities, and private authenticities. They are all valid – and authentic. Plus, we need to understand their strategic value, and not just wear them on our sleeves. Bravo.David Wineberg

    Book preview

    Who Are You, Really? - Brian R. Little

    CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP

    TABLE OF CONTENTS

    INTRODUCTION

    CHAPTER 1

    Scanning Your Personality: The Big Picture

    CHAPTER 2

    Personal Projects: The Doings of Personality

    CHAPTER 3

    Personal Contexts: The Social Ecology of Project Pursuit

    CHAPTER 4

    The Myth of Authenticity: The Challenge of Being Oneself

    CHAPTER 5

    Well-Doing: The Sustainable Pursuit of Core Projects

    EPILOGUE

    APPENDIX

    ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

    ABOUT THE AUTHOR

    WATCH BRIAN R. LITTLE’S TED TALK

    RELATED TALKS

    MORE FROM TED BOOKS

    ABOUT TED BOOKS

    ABOUT TED

    NOTES

    BIBLIOGRAPHY

    For Hilary and Benjamin

    INTRODUCTION

    Who are you? It’s a nosy question, I know, and perhaps even an uncomfortable one. If I asked you that question over a beer at a bar, you’d probably bolt for the door. But once you realized I was merely an inquisitive psychologist, I suspect you’d have a list of personality traits at the ready. I’m an extravert, you might say proudly. Or I’m a nurturer, or I’m a worrier, or I am the fifth least narcissistic person on earth. Each of us has a sense of the basic traits that define us.

    Next, if I asked you why you are that way, you’d probably also have some answers already in your quiver. Because I’m from the west coast, you might say. Or Because I’m an oldest child, or Because my dad was a drinker, or Because the Great Recession hit while I was in high school. You’d have good reason to make those connections. It’s clear that outside influences—your home life, the community where you grew up, the political milieu into which you were born—have shaped your life and the way you behave.

    And that’s it, you might think, it’s settled. You are who you are because of your inherent nature coupled with the external forces that have influenced you throughout your life. It isn’t really that complex, is it? You’ve spent enough years getting to know yourself that you should have the picture of your personality put together by now. Right?

    You’d better settle in, because our exploration of you is just getting started.

    You see, genetics and experiences aren’t everything. There is a third force that also determines your personality. And when it comes to this force, our usual assumptions have it backward; it’s not who you are that explains what you do, it’s the other way around. That, in fact, is the very idea I’m about to present to you. It is an important new way of looking at personality, and it is what I’ve spent the better part of a half-century researching and understanding.

    Your life and your identity derive from more than just your inborn traits and your circumstances; they are borne of your aspirations and commitments, your dreams and your everyday doings. These defining activities are, in two words, your personal projects. Personal projects can range from the seemingly trivial pursuits of particular Thursdays to the overarching quest of your life. They include endeavors small and large, from the intimate to the professional, from the mundane to the existential. They range from taking out the garbage to taking out my political opponent. These personal projects, for better or worse, are shaped in part by both our biological traits and our social contexts. But they transcend each. Because unlike nature and nurture, they are one feature of human life that is not given to us by heredity or society but is generated from within.

    You might already be wondering how much your activities could really affect something that seems as stable as your personality and sense of self. The answer is perhaps more than you might imagine. Personal projects are central not only to who you think you are but also to how well you are doing in life—whether you are flourishing or floundering, or like most of us, just muddling through as best you can. Your personal projects, in short, are key to your prospects. Learn to understand them and their impact, and you learn to guide your life in the direction you want it to go.

    In these pages we’ll look closely at your personality in terms of how your life has gone and how it is going now. But we’ll also be concerned with how it might yet go in the future. This is where your personal projects come in: Once you can clearly identify your personal projects and their power, you’ll also see the degrees of freedom or spaces for movement that are open to you in determining your own course. My own personal project with this book is to help you see and steer your life—and to do this before kids with scrapes, cats with furballs, or friends who really need to talk right now divert you from plotting your future self.

    As I want to make this personal for both of us, let’s start with my own account of how I came to study human personality. It was an unusually hot September afternoon in 1965 when I cautiously tapped on the office door of Professor Theodore R. Sarbin. Sarbin was an eminent scholar of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. I was a second-year graduate student eager to join his research group. The door swung open and a voice intoned loudly, WHO ARE YOU? I inferred from Sarbin’s stentorian voice and the way he drew out the o in who that this was more than a desire to know my name. He wanted me to declare my identity! Or what role I was playing, what self I was enacting at that very moment. So I said, in a self-mocking, elevated tone: A seeker after truth. Sarbin rolled his eyes, snickered, and said, Oh no, not another one.

    A more honest answer to Sarbin’s question would have been less grandiose but more complex and interesting. I could have described the personality traits that I’d known were mine since childhood: introverted, curious, and affable. I could have described my roles in relation to other people and the world: a psychology student, a passionate dabbler in piano, and a Kennedy supporter still aching from the assassination. But that was a lot to spurt out in a professor’s doorway. Besides, even that would not have contained an entirely accurate picture. Because at that precise moment in my life, I was undergoing a radical change spurred by the extraordinary political events unfolding around me, which I will get to shortly.

    But first some context: Psychology at the time was still grappling with whether biological or social forces were more powerful, more consequential,

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1