Abstract
It is necessary to make a distinction between the psychological perspectives of personality and the Buddhist philosophical concept of the human person, as in the discourses of the Buddha the material is intermingled and even interwoven. The term ‘personality’ has distinctive meaning within psychology and the following rendering sums up the basic perspective: ‘the study of the characteristic and distinctive traits of an individual, the stable and shifting patterns of relationships between these traits, the origin of the traits, and the ways, the traits interact to help or hinder the adjustment of a person to other people and situations’.1 Such a study has two aspects: a structural aspect dealing with the traits and their relationship, and a dynamic aspect that deals with the motivational influence of traits upon adjustment. The facets of motivation and emotion already examined help to understand the dynamics of personality organization and adjustments.
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Notes
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© 2014 Padmasiri de Silva
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de Silva, P. (2014). Personality: Philosophical and Psychological Issues. In: An Introduction to Buddhist Psychology and Counselling. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137287557_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137287557_6
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
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