Character is a word with many everyday meanings: a character in a story; a person’s moral constitution; the collection of traits that defines a person’s uniqueness. They all revolve around the same thing – that there is a remarkable structure to the human personality. We do the same things over and over in the same ways. Almost every theory of psychotherapy involves finding ways the change patterns of embedded behavior, and it is no small undertaking. When it comes to recurrent patterns of maladaptive behavior, the question we want to ask is "why?", but though it’s important, knowing the why of things doesn’t mean the behavior is going to change. Characterologic patterns become more like reflexes than something under the control of higher mental functions.
In Aristotle’s Poetics, the ancient writing on dramatic tragedy, Aristotle defines a formula for a tragedy that involves the playing out of a ‘tragic character flaw.’ Early in the story, one is introduced to the main character’s fatal trait in a soft way. As the story progresses, this seemingly minor trait becomes the unchangable generator of behavior or decisions that brings the character to ruin. But it’s bigger than drama, one of the fascinations of studying history is understanding the traits that afflict the leaders whose best laid plans come to naught.
Character traits are not in and of themselves pathological. To the contrary, they are the "software" of the human psyche, the programs that tell us how to act. In fact, one of the definitions of psychopathology defines it in terms of the rigidity of character traits. A person with a character ‘disorder’ is someone who applies the methodology of their traits, even when it is to their obvious disadvantage. A healthy person can transcend their usual way of doing things when the situation dictates. Actually, this is a pretty good way of looking at things – health being defined in terms of flexability, rather than in terms of particular traits themselves.
So am I talking about the group of people who gathered at the conservative think tanks and then resurrected a decade old set of policies and applied them in a situation where they weren’t appropriate? Or am I talking about Mr. Rove who was giving dirty tricks seminars to the college republicans in 1973? Or am I talking about our president, George W. Bush, who has ultimately personally undermined every endeavor he’s ever undertaken with his inflexible arrogance? Am I talking about ‘character’ as a collection of maladaptive traits in the personality, of ‘character flaws’ that lead to repeated bad decisions, or of ‘character’ problems as a defective moral compass.
Yes…
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