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The Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) is an instrument for personality assessment that was developed by C. Robert Cloninger to provide a comprehensive biopsychosocial model of personality as it develops within individuals (Cloninger, Svrakic & Przybeck, 1993). It deconstructs personality into seven dimensions that vary widely in the general population, rather than focusing only on pathology or abnormal traits (Cloninger, 2004). Nevertheless, it was designed to be equally applicable to clinical populations without being stigmatizing or pathologizing. The TCI is based on a biopsychosocial model of complex interactions among genetic, psychological, social, cultural, and spiritual constructs, rather than assuming that personality can be decomposed into independent dimensions (Cloninger & Cloninger, 2011; Cloninger & Garcia, 2015).

Human personality has been defined as the dynamic organization, within an individual, of psychobiological systems that modulate adaptation to a changing environment (Cloninger, Svrakic, & Przybeck, 1993). In this chapter, we briefly outline the ancestral lineage of human beings as five major transitions and then describe how human personality has evolved through three major systems of learning and memory in a long series of steps through evolution. The first one is the procedural system, which regulates different emotional responses such as anger, fear, disgust, and ambition, that is, the temperament dimensions of personality. The second system, the propositional system, is present in primates and helps the individual to be self-directed and cooperative in a social environment. The third system, the episodic system, exists only among humans and stands for humans’ capacity for self-awareness, which allows introspection and recollection of autobiographical memories. The second and third systems are responsible for the presence of the character dimensions of personality, which can be defined as individual differences in values, goals, and self-conscious emotions (e.g., hope, love, and faith). Importantly, character regulates the expression of temperament predispositions, so character is the regulator of well-being regardless of underlying temperament. But the person needs to learn to know and understand her whole being (i.e., temperament and character) to integrate them in order to promote resilience and well-being. Thus, we also present the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) and also discuss how interactions between traits within the individual serve as a good description, measurement, and base for dialogue in person-centered approaches.

The Young Finns Study has been financially supported by the Academy of Finland: grants 286284, 322098, 134309 (Eye), 126925, 121584, 124282, 129378 (Salve), 117787 (Gendi), 41071 (Skidi), and 308676; the Social Insurance Institution of Finland; Competitive State Research Financing of the Expert Responsibility area of Kuopio, Tampere and Turku University Hospitals (grant X51001); Juho Vainio Foundation; Paavo Nurmi Foundation; Finnish Foundation for Cardiovascular Research; Finnish Cultural Foundation; Tampere Tuberculosis Foundation; Emil Aaltonen Foundation; Yrjo Jahnsson Foundation; Signe and Ane Gyllenberg Foundation; Diabetes Research Foundation of Finnish Diabetes Association: and EU Horizon 2020 (grant 755320 for TAXINOMISIS); and Tampere University Hospital Supporting Foundation. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention supported the study of healthy Germans. The national Healthy Twin Family Register of Korea supported the study of healthy Koreans. The Anthropedia Foundation and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology TIN2012-38805 and DPI201569585-R supported this collaboration., Phylogenetic, developmental, and brain-imaging studies suggest that human personality is the integrated expression of three major systems of learning and memory that regulate (1) associative conditioning, (2) intentionality, and (3) self-awareness. We have uncovered largely disjoint sets of genes regulating these dissociable learning processes in different clusters of people with (1) unregulated temperament profiles (i.e., associatively conditioned habits and emotional reactivity), (2) organized character profiles (i.e., intentional self-control of emotional conflicts and goals), and (3) creative character profiles (i.e., self-aware appraisal of values and theories), respectively. However, little is known about how these temperament and character components of personality are jointly organized and develop in an integrated manner. In three large independent genome-wide association studies from Finland, Germany, and Korea, we used a data-driven machine learning method to uncover joint phenotypic networks of temperament and character and also the genetic networks with which they are associated. We found three clusters of similar numbers of people with distinct combinations of temperament and character profiles. Their associated genetic and environmental networks were largely disjoint, and differentially related to distinct forms of learning and memory. Of the 972 genes that mapped to the three phenotypic networks, 72% were unique to a single network. The findings in the Finnish discovery sample were blindly and independently replicated in samples of Germans and Koreans. We conclude that temperament and character are integrated within three disjoint networks that regulate healthy longevity and dissociable systems of learning and memory by nearly disjoint sets of genetic and environmental influences., Academy of Finland European Commission 286284 322098 134309 126925 121584 124282 129378 117787 41071 308676, Social Insurance Institution of Finland, Competitive State Research Financing of the Expert Responsibility area of Kuopio, Tampere and Turku University Hospitals X51001, Juho Vainio Foundation, Paavo Nurmi Foundation, Finnish Foundation for Cardiovascular Research, Finnish Cultural Foundation, Finnish IT center for science, Tampere Tuberculosis Foundation, Emil Aaltonen Foundation, Yrjo Jahnsson Foundation, Diabetes Research Foundation of Finnish Diabetes Association, EU Horizon 2020 755320, Tampere University Hospital Supporting Foundation, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, national Healthy Twin Family Register of Korea, Anthropedia Foundation, Spanish Government TIN2012-38805 DPI201569585-R, Signe and Ane Gyllenberg Foundation

Human personality, although highly complex, is crucial to understand because it is the strongest predictor of our physical, mental, and social health as well as the actual cause of most mortality and chronic disease. However, despite the fact that earlier twin studies have found that the differences between people in personality are about 50% heritable, until recently only about 1% of this heritability has been explained by specific genes. Here we briefly outline current notions about the genetics of personality and also describe recent research that used novel and innovative person-centered methods to identify nearly all the genes for human personality. This international collaboration among 27 investigators at multiple sites comprised data from the Young Finns Study in Finland with independent replications in Germany and Korea (Zwir et al., Mol Psychiatry, 2018a, 2018b). In short, these results now make it possible to understand the basic mechanisms that influence our emotions as well as the way we can self-regulate our feelings, goals, and values in order to live healthy and satisfying lives. What is even more, these results provide a foundation for a thorough understanding of the complex molecular and brain processes that regulate human health and well-being. In this line, we also present preliminary results of a recent pilot study, in which interventions targeting character development among Swedish young adults suggest improvements in well-being after 6 months of well-being coaching. Importantly, it is argued that character regulates the expression of temperament predispositions, so character is the regulator of well-being regardless of underlying temperament. That is, since we are body, mind, and psyche at once (i.e., biopsychosocial in nature), the person needs to learn to both know and understand her temperament and her character to integrate them in order to adapt intelligently to who she is and the changing circumstances in the world around her.

Background The character higher order scales (self-directedness, cooperativeness, and self-transcendence) in the temperament and character inventory are important general measures of health and well-being [Mens Sana Monograph 11:16–24 (2013)]. Recent research has found suggestive evidence of common environmental influence on the development of these character traits during adolescence. The present article expands earlier research by focusing on the internal consistency and the etiology of traits measured by the lower order sub-scales of the character traits in adolescence. Methods The twin modeling analysis of 423 monozygotic pairs and 408 same sex dizygotic pairs estimated additive genetics (A), common environmental (C), and non-shared environmental (E) influences on twin resemblance. All twins were part of the on-going longitudinal Child and Adolescent Twin Study in Sweden (CATSS). Results The twin modeling analysis suggested a common environmental contribution for two out of five self-directedness sub-scales (0.14 and 0.23), for three out of five cooperativeness sub-scales (0.07–0.17), and for all three self-transcendence sub-scales (0.10–0.12). Conclusion The genetic structure at the level of the character lower order sub-scales in adolescents shows that the proportion of the shared environmental component varies in the trait of self-directedness and in the trait of cooperativeness, while it is relatively stable across the components of self-transcendence. The presence of this unique shared environmental effect in adolescence has implications for understanding the relative importance of interventions and treatment strategies aimed at promoting overall maturation of character, mental health, and well-being during this period of the life span. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12991-016-0094-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.