Resumen de The complex-system approach to personality: : Main theoretical assumptions
In this paper I outline my model of personality, which I refer to as the Complex-System Approach to Personality (C-SAP). The C-SAP’s meta-theoretical background embodies the general principles of systems thinking and is designed to reconcile one of personality psychology cardinal concerns—personality coherence and incoherence. However, within the approach presented here one can find possible answers to the questions about definition of personality; its organization and development; a fundamental structure of personality architecture (here the System of Regulation and Integration Stimulation); explanation of personality traits (in light of their dominant function—reactive, regulative, or self-regulative—in controlling stimulation); and their usefulness in an analysis of personality coherence/incoherence, understood at this point as functional consistency/inconsistency over stimulation processing between temperament traits and other personality traits related to stimulation processing. Moreover, it is demonstrated how coherent/incoherent types of personalities are built when types of anxiety are considered as these other personality traits related to stimulation processing. Also, the methods for analyzing the functional (adaptive) significance of coherent/incoherent personality structures are shown. And finally, I present the selected results from my studies aimed at testing the functional role of personality coherence/incoherence in relation to the quality and dynamics of attentional performance.
