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Comment by visarga | Hacker News Reader

I realized a long time ago that "personality" is a function dependent on context. Each situation brings out specific aspects of your personality, and as situations change, personality seems to change. The most clear is in relationships - you can never know how a relationship will go from the outset, even if you knew that person for a long time, it takes being in a relationship (actually be in that situation) to see how your personalities adapt.

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I think it was Richard Bandler who said that we all have "multiple personalities" it's just that they have the same name and incomplete amnesia (for each other.)

Semantics, but might be important. As far as I am aware what you are describing is identity, while personality is something more robust. You identify with things in a relative manner and you do things in a personal way.

I'm not sure if identity and personality are substantially different.

Identity is a collection of beliefs (I identify as X, often context-free/in all contexts), whereas personality is a collection of functions (I behave like X, usually in a given context).

Identity is a collection of beliefs that are considered a fundamental part of who you are.

It is quite possible for one person to have certain beliefs, and have those beliefs be part of their identity, while another has the same beliefs but does not have them as part of their identity.

I thought identity is who a person is, while personality is what a person is like.

Identity is who a person sees themselves to be.

So what's an identity card? ;)

A malapropism. The term identity card is usually used to refer to an identification card.

How is it incorrect, when "identification" means "the act of establishing something's identity"?

> Identity is a collection of beliefs

Why would anyone over the age of 7 or so have beliefs? Are you all so good at life that you play it with a handicap, like some expert golfer slumming it with us losers?

I’m not exactly sure what you’re saying here, but I will note that even if you think you’re the world’s greatest Spock-like rationalist, you still have beliefs.

One interesting and useful model is Dilts':

    behaviour
    capabilities
    beliefs
    values
    identity

Each level structures the level before it.

To put it in tech terms, identity is the class - the set of values and fundamentals, and personality is the object - the circumstantial behaviours that result.

This is confusing to say the least, especially with the "identity" concept in programming being overloaded.

Personality is the factory of identity.

My personality enjoys the meditative aspect of long distance sports. People who observe these behaviors call me a runner (identity). I don’t consider myself a runner but cant argue that when you see me running for 2 hours, saying “hey look a runner” is a reasonable thing to say.

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