Psicología

Personality

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Personality
WHAT MAKES YOU THE WAY YOU ARE

DA NI E L NE T TLE

1

3

Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP
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c Daniel Nettle 2007
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ISBN 978–0–19–921142–5
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Contents

Introduction

1

1.Character Matters

15

2. The Beak of the Finch

54

3. Wanderers

79

4. Worriers

104

5. Controllers

131

6. Empathizers

155

7. Poets

183

8. The Other Half

210

9. Singing with Your Own Voice

234

Appendix: The Newcastle Personality Assessor
Notes
References
Index

249
254
274
294

At every single moment of one’s life one is what
one is going tobe no less than what one has been.
Oscar Wilde, De Profundis

Introduction
I do not plead guilty to a shallow view of human nature, when I
propose to apply, as it were, a foot-rule to its heights and depths.
Francis Galton

Lee is a successful, smart, business executive, rising 35 and
rising through the ranks at the same time. He is considered
effective and dynamic at work. In fact,it’s more than that.
He does not suffer fools gladly, and if he thinks colleagues or
suppliers are trying to pull one over on him, he is quick to
speak his mind. He can be very cutting, and fly into a deep
rage, during which he will tell people what he thinks of them
and their behaviour without sparing their blushes. As a result,
though he is good at what he does, he builds up enemies. He
hasmoved firms a few times, or had to be moved between
departments, because he gets into feuds and stand-offs. Some
more conciliatory colleague will have to step in to calm the
waters, or simply to ensure that Lee and his latest enemy
don’t have to deal with each other.

2

Introduction

Outside of work, there are quite a lot of people Lee doesn’t
like. He has been to a fair few exoticcountries, and for at least
some of these, he has decided that he hates the natives. They
are too rude, or too slow, or invade his personal space. He
hates people who cut him up on the road, or barge in front of
him in line, or make him wait. He is quick to get angry when
this happens, and not averse to a muttered, usually scatological, insult. We should not assume that Lee doesn’t like to...