The Private Personality

Abstract

Reflecting the reemergence of interest in conscious experience that characterizes modern psychology, this article examines a range of issues that are part of the study of the private personality. It is proposed that in formulating a model of individual differences in ongoing conscious experience, we must consider the basic systems through which information is initially received and stored, since variations in processing styles may already lead to the structural and content variations that ultimately shape the unique sense of a private personality. The psychophysiological, affective, and cognitive systems are reviewed with reference to the kinds of input they provide. These include variations in response to bodily cues (e.g., repressive defensiveness and hardiness) or in the styles of cognitive complexity. Research possibilities for linking these stylistic variations at the receptive pole to centrally-generated stimulation by means of repeated measurements, psychometric instruments, and thought-samples of ongoing consciousness are considered with the ultimate aim of clarifying processes of schema formation.