Scientific American Mind-June/July 2007

The World of Personalities
Theodore Millon’s 1969 biosocial-learning
theory took into account biological
factors such as inherited traits,
which influence neuropsychological
development in early childhood, as
well as environmental factors, which
affect the personality’s further development
by means of learning
processes. Since then, his model
has expanded to include the role
of evolutionary theory, emphasizing
how various survival strategies
contribute to individual personality
types.
Millon distinguishes among fi ve
so-called existential orientations of
personality (outermost circle). Every
person is either “independent,” “dependent,”
“detached,” “ambivalent” or “discordant.”
Each one of these types can be
expressed in one of three ways, depending on
an individual’s adaptation style (fourth circle
in)—the degree to which an individual tends to adapt
passively to his or her environment or to actively manipulate
his or her surroundings. Each of these categories can
differ further: as a personality style (second circle in) or as
a personality disorder (third circle in).
For instance, in its “normal” expression, the independent
personality—found in a strongly self-motivated person—appears
as “nonconforming,” “suspicious” or
“confi dent.” Its “abnormal” expression, in contrast, can
take the form of an “antisocial,” “paranoid” or “narcissistic”
disorder. Whether a person develops a normal
(The Author)
DISCORDANT
AMBIVALENT
Millon was unable to get interested in accounting
so he switched majors (briefl y to economics,
then to philosophy and physics). He
fared well in an introductory psychology course
and attended a series of psychology lectures—a
key event that awakened his interest in personality
research. The professor conducting the lectures,
psychologist Gardner Murphy, had just
published Personality (Harper and Brothers,
1947). “That became my bible,” Millon says.
Murphy’s theory about personality development
immediately appealed to Millon. The
theory presented dispositions and the environ-
SIRI SCHUBERT is a freelance journalist and lives in San Francisco.
& Active & Active
INDEPENDENT
DETACHED
Skeptical Capricious Conscientious Retiring Eccentric Shy
Negativistic Borderline Compulsive Schizoid Schizotypal Avoidant
Active Passive Passive Passive Passive Active
Aggrieved Pessimistic Assertive Nonconforming Suspicious Confi dent Sociable Exuberan
Masochistic Melancholic Sadistic Antisocial Paranoid Narcissistic Histrionic Hypoma
Existential
orientation
Personality
style
Personality
disorder
Adaptation
style
Passive & Active Active Active & Active Passive Active & Active Passive
Passive Passive Passive
Personality types as described in Millon’s biosocial-learning
theory vary depending on an individual’s character traits
and the way in which he or she approaches personal relationships
and the environment.
style or a disorder depends on how he or she reacts to
challenges of the environment. If his or her behavior deviates
markedly from cultural norms, and if the individual
or others suffer as a result, a disorder occurs. —S.S.
ment—meaning biological and social factors—as
contributing to development in combination, instead
of regarding them as competing explanatory
models. It was in this tradition that Millon
himself later created his biosocial-learning theory,
which explains how both inherited predispositions
and social learning shape personality [see
box above].
The signifi cance of a person’s environment—
whether it is family or culture—for personality
runs through Millon’s career. In the 1970s he
worked in the psychiatric ward of a VA hospital
in Chicago with colleagues from Romania and
Thailand and patients who were mostly African-
American. During that time, he was also a member
of the committee that prepared the Diagnostic
and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-
52 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN MIND June/July 2007
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nic Dep endent
t Cooperative
DEPENDENT
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN MIND; SOURCE: WWW.MILLON.NET/TAXONOMY/INDEX.HTM