Helen Fisher is a scholar at the Kinsey Institute of Indiana University. Her research scope includes human character, attraction and so on. Through the research and verification of brain science, she found four hormones related to personality, namely dopamine, serotonin, testosterone and estrogen. Hormone levels in the human body determine people's personality characteristics. Let's talk separately.
These descriptions are abstract. Let's give an example of these four personalities. For example, millions of years ago on the African continent, a group of primitive people met a mushroom that they had never seen before. Dopamine-type people are willing to try, while serotonin-type people will stop them and say it's too dangerous. Testosterone-type people will advise you to feed mushrooms to your dog first and see what happens. Estrogen people want everyone to sit down and talk about their understanding of mushrooms.
What's the use of knowing these four personalities? Fisher said that if you can recognize your colleagues' personalities and understand them at work, it will help you adjust your behavior and cooperate with your colleagues better.
Fisher works with a colleague. Her dopamine level is high, and so is her colleague's serotonin level. When it comes to making a decision, although Fisher is convinced that he is right, his colleagues are very cautious and hesitant. Fisher said that if he didn't understand the relationship between hormone levels and personality, he might think his colleague was a stubborn donkey. But when Fisher saw his colleague's serotonin attribute, he knew that his colleague's hesitation had nothing to do with Fisher himself or the project. This is just his behavior. This helps her to narrow the gap with her colleagues and become a better team.
In addition, this test can also be used for recruitment and team building, which can help companies build more effective teams. Because people with different personalities have different ideas, they can discuss problems from different angles and propose good solutions.
So, can we deliberately change our personality? Fisher said that we can adjust our personality to a certain extent, but it is difficult to completely change it. For example, math ability is related to testosterone. If a person with low testosterone has two parents who are scientists and grew up in a family that values mathematics, he may do well in mathematics, but he will not become a great mathematician.
Fisher's research also found that there are regional differences in people's personalities. For example, Japanese people abide by social rules, and there are many people with high serotonin in Japan. This hormone will make people more easygoing and conservative. For another example, in the Amazon plain of South America, the proportion of people with dopamine type is very high. This may be because, in primitive society, primitive people who immigrated to South America had the high dopamine attribute of exploration spirit and passed this gene on from generation to generation.
But everyone's personality is not single, and the state shown in different environments is also different. To evaluate yourself or others, all four personalities should be considered. For example, a person's personality may be an estrogen attribute, and he will listen carefully to other people's opinions in the group. When I work alone, I show the properties of dopamine and am creative. Only by understanding the strength of each attribute can we see his complete personality. This conclusion is for your reference.
This article comes from: Harvard Business Review ("If you understand how the brain works, you can reach any one." Dialogue with biological anthropologist Helen Fisher. ) Audio manuscript: Schumpeter tells: Cheng Ya.
Knowing that personality is determined by hormones, not other factors, has a great influence on me. The bottom influence is that from now on, when I look at people and deal with people, I will be more tolerant of people who are different from me or even completely opposite, because my dimension of looking at people has changed-hormones are determined based on heredity and physical condition, so I should look at them objectively. Secondly, I can see the personality of myself and my family more clearly and learn from each other according to the personality characteristics of each hormone.