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On Being of Multiple Minds about Personality – Multiplicity by Rita Carter
By Neil Peterson | July 24, 2009
When it comes to the study of the human psyche, any theory decrying itself as ‘new’ is flirting dangerously with the watchdogs of medical research history. Which is the prime problem facing Rita Carter’s latest book, Multiplicity: The New Science of Personality, Identity and the Self. The human brain, and the complexity of our programming, has prompted a maze of questions and approximate answers. We just don’t know why we do what we do. And while Carter is attempting to answer at least a few of these questions, to reconcile our seemingly idiosyncratic responses to everyday situations, it is the inclusion of ‘new’ that is getting the most response, regardless of how sound her argument may be.
Multiplicity is based around the premise that human personality is actually a melange of several, distinct personalities – each with feelings, desires, and responses. Dividing these aspects into three distinct groups – the major, minor, and macro, Carter attempts to explain why we consistently run into situations in which we respond unlike ourselves. “That doesn’t sound like me.” “She is so two-faced.” “He just wasn’t himself.” In itself, this is not a new concept. Writers of fiction and philosophy – from Plato to Robert Louis Stevenson – are well familiar with this idea, but Carter’s insistence that we can control these separate selves is a new idea, and one that deserves more than a passing glance.
The major personalities are complex – possibly best represented by the various archetypes portrayed in a daytime soap-opera – the Vixen, the Schemer, the Brain, etc. The Minor personalities are situational – with various aspects rising to the surface in response to everyday events. The Micro personalities are the most difficult to pin down – as seemingly inconsequential as a slight physical or verbal tic, or a mild phobia.
According to John Rowan, a respected English therapist, the existence of these multiple personalities is normal – a biological response meant to protect the psyche during times of stress. In the average human adult, we can host anywhere from 4 to 9 ‘sub personalities’ – aspects of our minds that can take over in any variety of situations. These sub personalities can help us to be more assertive or energetic. It is even surmised that certain personalities possess talents unknown to us. Carter covers much of this in her book – relating an anecdote of a blind girl with extraordinary music talents who, when given the gift of sight, lost her ability to play the piano. These sub personalities are in a state of constant flux – more active in our teen years, and then as we age, eventually settling into a more constant, settled pattern of behavior.
It is an uncomfortable thought – that we don’t actually control our reactions to various situations. While the first half of Carter’s book explains the historical and biological aspects of this new science, the second is devoted to exercises designed to reconcile our personalities, to regain control over a seemingly uncontrollable mental process. Many in the medical community have decried Carter’s work as psuedo-science, cautioning that her exercises can actually harm, not heal, the reader. But it is hard to read whether these critics are angered by her continued success in de-mystifying the human mind, or confusing those patients in need of serious psychological aid with the average reader of bestselling medical non-fiction.
Rita Carter – The Great Human Nature Debte
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