A person’s character determines who they are and what makes them unique. Character influences how someone acts or what goals, dreams and fears they have. Modern medicine assumes that, on the one hand, the individual’s genetic makeup contributes to his character. On the other hand, a person’s character is also formed, for the most part, in socialization . Upbringing, for example, has a lasting effect on personality.

Exactly what the character is from a medical point of view is still a matter of debate to this day. Modern neuroscience, for example, considers the neuronal architecture of the individual to be the origin of his emotions and thus his personality. In particular, the neural pathways in the frontal brain are sometimes referred to by neurologists as the seat of character. The switching patterns in the brain are capable of learning and change, for example, after drastic experiences such as great suffering or great love. Neuroscientists believe that this change in the neuronal circuitry in the frontal brain is the cause of character changes after certain experiences.

Function & task

A long-term study by the University of Otago recorded in 2000 that a person’s character is largely determined by the age of three. From this point in life, people follow their character program. Long-term studies by the Max Planck Institute for Psychological Research came to a similar conclusion. The basic characteristics of the character should be established by the age of four at the latest.For 20 years, the researchers observed children between the ages of four and twelve and regularly examined the subjects. In addition to cognitive abilities, they controlled the Big Five, i.e. the five pillars of character. According to brain research, these pillars consist of neuroticism, which is described as a tendency towards bad moods and self-doubt. On the other hand, extraversion, openness to new experiences and agreeableness as well as conscientiousness are among the five pillars of character. At the beginning of the study, the children showed the same characteristics in this respect as at the end of the study. The basic character of a person seems to be shaped in the first four years of life and depends not only on genetic factors but also on the parental home and upbringing.

Neuroscience localizes character to specific circuits between nerve cells in the frontal lobe. This location of the brain is referred to as the seat of specifically human intelligence , reason, and social behavior. It is precisely these references that make the frontal lobe the seat of the character.

The rat frontal brain is tiny compared to the human frontal brain. The frontal cortex has a directing and controlling function that helps humans plan, implement, and control their actions. In addition to receiving and processing sensory information, the frontal lobe is essential for cognitive thought processes , language processes, and motor operations. In addition to the control of activities, movements and actions, consciousness is now also assumed to be in the frontal lobe. The same applies to emotional-affective aspects of behavior and factors influencing higher thought processes.

The human brain is capable of learning. The neuronal circuits in the brain change during learning processes. Disruptive experiences are often associated with changes in thinking. This statement is relatively true. After drastic experiences, the wiring in the frontal brain actually changes and thus allows character changes to occur.

Diseases & Ailments

A patient with amnesia has no memory. However, he does not lose his character through amnesia. He can clearly find out who he was and is through introspection. The personality is preserved as long as the frontal lobe with its specific wiring is preserved.Frontal lobe lesions may occur in patients with traumatic brain injury , stroke , cerebral hemorrhage , tumor disease , inflammatory diseases, degenerative diseases of the nervous system , or seizure disorders. Similar lesions are found in people with schizophrenia and in people addicted to alcohol . The symptoms of such a lesion are, on the one hand, character changes. On the other hand, they seem contradictory and often paradoxical.

Frontal brain damage does not have to be located directly in the frontal lobe, but can also correspond to damage to the fiber projection pathways between the frontal regions and the non-frontal structures.

Frontal brain lesions manifest as either personality changes or cognitive changes. Patients often suffer from both manifestations at the same time. The so-called frontal lobe syndrome summarizes all personality changes. Medicine speaks of this syndrome as the most severe neuropsychological personality disorder .

Changes in character are primarily accompanied by changes in social behavior. Patients often lose initiative, spontaneity, or drive. Characteristic symptoms range from indifference to lethargy . On the other hand, sudden hyperactivity , euphoria or impulsiveness can also indicate a frontal brain lesion. The character of the patients is often described as silly or childlike. Inappropriate social behavior and resistance to social norms occur. The patients appear tactless or distant. Sometimes they lose social inhibitions, which can escalate to pseudo-psychopathic, sociopathic, or pseudo-depressive levels.

The degenerative disease Alzheimer’s is mentioned particularly frequently in connection with frontal brain lesions. The degenerative decay of the frontal brain regions is often referred to in the context of this disease as a gradual decay of personality.