Personality: growth v. discovery

[Minnow]

What do you think about the idea that when a person matures or develops personally and psychologically (in fiction, it would be called character development) that the process is more akin to discovery than growth, or vice versa?

Let me elaborate, I'm asking whether you think that a person goes through Growth or Discovery.

In Growth, personality is ever-changing and mutable, and simply a result of their environment/genetics interacting over time. When someone undergoes personal development, all that happens is the new mindset forms itself from pieces of the old one into something new. There's no real right way or wrong way for this to happen, it just does. Self-actualization can only really be seen behaviorally and has little innate meaning.

In Discovery, each person has kind of an innate ideal, a Platonic Form of their personality which always exists. When they undergo personal development, all that happens is that they discover more of this ideal and integrate it into themselves. This ideal is sort of 'who they were meant to be' and/or who they, deep-down, want to be. Someone may go through many personalities through their life but inevitably will keep coming back to this true self. A self-actualized person is someone who completely lives up to this ideal.

I understand it might not matter since it looks the same from the outside, but it's philosophically interesting.

 

[Zero Moment]

I'd say growth.

 

[Tailsy]

Eh, I'd say Discovery, but only because in my experience people don't really change. They can have different opinions and thoughts on things, but at the end of the day they still have a certain *thing* that makes them themselves. I don't think that really changes at all.

Of course I'm a terribly stubborn and hard-headed person, so perhaps this only applies to me! :^)

 

[Superbird]

Both, in a way. In a literal sense, development means growth—physical growth, definitely, and mental growth—an increase in maturity. In fiction, I've noticed characters usually grow.

On the other hand, discovery also happens during development, albeit in the later stages of it. A person discovers their true calling, or a fictional character discovers their secret strength or something.

So basically, they both happen alongside each other is what I'm trying to say. Or maybe I'm looking at this too objectively/literally.

 

[Eloi]

Well, considering I postulate literal platonic realism as true, I would say discovery. People just recollect themselves as life goes on, and have the free will to act on it or not. I wish more people did act on themselves and not on their environment.

 

[Light]

I'd say discovery provides the very loose framework for our personality, and then growth fills in all the details. I think growth in effect accounts for a lot more of what makes up our personalities. Our environment has a huge impact on our likes and dislikes, tendencies, and especially viewpoints. On the other hand, introversion vs extraversion and other Myers Briggs personality traits seem to be largely innate.