The integral personality is formed by genotypic and phenotypic aspects. At birth, personality is entirely genotypic, with natural impulses playing a central role. The motivation for adapting to the external environment is to meet biological needs and ensure survival. A baby’s initial interactions are limited to a basic repertoire, sufficient to express its needs. As development progresses, more specific manifestations related to temperament are observed, leading to comments like “Look how calm he is” or “Look how energetic she is.”

In childhood, behaviors reflecting central conduct begin to emerge: one child may be more playful and affectionate, while another may show motor skills or more intellectual and individual interests. In assessments conducted with children between 8 and 12 years old, two aspects of personality stand out: the predominant impulse of temperament and some traits associated with central conduct. Children have limited resources for interaction, which translates into certain adaptive rigidity, but this limitation is balanced by the natural beauty of spontaneous and naïve expressions. We conclude that temperament and central conduct have a genotypic origin.

Phenotypic aspects emerge in personality as responses to deal with internal and external tensions. Observing people over the years, we found that some maintain the same central conduct, while others show changes. Among those who change, it is common for previously central traits to swap positions with secondary interaction traits, especially related to the first line of interaction, and the new central conduct tends to stabilize. This initial identification with interaction traits, as if they were central conduct, suggests identification with the social image – that is, the image visible to others or in one’s own reflection.

In a few cases, this instability in the order of traits persists; in most cases, there is a tendency for central conduct to stabilize. We observed that some central conducts are directly related to predominant temperamental impulses, especially in individuals with temperaments more directed toward specific impulses, i.e., those with a temperament located more at the extremes of the APOGEO map. However, this is not a rule: it also occurs in individuals with temperaments in the central areas of the map, though in these cases less frequently.

In summary, the greater the diversity and the less extreme the temperament, the greater the possibilities for behavioral construction in response to the social environment. When the temperament is more directed or extreme, there is a higher probability of constructing central conduct and interaction traits close to that temperament and natural potential, with genotypic factors tending to have greater influence.

We also observed that behavioral constructions very distant from genotypic natural potential increase exposure to stressors in the environment. In a few cases, we noted shifts in temperament, suggesting changes in habits or simply confusion in the perception of one’s own natural impulses.

The ideal behavioral construction is one that favors both genotypic and phenotypic aspects, promoting a balance between behaviors close to natural potential and adaptive behaviors to the social environment. In terms of psychological, emotional, and physical health, proximity of central conduct to genotypic potential is beneficial, as it requires less effort from the individual to achieve motivational goals, given that behavioral expression and adaptation rely on the person’s natural energy resources. On the other hand, a behavioral construction distant from the genotypic potential of temperament requires greater management of these resources to mitigate stressors.

We conclude that temperament and central conduct have a genotypic origin up to a second order, while interaction conducts are always of phenotypic origin. The intensity of life experiences can lead central conduct to have a phenotypic origin, further from the genotype. Personality tends toward a crystallization process where traits become stable; with age, some secondary behavioral changes and temperamental softening may occur, but without significant reversals.