Alla ricerca delle coccole perdute

Each of us has three different personalities, which are automatically "activated", depending on the context and the people with whom we are dealing: different situations involve different kinds of interactions. 

Known as natural personalities, we each develop the personalities of a child, an adult, and a parent: each of them corresponds to the psychological and biological development that we gradually undergo, as a result of interactions with our surrounding environment. Obviously, this development is not linear, which is why anxiety-depressive neurosis can occur: in Western society, adults remain "children" for longer, and do not learn to fully cope with adulthood, to survive, and to fight for what they want, as there is no longer a need for it.

When we look to the animal world, however, we can find many similarities when it comes to the evolutionary stages that we go through. The three personalities are each characterised by a different attitude: the child, like a puppy, is not self-sufficient, the adult is self-sufficient, and the parent is dedicated to their offspring. Each of the three personalities also has a corresponding behaviour that defines it: the child asks, the adult takes, and the parent gives.

The pup experiences constant stress and fear as a result of their dependence on the parent and their inability to look after themselves, while the adult animal only experiences fear when its life is truly in danger or its territory is threatened. The parent, on the other hand, is able to overcome fear and is self-confident, as they are entirely devoted to ensuring the well-being of their offspring.

Regression may occur at any given time throughout a person's existence, which will result in them shifting among the three phases, each of which has a corresponding behavioural pattern that the individual can assume at any given time throughout their existence. Compared to animals, in which these behavioural patterns are activated spontaneously, this process is different in humans, in whom the cerebral neocortex plays an essential role, when we include the variable of affection to human behaviour.