Summary:
At the end of adolescence, the emotions, thoughts, and behaviors acquired during childhood (see How Personality Develops for details) become permanent and form our adult personality. The situations experienced during childhood and the accompanying emotional reactions become the template for adult emotional reactions. The adult brain compares its environment to its childhood experience and responds accordingly.
Here are the details:
1. Thoughts, feelings, and behaviors acquired during childhood (see How Personality Develops) determine our adult personalities.
2. Emotion acquired during childhood is always active in adults.
3. Adult thoughts/beliefs are always consistent with what was learned/acquired during childhood.
4. Personalities remain essentially the same throughout adult life.
5. Logic, experience, and intelligence cannot change beliefs that are acquired during childhood.
6. If a belief acquired during childhood seems to change, it's because the new belief is also consistent with childhood experience.
7. The brain compares a person's current situation to the most similar childhood situation and responds appropriately.
8. The intensity of an adult emotional reaction is similar to the emotional intensity experienced as a child.
9. Emotions can change very quickly.
10. Strong emotions never calm down quickly.
11. Category 1 emotion, pride, excitement, and category 2 emotions can be equally intense. The very loud, outgoing, excitable, possibly intrusive and obnoxious person and the very shy, withdrawn, reclusive person are likely experiencing similarly strong emotions.
12. Adults often underestimate the intensity of their emotion and the emotion they experienced during childhood because that intensity is normal for them.
13. Cognitive and physical manifestations of emotion may be present without any obvious emotional manifestation. For example, fear experienced during childhood may decrease baseline cognitive ability without any noticeable emotional manifestation of fear.