Individual personality is best understood as process, not structure: A Confucian-inspired perspective

A structural approach to understanding personality, which is rooted in a being or substance ontology, is most useful for making between individual and group comparisons. In contrast, a process-centric approach, which is anchored in a Becoming or event-based ontology, is most helpful for understanding individual personality process and variation. A process-centric model, using classical Confucianism as a starting point, has a number of advantages in that it (1) integrates persons and situations, (2) is inherently relational, which implies an aesthetic dimension to personality development and functioning, (3) focuses on the uniqueness of individual personalities, (4) views qualitative and quantitative inquiry as complementary and of equal scientific value, and (5) encourages intra- and inter-disciplinary collaborations.