What makes you who you are?

[Maxilian]

Hello guys, i was talking with my brother about who are we? i think that we are our memories and the way we think, i mean, i believe that if someone loses all his memory is the same as if that person died and another one took his body, cause that person won't act the same, won't think the same way and won't do/like the same things, so in general, he/she will be totally different, what do you think? what makes us different? what makes you be you...

[A Chozo]

My actions! My influence on this world! Our world!

o_o

[Forgettable]

Without reading your post, only reading the title, the first thing that came to mind is: "You are what you eat."

But really, your memories and experiences play a huge part in what makes you who you are. But that's not everything. Twins are a good way to show that. Sometimes people that are raised in nearly identical circumstances can turn out entirely different. Why? Because not everyone is created the same. Scientifically, I don't know where your "personality DNA" is, but there's something in everyone that makes us see / feel / understand things differently than everyone else.

[Dezerte]

Yes, memories seem to play a part, I believe there are countless of documented cases where husbands or wives have lost their memories, and their spouse describing a very different person from the one they used to know.

Basically, your experiences (environmental factors) and how you interpreted (genes) them is the tl;dr I believe.

[Zogarth]

Everything you encounter helps define you.

[Maxilian]

Without reading your post, only reading the title, the first thing that came to mind is: "You are what you eat."

But really, your memories and experiences play a huge part in what makes you who you are. But that's not everything. Twins are a good way to show that. Sometimes people that are raised in nearly identical circumstances can turn out entirely different. Why? Because not everyone is created the same. Scientifically, I don't know where your "personality DNA" is, but there's something in everyone that makes us see / feel / understand things differently than everyone else.

Yes that's why i said that it wasn't only your memories, it was also how you see things, in my opinion that 2 things are what makes us who we are

[Deleted]

I think about this one quite a lot actually. My past has definitely made me who I am. I like to think that I have a lot of compassion and I'm a good listener and love to help people because I had a shitty childhood (so I know how to relate to other people's worries). I often think if I would be a different person if I was, let's say, a popular kid at school who always had friends around and was invited to every party etc.

[Catta]

Your memories make you who your are but your body influence you as well. Your parasympatic nervous system gives your the sexual preference for example iirc...

[Ethador]

My personality and past life is a big deal of who I am now, though I`m not the same person as I was a year ago.
Memories, personality, moraless, princips and my actions are all a part of who I am, and I prefer not to judge anyone just by their past, as I think it is more important who you are now.

[Deleted]

I believe it has more to do with our sense of self than our memories. The ability to look at yourself and recognize yourself as you.
This is me, I feel, I want, I do, I will. I think this is what makes you who you are, not memories.

We were all toddlers at one point or another and something we all have in common is that we don't have memories from this period.
Why is that? Because we had yet to recognize ourselves as a person. There was no one there to claim that memory as their own.

If you think about it, what was the earliest point in your life you remember? About 3-4 years old, right? Even this recently after infancy you couldn't remember your very earliest moment in existence. Yet now 10,20 or even 30+ years after you first became aware of yourself you still remember that earliest time of self. So if you at the age of 4 can't remember what happened to you 1 year ago, then why can you at adult age remember what happened to you 20 years ago?

[Reg]

Not knowing that I'm beautiful. That's what makes me beautiful.

[TheHeroicKnight]

our collective societal liberalism makes us who we are. Without socialism we are nothing. Individuals are a thing of the past, collective socialist liberalism is the wave of the future! That make us who we are.

[Rukentuts]

The collection of electrochemical reactions in my brain.

[Revik]

I believe it is not so simple as a person being a summation of their memories or experiences. This would be in line with believing that we are born a blank slate which is a valid way of thinking but not one I prescribe to.

I like to think of things in reverse. Everything we experience is a form of personal discovery. Things that happen to us and things we experience are based upon our internal interpretations of such experiences. Given the same stimuli one person could react different than another and this would be something internal maybe going so far as how your genetic makeup would determine.

With this reasoning your sense of self is unique to a certain degree.

[flarecde]

Externally, I believe a person is represented best by their decisions. Memories and perception at the moment are what drive decisions. Experiences are modified by perception before becoming memories, and can be subject to further modification or loss as memories. Memories are subject to perception again when played back to be used as basis for decisions.

Internally, ultimately you are whomever and whatever you believe you are.

[Deleted]

The whole package, From looks to personality! But if you were to change looks it doesn't mean you are no longer you