Novelist Jonathan Franzen, expressing his understanding of himself, said he has multiple personalities, which are unresolvable, and that is why he is a writer

“I think everyone to some degree has multiple personalities," he says. "We have these different modules running in our heads. I can feel myself thinking like my father; I can sound to myself like my mom … and I write because I’m unresolved. Numerous strains in my personality are not resolvable” (1).

Most people will not agree that they have multiple personalities, and they are correct. Most people have only multiple moods and multiple roles in their everyday lives.

The difference is that personalities are autonomous, have a sense of their own distinct personhood, and have their own memory banks, while moods and roles do not.

1. Interview 2010. http://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/the-master-s-craft-1.956125