Methods are provided for implementing selective personality negotiation during session negotiation. In one embodiment, an access node maintains an access-node-supported set of one or more personalities supported by the access node, wherein the access-node-supported set comprises a personality 0. The access node receives from an access terminal an access-terminal-supported set of one or more personalities supported by the access terminal, wherein the access-terminal-supported set also comprises the personality 0. Responsive to receiving the access-terminal-supported set, the access node negotiates a session-specific set of one or more personalities with the access terminal for use by the access terminal during a session, the session-specific set consisting of personality 0 and a first personality, wherein the first personality is a highest-numbered personality in the intersection of the access-node-supported set and the access-terminal-supported set.