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Can Your Personality Change Over Your Lifetime?
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Our personalities can change
Many of us think our personality is fixed and unchangeable.
But according to a recent study, while our early personalities may provide a baseline, they are pliable as we age. People's personality traits may change drastically over time.
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Why personality changes matter
Thinking of personality as fixed could leave us feeling like we can never grow or dismiss people with certain qualities, believing that change isn't possible. However, we don't simply change our personalities in random ways. The relationship among all of our personality traits seems to be more consistent.
If someone was really conscientious but slightly disagreeable, they might keep that personality profile as they age, even if their other traits changed a bit.
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Our personalities are a mix
Personality seems to change cumulative over our lifespan and likely happens in response to our life experiences. Therefore our personalities are a mix of stable and unstable.
- Parents and teachers should keep that in mind when they try to influence a child's personality.
- Even the elderly, whom we might expect to be more set in their ways, can change.
- Partners would be better served by learning to value what remains constant in someone's personality while embracing personality shifts as they happen.
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Job insecurity
The psychological effect of job insecurity can last a lifetime.
Studies have shown a causal relationship between unemployment and mental health. However, the effect of job ...
Personality is not enduring
Personality is not constant but changes over time. For example, self-confidence, warmth, self-control, and emotional stability tend to increase with age.
Earlier studies suggest more autonomy at work can increase a person's ability to cope with new situations, while a demanding and stressful job can make someone more neurotic.
Effects of chronic job insecurity
- Reduced emotional stability. Chronic job insecurity can cause us to become anxious, tense, irritable, and depressed.
- Reduced agreeableness. Agreeable people are naturally focused on sympathy, co-operation, and helping others. Chronic job insecurity shifts our focus to be more on ourselves instead of on others and can affect our standing as a positive and likable person.
- Reduced conscientiousness. When we're always worried about our jobs, we are likely to become less motivated to put in an effort.
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Neurotic In A Good Way
Various new studies outline the benefits of being borderline neurotic, where the worry is coupled with motivation to be disciplined and organized, and taking extra self-care.
...Inflammation in our bodies
Inflammation in a natural process in our body’s defence mechanism and helps repair tissues and kill bacteria.
Smoking, drinking, inactivity and overeating can cause long-term (chronic) inflammation in the body, which results in tissue damage, leading to many lifestyle diseases like diabetes and even cancer.
Positive Neuroticism: Inflamed Feelings
A study shows that healthy neurotics who are also disciplined and organized have reduced levels of inflammation.
They also tend to stick to regimes and plans for improving their health, like doing regular exercise and not indulging in drinking or smoking often.
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The Big Five
- Openness to experiences
- Conscientiousness
- Extraversion
- Agreeableness
Openness to Experience
It describes people who enjoy the arts and new experiences. Possible facets:
- Fantasy: they have a vivid imagination
- Aesthetics: they believe in the importance of art
- Feelings: They experience emotions intensely
- Actions: They prefer variety to routine
- Ideas: they like complex problems
- Values: they tend to vote for liberals.
Conscientiousness
People that score high on this are organized, methodical and tend to keep going and going. Possible facets:
- Competence: they complete tasks successfully
- Order: they like order
- Dutifulness: the follow the rules
- Achievement-striving: they work hard
- Self-discipline: they get chores done right away
- Deliberation: they avoid mistakes.