The proverb says, “One grain feeds a hundred kinds of people.” Despite the similarities in everyone’s diet, personalities vary greatly. You might think that a person’s personality is fixed and unchangeable, but recent research shows that over a lifetime, a person’s personality can change more than imagined.
For a long time, people have believed that personality traits are deeply rooted and unchanging. Many even believe that once adulthood is reached, one’s personality will not change anymore. However, a recent study conducted at the University of Zürich in Switzerland challenges this deeply ingrained notion, pointing out that the degree of personality change surpasses most people’s understanding.
Traditionally, psychologists have examined the Big Five personality traits – extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness – when studying people’s personalities.
In this study conducted at the University of Zürich, researchers surveyed 887 American residents in the first phase, covering various aspects of their lives, including the Big Five personality traits, health conditions, self-esteem, life satisfaction, personal financial situation, and social frequency.
The researchers asked these participants about their subjective perceptions of the extent of change in these variables throughout their lives. In general, most participants considered the Big Five personality traits to be the most stable characteristics throughout their lives.
In the second phase of this study, researchers conducted further analysis using eight large longitudinal databases from the United States, Germany, Australia, and the Netherlands, covering 166,971 participants, revealing significantly different results.
The researchers found that the extent of change in the Big Five personality traits, whether on an annual basis or over a lifetime, was comparable to changes in other life factors. For example, in the case of conscientiousness (the tendency to act in a careful, diligent, and responsible manner), a person’s expression of this trait in adolescence differs from that at the age of 90.
The study indicates that from the age of 15 to 90, levels of extraversion, neuroticism, and openness generally show a declining trend, with neuroticism showing the largest decrease. At the same time, agreeableness and conscientiousness show an increasing trend.
In many cases, these changes are equal to or even exceed the changes in indicators traditionally considered more flexible, such as life satisfaction, income, or health conditions.
Researchers say that participants underestimated the extent to which the Big Five personality traits change over time. When assessing yearly changes, 90% of people made errors, and the error rate was even higher, reaching 100%, when evaluating changes over a lifetime.
The researchers point out that these study results challenge the common notion of “a leopard can’t change its spots,” conveying a more realistic message – that people do change over time, although this change is usually gradual.
However, researchers also note that the study focused on examining the average changes in large populations, thus not revealing specific individual-level change processes.
Combining a macro perspective with an individual-level analysis could help to present more clearly the relationship between the changes people experience in their lives and the actual changes.
The above research findings were published in the journal “Communications Psychology” on July 27.
When it comes to personality, people often reveal their personalities in small details of life, such as sleeping positions, habits of holding things, and color preferences. From the perspective of color psychology, color is not just about artistic beauty, but also reveals aspects of one’s personality. It is a fascinating study.
For example, people who like blue are sincere and genuine, with a calm personality, exceptional insight, and empathy. On the other hand, those who prefer white have a pure, optimistic personality, a strong sense of responsibility, love for freedom, and a pursuit of perfection. (Further reading: Don’t miss it! Your favorite color will reveal your mood and personality)