Personality change

Personality change refers to the different forms of change in various aspects of personality. These changes include how we experience things, how our perception of experiences changes, and how we react in situations.[1] An individual's personality may stay somewhat consistent throughout their life. Still, more often than not, everyone undergoes some form of change to their personality in their lifetime.[2][3]

Personality refers to individual differences in characteristic thinking, feeling, and behavior patterns.[4] Our personality is like a puzzle; each piece can come from internal or external factors. The many pieces can come from events, circumstances, genetics, or life experiences. Each piece creates a person's personality as a whole.

Every person has their own "individual differences in particular personality characteristics"[4] that separate them from others. The overall study of personality focuses on two broad areas: understanding individual differences in personality characteristics, and understanding how the various parts of a person come together as a whole.[4]

Social interactions, age, personal experiences, and significant events (especially traumatic events) can all alter a person's perceptions and cause their personality to change.

Each person has their own unique personality, and as a result, the many differences and changes that occur, may be confusing. Even psychologists are still studying and researching to fully understand what personality means and why personality changes. The development of personality is often dependent on the stage of life a person is in.[5] Most development occurs in the earlier stages of life and becomes more stable as one grows into adulthood.[5]

While still uncertain, research suggests that genetics play a role in the change and stability of certain traits in a personality.[6] They have also discovered that environmental sources affect personality too.[7] The debate over nature versus nurture have pervaded the field of psychology since its beginning. Cultural is also a large factor in personality trait differences as well.[5]

  1. ^ "Personality Change - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics". www.sciencedirect.com. Retrieved 2023-06-01.
  2. ^ Helson, Ravenna; Kwan, Virginia S.Y; John, Oliver P; Jones, Constance (August 2002). "The growing evidence for personality change in adulthood: Findings from research with personality inventories". Journal of Research in Personality. 36 (4): 287–306. doi:10.1016/s0092-6566(02)00010-7. ISSN 0092-6566.
  3. ^ Pusch, Sebastian; Mund, Marcus; Hagemeyer, Birk; Finn, Christine (May 2019). "Personality Development in Emerging and Young Adulthood: A Study of Age Differences". European Journal of Personality. 33 (3): 245–263. doi:10.1002/per.2181. ISSN 0890-2070. S2CID 149938319.
  4. ^ a b c "Personality". www.apa.org. Retrieved 2021-09-29.
  5. ^ a b c Ashton, Michael C. (2017-05-30). Individual Differences and Personality. Academic Press. ISBN 978-0-12-809846-2.
  6. ^ Penke, Lars; Denissen, Jaap J. A.; Miller, Geoffrey F. (August 2007). "The evolutionary genetics of personality". European Journal of Personality. 21 (5): 549–587. doi:10.1002/per.629. ISSN 0890-2070. S2CID 13403823.
  7. ^ Wagner, Jenny; Orth, Ulrich; Bleidorn, Wiebke; Hopwood, Christopher James; Kandler, Christian (2020-03-26). Towards an Integrative Model of Sources of Personality Stability and Change. doi:10.31234/osf.io/qzef8. S2CID 240846892.