Can Your Personality Actually Change? Latest Research

The Age-Old Question

"Can people really change?" It is one of the most fundamental questions in psychology, philosophy, and everyday life. We ask it when choosing a partner, when evaluating whether a colleague will improve, when wondering if we ourselves can overcome deeply ingrained habits.

For decades, the dominant view in personality psychology was that personality is essentially fixed by age 30. William James famously wrote in 1890 that "in most of us, by the age of thirty, the character has set like plaster." This view held sway for nearly a century.

But modern research tells a more nuanced and hopeful story.

What the Data Actually Shows

The Stability Side

Longitudinal studies tracking people over decades show that Big Five personality traits have impressive stability:

• Rank-order stability: Your position relative to others tends to remain consistent. If you are more extraverted than most people at age 20, you will likely still be more extraverted than most at age 60.
• Test-retest correlations: Over intervals of 5-10 years, Big Five traits show correlations of 0.60-0.80, indicating substantial stability.
• Genetic contribution: Twin studies estimate that 40-60% of personality variance is heritable. Identical twins raised apart show remarkably similar personality profiles.

The Change Side

However, personality is far from immutable:

• Mean-level changes across the lifespan: On average, people become more agreeable, more conscientious, and less neurotic as they age from 20 to 60. This pattern, called personality maturation, is observed across cultures worldwide.
• Individual variation: While averages show maturation, individuals vary enormously. Some people become less conscientious with age; others show dramatic increases in openness.
• Magnitude of change: A meta-analysis by Roberts and Mroczek (2008) found that the magnitude of personality change from age 20 to 60 is comparable to roughly one standard deviation in some traits — a meaningful, observable difference.

Life Events That Reshape Personality

Research has identified specific life events that are associated with personality changes:

Entering the Workforce

Starting a career is associated with increases in conscientiousness and decreases in neuroticism. The demands of professional life appear to foster discipline, emotional regulation, and a sense of competence.

Romantic Relationships

Entering a committed relationship tends to increase agreeableness and emotional stability. Partners influence each other's personality over time through a process researchers call co-development.

Parenthood

Becoming a parent is associated with temporary increases in conscientiousness (especially in fathers) and decreases in openness and extraversion — likely due to the all-consuming demands of caring for an infant.

Unemployment and Health Crises

Negative life events can also change personality, but not always in predictable directions. Prolonged unemployment tends to decrease agreeableness and conscientiousness. Serious health events can increase neuroticism but sometimes also increase openness and gratitude.

Trauma and Adversity

Traumatic experiences can lead to lasting personality changes. However, the concept of post-traumatic growth suggests that some people emerge from adversity with increased openness, deeper relationships, and a greater sense of personal strength.

Can You Intentionally Change Your Personality?

This is the question that matters most to most people. And the answer, increasingly, is yes — to a degree.

Evidence from Psychotherapy

A landmark meta-analysis by Roberts et al. (2017) examined 207 studies and found that psychotherapy produces personality changes that are visible after as few as 4-8 weeks of treatment. The largest changes were observed in neuroticism (emotional stability improved) and extraversion (social confidence increased).

These changes were:

• Clinically meaningful, not just statistically significant
• Maintained at follow-up assessments months later
• Observable across different types of therapy (CBT, psychodynamic, etc.)

Volitional Personality Change

Can you change your personality simply by deciding to? A growing body of research suggests you can, at least modestly:

• Goal-setting studies: Research by Nathan Hudson and Brent Roberts (2014) found that people who set specific goals to change particular traits (e.g., "I want to be more outgoing") showed measurable trait changes over 16 weeks.
• Behavioral experiments: Acting extraverted for a week, even for natural introverts, temporarily increases well-being and feelings of extraversion — suggesting that "faking it" can nudge real change.
• Deliberate practice: Consistently practicing behaviors associated with a desired trait (e.g., organizing your environment to increase conscientiousness) can gradually shift your trait levels.

Digital Interventions

Recent studies have explored whether smartphone apps can facilitate personality change. A 2021 study published in the *Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences* found that a digital intervention using cognitive-behavioral techniques produced measurable personality changes (decreased neuroticism) that persisted for at least three months.

Genetics vs. Environment: The Modern View

The old "nature vs. nurture" debate has been replaced by a more sophisticated understanding:

Gene-Environment Interaction

Genes do not determine personality directly. Instead, they influence how you respond to environments. The same stressful event might increase neuroticism in one person and have no effect on another, depending on their genetic predisposition.

Epigenetics

Environmental experiences can alter gene expression without changing the DNA sequence itself. Childhood experiences, stress, nutrition, and social environment can turn genes "on" or "off," influencing personality development in ways that can even be transmitted to the next generation.

The 40/40/20 Model

A useful framework: roughly 40% of personality variance is genetic, roughly 40% is environmental (shared and non-shared), and roughly 20% is measurement error or unexplained variance. This means there is substantial room for environmental influence and intentional change.

What Changes and What Stays

Not all aspects of personality are equally changeable:

• Most changeable: Neuroticism (emotional stability can improve significantly with effort and therapy)
• Moderately changeable: Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion (these tend to shift naturally with age and can be nudged intentionally)
• Least changeable: Openness (tends to be more stable, though significant life experiences like travel, education, and psychedelic experiences have been linked to increases)

Practical Implications

For Self-Improvement

1. Set specific, behavioral goals: Instead of "be more confident," try "initiate one conversation with a stranger each week."
2. Create environmental supports: Surround yourself with people who exemplify the traits you want to develop.
3. Be patient: Meaningful personality change happens over months and years, not days.
4. Seek professional help: If you want to decrease neuroticism or overcome deeply ingrained patterns, therapy is the most evidence-based approach.

For Understanding Others

1. People can change, but slowly: Do not expect overnight transformation.
2. Change requires motivation: People change most when they genuinely want to, not when pressured by others.
3. Context matters: The same person may behave very differently in different environments.

Know Your Starting Point

Before you can work on personality change, you need to understand where you currently stand. Take our free Big Five personality test at AIMind360 to get a detailed profile of your traits and facets — your AI-generated report will identify specific areas where growth is most achievable and provide tailored strategies.