You can change some character traits, and sometimes you even need to. But is our desire alone sufficient? Scientists from the University of Arizona have proven that this process is more effective if you do it not alone, but with the support of professionals or like-minded people.
Contrary to the prevailing prejudice that people don’t change, scientists have proven that we do, in fact, change throughout our lives—according to events, circumstances, and age. For example, research shows that we tend to be more conscientious during our college years, less social after marriage, and more agreeable when we reach retirement age.
Yes, life circumstances change us. But can we ourselves change the traits of our character if we want? Erika Baransky, a researcher at the University of Arizona, asked this question. She invited two groups of people to participate in an online study: about 500 people aged 19 to 82 and about 360 college students.
Most people said they want to increase extraversion, conscientiousness, and emotional stability
The experiment was based on the scientifically recognized concept of the “big five” personality traits, which include:
- extraversion,
- benevolence (friendliness, ability to come to an agreement),
- conscientiousness (consciousness),
- neuroticism (the opposite pole is emotional stability),
- openness to experience (intelligence).
First, all participants were asked to complete a 44-item questionnaire to measure five key traits of their personality, and then asked if they wanted to change something about themselves. Those who responded positively made a description of the desired changes.
In both groups, most people said they wanted to increase extraversion, conscientiousness, and emotional stability.
Change…on the contrary
The college students were interviewed again six months later, and the first group a year later. None of the groups achieved their goals. Moreover, some even showed changes in the opposite direction.
According to Baranski, for the members of the first group, “the intentions to change their personality did not lead to any real changes.” As for the second, student group, there were some results, though not at all what one would expect. Young people either changed their chosen character traits, but in the opposite direction, or other aspects of their personality in general.
In particular, college students who dreamed of being more conscientious were actually less conscientious six months later. This probably happened because their level of consciousness was rather low from the very beginning.
Even if we know the long-term benefits of more sustainable change, short-term goals seem more important
But among students who expressed a desire to increase extraversion, the final testing showed an increase in such traits as friendliness and emotional stability. Perhaps in an effort to become more sociable, the researcher suggested, they were actually focusing on being friendlier and less socially anxious. And this behavior is closely related to goodwill and emotional stability.
Perhaps the group of college students experienced more changes because they are going through a transformational period in their lives. “They enter a new environment and often feel miserable. Perhaps by trying to change certain traits of their character, they become a little happier, suggests Baranski. “But at the same time, they are under pressure from a variety of requirements and obligations – they need to do well, choose a specialty, undergo an internship … These are the tasks that are currently in priority.
Even if the students themselves are aware of the long-term benefits of more sustainable change, short-term goals seem more important to them in this situation.”
One wish is not enough
In general, the results of the study show that it is difficult for us to change our personality traits based on desire alone. This does not mean that we cannot change our character at all. We just might need outside help, Baranski said, from a professional, a friend, or even a mobile app to remind us of our goals.
Erica Baranski intentionally did not interact with the project participants between the first and second stages of data collection. This is different from the approach of another scientist, Nathan Hudson of Southern Methodist University, who, along with colleagues, followed subjects for 16 weeks in several other studies.
There is evidence in clinical psychology that therapeutic coaching leads to changes in personality and behavior.
The experimenters assessed the personal qualities of the participants and their progress towards achieving the goals every few weeks. In such close interaction with scientists, the subjects made great strides in changing their character.
“There is evidence in clinical psychology that therapeutic coaching leads to changes in personality and behavior,” explains Baranski. – There is also recent evidence that with regular interaction between the participant and the experimenter, personality change is indeed possible. But when we are left with this task one on one, the likelihood of changes is not so great.
The expert hopes that future research will show what degree of intervention is needed to help us achieve our goals, and what types of strategies are best for transforming and developing different character traits.