Persona: On The Changeability of Personality

Life is characterised by constant change. The world presents us with a series of issues, and just as a carpenter shapes raw materials using their tools, personality may be broadly defined as a toolset for understanding and tackling life’s ceaseless problems. Given that there is no one solution to all of life’s problems, each personality is suited to a particular type of environment that occurs often enough to keep it in the gene pool (Nettle, 2006). Yet, there exists a widely held belief that personality is set in stone by age 30. Although there are cases where personality is characterised by stability, this essay will argue that the dynamic interplay of biological, psychological, and social factors leads to personality change throughout the lifespan.

Different theories exist in the literature concerning what constitutes personality. Tellegen (1988) conceptualised personality as comprised of psychobiological structures that underlie enduring behavioural tendencies to respond in certain ways. Supporting this view is Panksepp (1998), who put forward that vertebrates evolved various systems that are specialised to deal with the ever-changing environment, such as exploratory, inhibitory, anger, and fear systems. Through this lens, personality is the culmination of the operating settings of these central psychobiological systems, such as the stress threshold & speed of responding (Harkness, 2007, pp. 266-267). The dynamic balance of these systems mediating moment-to-moment responses to stimuli can be described as states, while their enduring properties can be described as traits. In general, therefore, it seems that personality is characterised on one hand by stability, and on the other by change: traits are relatively stable characteristic patterns, while states are characteristic patterns of responding at a moment in time.

The traditional view that adult personality remains completely stable has given way to a body of evidence that indicates personality is distinguished by both stability and change across the lifespan (Bleidorn et al., 2019). Evaluating personality utilising the Big Five traits (n = 20,434), Lucas & Donnellan (2011) found strong evidence of personality change across the life span as measured by rank-order consistency: emotional stability, extraversion, openness, and agreeableness increased in young adulthood (20-30 years), peaking in adulthood (40-50 years) and declining in old age (60-80 years) while conscientiousness was shown to remain stable throughout adult life. Interestingly, neither positive nor negative life events had significant effects on personality. The findings of this investigation suggest that personality is not only changeable after the age of 30, but also that some aspects of personality are more changeable than others.

The literature on personality has highlighted several links between cognitive ability and personality change. In 2012, Graham & Lachman explored the relationship between cognitive performance and personality change, finding that those who were stable across trait openness to experience and emotional stability scored better on inductive reasoning tests than individuals who fluctuated on those same traits. Further, they found that older adults who remained stable or decreased in emotional stability answered faster than those who increased. In this same vein, Yoneda et al. found associations between personality change and the cognitive decline associated with neurodegenerative diseases: the onset of dementia was associated with decreased emotional stability (Yoneda et al., 2020 as cited in Stieger et al., 2021). The evidence reviewed here suggests that personality change is possible throughout the lifespan and that the neurological substrates underlying cognitive functioning play a role in personality change.

There is a large volume of studies exploring the impact of social roles on personality change. Middle adulthood (30-60) typically sees individuals investing in their families and careers, becoming more entrenched in social roles that in turn call for the stability of personality (Mueller et al., 2017). The connection between social roles and personality change was demonstrated by Specht et al. (2011), who found conscientiousness increased when individuals started their first job, subsequently decreasing when individuals retired, suggesting that social roles play a role in personality change. One of the primary explanations for this effect is heightened responsibility: becoming a parent may require heightened agreeableness while starting a new job might require heightened conscientiousness (Roberts et al., 2005). Given cross-culture differences in the nature and timing of social roles, it may be that personality change differs across cultures.

Previous research findings into the impact of culture on personality change have been inconsistent and contradictory. Some authors suggest that personality stability and change are relatively similar across cultures, a view that is typified by Robert McCrea (McCrea et al., 1999). That personality is stable across cultures suggests that change is mediated primarily by non-environmental factors. However, as social roles have been linked to personality change, it may also be that the nature and timing of life transitions are present across the cultures studied (e.g., starting a family, getting educated, employment status). Conversely, Chopik & Kityama (2018) demonstrated absolute differences in personality traits between individuals ensconced in American and Japanese cultures: the latter fluctuated much more across Big Five personality trait domains. While the evidence presented in this section suggests that personality is changeable, further research needs to examine more closely the links between personality change and cultural context. Together, this evidence provides support for the notion that personality change is possible after the age of 30, and that it differs across cultures.

Personality change in old age has received an increasing amount of attention in recent years. This curiosity might be stimulated in part by how much the average lifespan has increased thanks to modern medicine, which has led to more older people living longer than in the past (Specht, 2017). Contrary to the prevailing belief that personality does not change beyond the age of 30, Bleidorn et al. (2014) showed that major personality changes occur in older people. Cognitive, physical, and sensory deficits may combine to drive these personality changes, which cause decreases across all Big Five qualities (where neuroticism is referred to as emotional stability) (Mueller et al., 2017). Several studies have suggested that personality changes in old age may be caused by people’s desire to modify their way of life to accommodate the consequences of deteriorating health and mobility in their daily experiences (Wagner et al., 2020).

Adherents of the biological view of personality see personality traits as stable structures located within the cranium that directly represent tendencies or biases within neurological processes (Yeates et al., 2008). Exploring alterations to these neurological processes can give insight into the extent to which biology affects personality. A key study exploring the connection between biology and personality change is that of Stuss et al., (1992), who demonstrated personality change following damage to orbitofrontal and ventromedial frontal cortical areas of the brain. Secondly, pathological changes to brain areas following stroke and lesions have been found to induce empathetic failure regarding self and others’ emotional states (Shamay-Tsoory et al., 2003). This indicates a direct connection between the brain and mind in the construction of personality, and personality change. Taken together, these studies suggest that neurological processes play a significant role in the construction of personality, and alterations to these processes bring about significant changes in personality regardless of age.

This essay set out to examine whether or not personality change after the age of 30. Personality change can be affected by biological, psychological, and social factors such as changing social roles, acquired brain damage, and cognitive ability. These factors exert differential pressures that may converge to shape personality. The findings discussed coalesce to support the notion that character can change not only in early life but throughout the lifespan, from early life to old age. Because personality shapes perceptions, motivations, emotions, & actions, exploring the mechanisms underpinning it may facilitate changing individual behaviour for the better.

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