A large-scale study, published by MedicalXpress, showed that the prevailing belief that a person's personality is fixed and unchanging is not based on scientific evidence.
The study comprised several phases. In the first phase, researchers surveyed 887 people in the United States, asking them to rate how much they believed 25 different traits they possessed could change, on a scale of 0 to 11. These traits included income, health, and five key personality traits: sociability, agreeableness, responsibility, anxiety, and openness to new experiences. Most participants perceived these five traits as the least likely to change over time.
In the next phase, the researchers analyzed data from eight long-term research projects in the United States, Germany, Australia, and the Netherlands, covering approximately 167,000 people aged between 15 and 90. The team used an advanced statistical model that enabled them to distinguish between genuine personality changes and random fluctuations, while also taking into account generational differences.
The results showed a clear contradiction to participants' perceptions, revealing that personality traits change at rates comparable to, and often exceeding, changes in income, self-esteem, or level of social interaction. Conscientiousness (responsibility and discipline) was ranked among the five most changeable traits out of the 32 traits included in the study, while sociability and openness to new experiences were among the traits that changed most across life stages.
Conversely, participants demonstrated greater accuracy in estimating changes in their physical health, with errors ranging from 29 to 43 percent. However, regarding personality, they significantly underestimated potential changes, with an error rate of 90 percent in estimating changes within a single year, and their estimates of lifelong changes were, in most cases, far from reality.
The study authors stressed that these results reflect trends and statistical averages for large population groups, and do not mean that all individuals go through the same changes or at the same pace, noting that the difference in the speed of personality development among people calls for independent studies that focus on individual paths.
