Psychology Throughout Age

Can our personalities change as we get older?

As humans, we are always growing. Ever since we were little toddlers, we grew into kids, teenagers, and soon adults. Growth, however, is not just about how physically or biologically we have changed. As we grow, our mental image and thinking also begins to change. Our brains usually observe these changes through memory, when we think of a time we behaved completely differently, then comparatively think how we behave now. But, what is the actual psychological reason for those changes? Is it hard to change our core personality, or do they change because of factors we are not consciously aware of?

The Big Five 

First and foremost, let’s speak of the traits that make up our personality, also known as personality traits. In Psychology, our personality traits fall into five categories. These categories consist of extraversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism. Each of the categories determines where you fall in each scale regarding the different aspects which make up your personality.

  Those who are aware of these characteristics suspect that they are fixed from an early age, and perhaps are even genetic, meaning it is believed that these traits are hard to change. However, recent research by psychologists evidently shows that it actually is possible for these traits to change over time, even just by a bit. For example, the scale of conscientiousness, marked depending on whether you lean more towards being spontaneous or conscientious (willing to do what is right in their duties), can change. Through the researched age range, it was found that while we grow into adulthood we are increasingly more conscientious rather than spontaneous. 

Agreeableness also builds, people become more nurturing as they become older. Both these factors change maybe because of the wide reasoning that adults develop families who they need to take care of and depend on them. But these are average reasons for an average number of people. It is not to say that our traits will be consistent until adulthood. In fact, more individualistic components can be the cause of how our personalities change during youth as well. 

Personal Experience 

Furthermore, let’s talk about the personal parts that also are able to affect our personalities as well. Throughout one’s life, there are experiences present that may cause them to act a certain way, therefore altering the scales of their five traits going forth. Of course, as mentioned, there are mainstream causes why the scale for the characteristics may change depending on age, such as that of developing families. But actually, those means don’t indicate the vast majority of the population. Many individuals may have different outcomes depending on how their personal situations have affected them. There are various results possible that are hard to categorize into general aftermaths, which is one of the reasons why psychology is so difficult. For example, if 2 people went through the circumstances of divorce, one may have accumulated neuroticism (increased feeling of anxiety/sadness), while the other possibly takes the plight more gently and have their openness elevated (become more open-minded). 

Personality changes can also arise when we experience influences that modify our perspectives. Even though personality changes are minor because of the reason that they develop at such an early age, perspective is something more structured and can change, perhaps more often than we think. Perspective is influenced by several facets of our lives, such as culture, social group, genetics, etc. As those influences surround us, our way of thinking may change correlating to how we have been influenced, and that could also enlarge or decline our personality scales.

Conclusion

Even though our personality traits are hard to change, the development of one and what we perceive can cause some. The experiences and consequences we face in life, for instance, improve our maturity and therefore increase our openness. It is important to note, that since not everyone’s lives are the same neither will the changes be. It fully depends on the cognitive response one has. So, if you are thinking about how different you are now, see if there is anything in the past that may have made you your present self. 

Works Cited

“Big 5 Personality Traits.” Psychology Today, https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/basics/big-5- personality-traits. Accessed 29 October 2024.

Lim, Annabelle GY. “Big 5 Personality Traits: The 5-Factor Model of Personality.” Simply Psychology, 20 December 2023, https://www.simplypsychology.org/big-five-personality.html. Accessed 29 October 2024.

Mõttus, René. “How Do Major Life Events Change Your Personality?” Psychology Today, 20 March 2022, https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/people-unexplained/202203/how-do-major-life-events-change-your-personality. Accessed 29 October 2024.