Can Personality Change Over Time? What Research Says

Personality is not a fixed script written once in childhood. People tend to remain recognisably themselves, yet their average levels of traits can shift through age, relationships, work, major life events and deliberate behaviour change.

How stable is personality?

Personality traits describe relatively consistent patterns in how people think, feel and behave. The word relatively is important. Longitudinal research shows that adults often maintain their broad rank compared with other people: someone who is unusually conscientious at 30 is likely to remain more conscientious than many peers years later.

At the same time, a stable ranking can coexist with change in absolute level. An entire group may become somewhat more emotionally stable or conscientious while preserving much of the same ordering between individuals. This is why personality can be both stable and changeable.

How personality commonly changes across adulthood

Average personality trends are not identical for everyone, but research has identified broad patterns. Conscientiousness and emotional stability often rise during early and middle adulthood, especially as people take on sustained responsibilities. Social dominance may also increase in young adulthood, while some studies find later-life reductions in openness or activity-related aspects of extraversion.

These are population averages, not rules for a particular person. The size and direction of change vary widely, and a trait score should never be used to predict an individual life course with certainty.

Do life events change personality?

Starting a career, entering a long-term relationship, becoming a parent, losing a job or experiencing illness can alter daily roles and habits. Longitudinal studies suggest that some life events are associated with trait change, but the effects are usually modest and depend on how the person interprets and responds to the event.

A promotion, for example, may encourage more organised and assertive behaviour in one person, while increasing stress and withdrawal in another. The event creates a context; repeated behaviour within that context is often what gradually strengthens a new pattern.

Can you intentionally change a personality trait?

Research on intentional personality change suggests that people can move traits in desired directions, particularly when goals are translated into specific, repeated behaviours. Wanting to become “more outgoing” is vague. Scheduling one social interaction each week, asking one follow-up question in conversations and accepting manageable invitations creates observable practice.

Digital coaching and intervention studies have reported measurable trait change over several months. The changes are generally modest rather than dramatic, but they challenge the idea that adult personality is completely fixed.

A practical way to work on personality change

Start by choosing one narrow target rather than trying to become a different person. Define the trait in behavioural terms, identify situations where the old pattern appears and select a small action that represents the desired trait.

• For conscientiousness: prepare tomorrow’s first task before ending the day.
• For extraversion: initiate one brief conversation rather than waiting to be approached.
• For emotional stability: pause, label the emotion and delay an impulsive response.
• For openness: deliberately try one unfamiliar activity or perspective each week.

Track behaviour rather than demanding an immediate change in identity. Traits are summaries of repeated patterns, so changing the pattern is the practical route to changing the trait.

What a personality test can and cannot show

A personality test can organise current tendencies and provide language for reflection. It cannot determine who you must become, whether a relationship will work, or how you will behave in every situation. Scores are influenced by self-perception, context and the quality of the questionnaire.

Use a result as a baseline for questions such as “Where does this pattern help me?” and “Where would a different response be useful?” rather than as a permanent label.

Common questions