Man and Change: A Dynamic, Not a Fixed, Journey

Baltas Group

Research on the development of our personality has been of interest to the scientific community for many years. In the past, it was thought that the personality reached a certain form by the age of 30, after which it became almost immutable. However, recent scientific findings have radically changed this understanding. We now know that personality can exhibit a lifelong flexibility and transformation.

A large-scale analysis by Eileen Graham and colleagues at Northwestern University in Chicago helps us understand the nature of this transformation. The study, published in the European Journal of Personality Research, brought together data from 16 different longitudinal studies to examine the lifetime personality changes of more than 60,000 people. The results show that significant changes occur in all dimensions of personality except agreeableness, especially in middle age and later life.

According to the study, introversion, cautiousness and achievement orientation show a marked decline over time. This decline is particularly pronounced in individuals aged 60 and over. Researchers state that this finding is consistent with the decline in social demands with age. While traits such as extroversion, cautiousness and achievement orientation provide social advantages in young and middle age, these traits decline in importance in older age. In addition, another social personality trait, openness, has been found to generally remain stable in midlife, but decline in older age.

Emotional adjustment follows a different pattern. Emotional adjustment, which tends to increase throughout adulthood, decreases in old age. This is associated with health problems and increased concerns about death in old age. On the other hand, except for emotional adjustment, gender was found to have no significant effect on personality changes. While women experienced a more pronounced increase in the emotional adjustment dimension in midlife compared to men, overall gender differences did not play a significant role in the long-term change of personality traits.

These findings shed light on our understanding of how biological, social and psychological factors together influence personality trait change across the lifespan. Rather than a fixed and unchanging structure, human personality is a dynamic system that constantly evolves under the influence of environmental conditions, individual experiences and societal expectations. You can get more detailed information about how this dynamic system reacts to change by reading our Source Magazine titled “Human and Change”, which we have handled with the principle that “the only thing that does not change is change”, at https://kaynakbaltas.com/dergiler/insan-ve-degisim/#flipbook-df_5786/35/.