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Personality change

Personality change refers to alterations in an individual's relatively enduring patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, often assessed through the Big Five personality traits—extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience—which exhibit both stability and variability across the lifespan.^[1] These traits are shaped by genetic, environmental, and experiential factors, with changes typically occurring gradually through processes like maturation, major life events, or deliberate interventions.^[2] While personality shows moderate rank-order stability (correlations around 0.50–0.70 over decades), mean-level changes are common, such as declines in neuroticism and extraversion with age in Western samples, alongside increases in agreeableness and conscientiousness peaking in midlife.^[1] Life events play a key role in driving personality change, with meta-analytic evidence indicating small but reliable effects (effect sizes d ≈ 0.10–0.30), particularly in domains like work and relationships; for instance, starting a first job or entering marriage can boost conscientiousness or emotional stability, while divorce may increase neuroticism.^[3] Cross-cultural studies reveal variations in these trajectories: in individualistic cultures like the United States, changes align more systematically with age-related norms, whereas in collectivistic contexts like Japan, fluctuations are greater and less predictable, influenced by differing social roles, health expectancies, and values such as interdependence.^[1] Volitional personality change—self-directed efforts to modify traits in line with personal goals—is also feasible, especially through interventions like therapy or goal-setting, yielding modest effects (d ≈ 0.22) that persist up to a year and extend to improved well-being and authenticity.^[2] Such changes have significant implications for mental health, relationships, and life outcomes, as personality traits predict educational attainment, career success, and longevity; for example, increases in conscientiousness correlate with better health behaviors in later life.^[4] Assessing personality change requires longitudinal designs and multi-method approaches, including self-reports and informant ratings, to distinguish normative shifts from maladaptive ones associated with psychopathology.^[5] Overall, research underscores that while personality is not fixed, its plasticity diminishes with age, emphasizing the interplay of biological maturation and environmental influences in shaping who we become.^[1]

Fundamentals

Definition

Personality change refers to relatively enduring shifts in the characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that define an individual's unique style of interacting with the world and adjusting to life.^[6] These patterns encompass major traits, interests, drives, values, self-concept, abilities, and emotional responses, which can evolve through various influences over time.^[7] Unlike transient fluctuations, such changes are considered stable enough to alter an individual's typical responses to situations, distinguishing them from momentary states or situational variability.^[8] Historically, early psychological theories, such as Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic model, viewed personality as largely fixed by the completion of psychosexual development in early childhood, around age five, with subsequent changes seen as pathological regressions rather than normative development.^[9] In contrast, modern perspectives have shifted toward recognizing both stability and change as inherent aspects of personality. Contemporary research differentiates rank-order stability—the consistency of an individual's relative position on a trait compared to peers—from mean-level change, which captures average shifts in trait expression across populations, such as increases in conscientiousness with age.^[10] Trait theory, a dominant framework in personality psychology, emphasizes the continuity of broad dimensions like the Big Five traits (neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness), treating change as a deviation from genetically influenced baselines rather than the norm.^[11] However, process-oriented models, such as the neo-sociogenomic perspective, integrate biological mechanisms (e.g., genetic and physiological factors) with social and environmental influences to explain why traits remain stable in some contexts while changing in others, highlighting the dynamic interplay of plasticity and constraint.^[12] To detect personality change, researchers commonly employ self-report inventories like the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R), which assesses the Big Five domains and 30 facets to quantify shifts in trait scores over time.^[13] Complementary methods include behavioral observations, which track real-world manifestations of traits in natural settings to validate self-reports and identify enduring alterations in interpersonal or adaptive styles.^[5]

Stability Versus Change

The debate on personality stability versus change traces its origins to early 20th-century psychology, where Gordon Allport emphasized idiographic approaches focusing on the unique, stable individuality of persons, contrasting with Raymond Cattell's view of dynamic traits as motivational forces capable of evolving over time.^[14] Contemporary research has reached a consensus through meta-analyses of longitudinal studies, revealing rank-order stability correlations for personality traits typically ranging from 0.5 to 0.7 over decades, indicating moderate to high consistency in relative individual differences despite absolute shifts.^[15] Evidence supporting personality stability includes genetic heritability estimates of 40-60% for major traits, derived from twin studies that attribute a substantial portion of variance to genetic factors rather than environmental influences.^[16] Large-scale longitudinal cohorts, such as the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study, further demonstrate low retest variability, with trait rankings remaining remarkably consistent from adolescence into midlife, underscoring the enduring nature of personality structures. Countering this, empirical data reveal mean-level changes, including declines in extraversion and neuroticism, and increases in agreeableness and conscientiousness (peaking in midlife) with age, particularly in later adulthood, as documented in meta-analyses of lifespan trajectories.^[17] Longitudinal studies also show punctuated shifts following major life transitions, with effect sizes equivalent to 10-15% changes in trait levels, such as increased neuroticism after bereavement or divorce.^[3] These findings carry significant implications: high stability bolsters the predictive validity of personality traits for life outcomes like career success and relationship quality, enabling reliable forecasting of behaviors over time.^[18] Meanwhile, evidence of change underscores personality plasticity, suggesting opportunities for targeted interventions to foster adaptive development.^[19]

Influencing Factors

Social roles, such as those of parent, leader, or professional, impose behavioral demands that can lead to adaptations in personality traits over time, as explained by role theory and the social investment principle. According to this framework, individuals invest in roles that align with their traits, which in turn reinforce and amplify those traits through repeated enactment, resulting in bidirectional influences between personality and social positions. Longitudinal studies demonstrate that occupational roles, for instance, foster socialization effects, where sustained engagement in high-demand roles for extraversion or openness increases those traits in job stayers, while job changers experience delayed adaptations from prior roles.^[20] In relational roles like parenthood, the transition to becoming a new parent often prompts changes in conscientiousness and agreeableness, as individuals adapt to responsibilities requiring organization and empathy. Longitudinal analyses show mixed evidence, with limited overall increases in conscientiousness and emotional stability consistent with the social investment principle, though effects vary by parity (primiparous vs. multiparous) and gender, with fathers sometimes showing declines in extraversion. These changes typically emerge within the first year postpartum and stabilize as the role becomes integrated into identity.^[21] Environmental factors, including cultural norms, further shape personality through adaptation to prevailing values. In individualistic cultures, which emphasize personal autonomy and self-expression, individuals tend to score higher on openness to experience and extraversion compared to those in collectivist cultures that prioritize group harmony and conformity. For example, cross-cultural comparisons of Big Five traits reveal that residents of individualistic societies like the United States exhibit greater openness, reflecting norms that encourage exploration and innovation. Socioeconomic status also correlates with trait levels; higher SES is associated with higher baseline extraversion and, in some longitudinal data from older adults, increases over time, likely due to greater access to social opportunities and resources that promote outgoing behaviors, though evidence is less consistent for midlife adults.^[22]^[23] Empirical evidence from specific contexts illustrates these dynamics. Military service, as a structured social role, can alter agreeableness, but longitudinal studies show weaker increases in agreeableness compared to civilians and conscientiousness changes likely due to maturation rather than training, though selection effects initially attract lower-agreeableness individuals. In migration contexts, acculturation to a new environment may be associated with small early decreases in neuroticism among sojourners compared to non-migrants, though effects over five years are not statistically significant, as adaptation to host culture norms reduces emotional instability over time.^[24]^[25] Mechanisms of influence differ by duration and intensity of role engagement. Role strain, arising from conflicting demands within a single role (e.g., balancing leadership authority with team empathy), often induces temporary trait shifts, such as heightened neuroticism during acute stress, which resolve once strain eases. In contrast, cumulative identity formation through prolonged role immersion leads to enduring changes, as repeated behaviors solidify into stable traits via the corresponsive principle, where initial trait-role fit amplifies development over years.^[26]^[27]

Stressful Life Events and Trauma

Stressful life events, such as bereavement, divorce, and combat exposure, can precipitate significant alterations in personality traits, particularly when they qualify as traumatic experiences. According to the DSM-5, trauma involves exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence, occurring through direct experience, witnessing the event, learning about it happening to a close family member or friend, or repeated or extreme exposure to aversive details of such events (excluding indirect exposure through electronic media, television, movies, or pictures).^[28] These events often trigger emotional distress and can lead to shifts in the Big Five personality traits, with effects varying by event type, individual differences, and time since occurrence. In the short term, stressful life events frequently result in acute elevations in neuroticism, reflecting heightened emotional instability and vulnerability to negative affect. A meta-analysis of 44 studies encompassing over 121,000 participants found small increases in neuroticism following events like divorce (Cohen's d = 0.065, based on 962 participants), though not statistically significant, indicating a modest rise in emotional reactivity within the first year post-event.^[3] Similarly, spousal bereavement has been linked to an initial surge in neuroticism, which may peak shortly after the loss before potentially returning toward baseline levels.^[29] Coping styles play a crucial role in modulating these effects; adaptive strategies, such as problem-focused coping, enhance resilience and mitigate the intensity of neuroticism increases, whereas avoidant coping exacerbates them.^[30] Over the long term, the impact of trauma on personality can persist, particularly in cases of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), where declines in conscientiousness are commonly observed. Individuals who perceive their trauma as highly central to their identity experience notable reductions in conscientiousness, characterized by diminished self-discipline and goal-directed behavior, as evidenced in a study of trauma survivors assessed shortly after exposure.^[31] Conversely, positive post-traumatic growth (PTG) emerges in approximately 50-60% of survivors across various studies, involving beneficial psychological transformations that may include elevations in extraversion, such as increased sociability and positive emotionality.^[32] This growth is often facilitated by reflective rumination and supportive environments, leading to enhanced interpersonal engagement.^[33] Several risk factors influence the magnitude and direction of these personality changes. Pre-existing high levels of neuroticism act as a vulnerability, amplifying the adverse effects of stressful events by intensifying emotional responses and hindering recovery.^[34] In contrast, protective factors like robust social support buffer against negative shifts, promoting gains in emotional stability and conscientiousness following trauma.^[31] These dynamics highlight how individual predispositions interact with event severity to shape personality trajectories.

Inconsistency as a Personality Feature

Intraindividual variability, often referred to as inconsistency in personality features, describes the fluctuations within an individual in traits, behaviors, or emotional states across time or situations, distinct from between-person differences. This variability is conceptualized as a stable individual difference, reflecting patterns such as mood swings or behavioral shifts, and is measured through techniques like ecological momentary assessment (EMA), which captures real-time self-reports multiple times per day to quantify intraindividual standard deviations in affect or state expressions.^[35]^[36] Such measures highlight inconsistency as a dynamic aspect of personality, linked to higher-order meta-traits like plasticity, which encompasses traits fostering adaptability and exploration over stability.^[37]^[38] High levels of intraindividual variability can facilitate personality change by enhancing responsiveness to environmental demands, allowing individuals to exhibit greater behavioral flexibility and adaptation over time. Longitudinal studies indicate that those with elevated inconsistency show more pronounced shifts in personality states, addressing longstanding puzzles in how traits evolve and integrating process-oriented views of personality development.^[39]^[40] For example, greater variability in daily personality states predicts improved perspective-taking and social cognition, enabling adaptive responses to life transitions.^[36] Stressful events may briefly amplify this inconsistency, triggering further malleability in predisposed individuals.^[41] Conversely, extreme intraindividual variability can hinder constructive personality change by reinforcing maladaptive cycles, as observed in borderline personality disorder where heightened affective and interpersonal instability perpetuates dysregulation rather than resolution.^[42]^[43] In such cases, the persistent fluctuations stabilize dysfunctional patterns, limiting long-term trait reorganization despite potential for mean-level shifts. Genetic factors, particularly variations in dopamine pathways like those involving the dopamine receptor D4 gene, contribute to this extreme variability by influencing reward sensitivity and novelty-seeking tendencies that underlie inconsistent behaviors.^[44]^[45] Longitudinal research further demonstrates that intraindividual variability correlates positively with openness to experience, promoting adaptive personality evolution through increased exploration but also elevating risks of chronic instability if unchecked.^[35] For instance, over extended periods, higher variability aligns with trajectories of greater trait flexibility, yet it can exacerbate volatility in contexts demanding consistency, underscoring its dual role in personality dynamics.^[39]^[37]

Mechanisms of Change

Therapeutic Interventions

Therapeutic interventions represent structured, evidence-based psychotherapies aimed at intentionally modifying maladaptive personality traits, particularly through cognitive and behavioral techniques that address underlying patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving. These approaches are grounded in the understanding that personality traits, such as neuroticism, are not fixed but can be altered via targeted psychological processes, often focusing on emotional regulation, schema restructuring, and behavioral activation.^[46] Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a cornerstone intervention that targets maladaptive cognitive schemas contributing to traits like high neuroticism, using techniques such as cognitive restructuring and exposure to foster more adaptive responses. Meta-analyses of clinical interventions, including CBT protocols, indicate moderate effect sizes (Cohen's d ≈ 0.37) for reductions in neuroticism, typically observed over 12-16 sessions in populations with anxiety or mood disorders.^[47] These changes often manifest as decreased emotional reactivity and improved coping, with pre-post assessments showing sustained decreases in Big Five neuroticism scores.^[46] Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), developed specifically for borderline personality disorder (BPD), addresses emotion dysregulation—a core feature linked to unstable personality traits—through skills training in mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. In BPD cases, DBT has been shown to enhance emotional stability, with randomized controlled trials reporting significant improvements in maladaptive personality traits related to impulsivity and affective instability after one year of treatment.^[48] These gains are particularly evident in reducing borderline-specific symptoms that overlap with high neuroticism and low agreeableness. Schema Therapy integrates elements of CBT with psychodynamic and experiential techniques to modify deep-seated avoidance patterns and early maladaptive schemas that perpetuate personality disorders, such as cluster C avoidant traits. Supported by randomized controlled trials (RCTs), schema therapy yields long-term reductions in avoidance and detachment, with large pre-post effect sizes (Cohen's d > 0.80) on personality functioning indices in BPD and other disorders, outperforming treatment-as-usual in recovery rates (e.g., 45-66% vs. 24%).^[49]^[50] Across these interventions, efficacy is evidenced by pre-post shifts in Big Five trait scores, with meta-analyses confirming moderate decreases in neuroticism (d = 0.3-0.5) and increases in conscientiousness following psychotherapy, based on 207 studies averaging 24 weeks.^[47] However, limitations include potential relapse without ongoing maintenance sessions, as trait changes may diminish over time without reinforcement, particularly in high-risk populations like those with BPD.^[46] Complementary practices, such as mindfulness integrated into these therapies, can enhance outcomes but are not standalone mechanisms here.

Mindfulness and Meditation

Mindfulness and meditation practices, rooted in Eastern contemplative traditions such as Buddhism, have been adapted into structured Western interventions to foster personality change through enhanced self-regulation and neuroplasticity. Prominent examples include Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), an 8-week program developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn that emphasizes present-moment awareness and body scans, and loving-kindness meditation (LKM), which cultivates compassion toward oneself and others through repetitive phrases and visualization. These practices promote gradual shifts in personality traits by training attention and emotional responding, with empirical evidence indicating modest increases in conscientiousness following 8-week MBSR programs, as observed in clinical populations where participants reported enhanced self-discipline and maturity. Neural mechanisms underlying these changes involve alterations in brain structures associated with emotion processing. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies demonstrate that regular mindfulness practice correlates with reduced gray matter volume in the right amygdala, a region linked to fear and stress responses, which contributes to lowered neuroticism by diminishing emotional reactivity.^[51] Concurrently, increased activity in the prefrontal cortex, particularly the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, enhances top-down emotional regulation, supporting greater control over negative affect and facilitating trait-level adjustments in emotional stability. Empirical support for personality change draws from longitudinal studies and meta-analyses conducted in the 2010s, which link consistent mindfulness practice to boosts in extraversion through improved social connectedness and positive affect. A 2024 preregistered meta-analysis of 45 mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs), including MBSR, found significant reductions in neuroticism (Hedges' g = 0.67) and scattered evidence of conscientiousness increases, with changes mediating mental health improvements.^[52] Dose-response effects are evident, as daily practice exceeding 20 minutes yields stronger outcomes in trait mindfulness and related personality shifts compared to shorter durations, underscoring the importance of sustained engagement.^[53] These practices are particularly applied to anxiety-related traits like neuroticism, offering non-clinical tools to mitigate emotional volatility in diverse populations. Originating from Eastern philosophies, they have been secularized for therapeutic use in the West, often integrable with cognitive-behavioral approaches to amplify self-regulation benefits.

Psychedelic and Pharmacological Approaches

Psilocybin therapy has emerged as a promising substance-assisted intervention for inducing rapid and enduring personality changes, particularly in the trait of openness to experience. Clinical trials conducted at Johns Hopkins University in the 2010s and 2020s demonstrated that a single high-dose administration of psilocybin, combined with psychotherapy, significantly increased openness scores on the NEO Personality Inventory, with effects persisting for at least one year post-treatment.^[54] In these studies, approximately 58% of participants who experienced a complete mystical-type experience reported lasting positive shifts in personality, values, and behavior, attributing them to the drug-induced experiences.^[54] As of November 2025, companies like Compass Pathways are pursuing FDA approval through rolling submissions for psilocybin therapies in depression, but full approval remains pending.^[55] Other psychedelics, such as ayahuasca and LSD, have also shown potential for personality modification through microdosing or full-dose regimens. A randomized controlled trial of ayahuasca therapy in patients with recurrent depression found significant reductions in neuroticism scores from baseline to post-treatment, with effects linked to alterations in self-perception and emotional processing.^[56] Similarly, observational studies on LSD microdosing reported decreases in neuroticism and increases in conscientiousness among regular users, with meta-analyses of psychedelic interventions indicating average reductions in neuroticism of 20-30% across various protocols.^[57] These changes are often associated with disruption of the default mode network (DMN), a brain system implicated in self-referential thinking, as evidenced by neuroimaging studies showing reduced DMN integrity during acute psychedelic states.^[58] Pharmacological approaches, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), offer a more gradual mechanism for personality adjustment, primarily targeting trait anxiety within the neuroticism domain. Long-term treatment with SSRIs like paroxetine has been shown to decrease neuroticism and increase extraversion independently of mood improvements, with effects accumulating over several months of use.^[59] However, these interventions face limitations, including common side effects such as sexual dysfunction and weight gain, as well as regulatory hurdles; while SSRIs are widely approved, psychedelic therapies like psilocybin received FDA breakthrough therapy designation for treatment-resistant depression in 2018, accelerating research but not yet granting full approval as of 2025.^[60] Ethical considerations are paramount in psychedelic and pharmacological approaches to personality change, emphasizing the need for post-treatment integration therapy to process experiences and sustain benefits. Without adequate integration, such as brief mindfulness practices as an adjunct, individuals may struggle to incorporate shifts into daily life, potentially leading to transient or maladaptive outcomes.^[61] Moreover, vulnerable populations, including those with psychosis risk or trauma histories, face heightened dangers of adverse psychological effects, such as exacerbated anxiety or dissociative states, necessitating rigorous screening and informed consent protocols.^[62]

Lifespan Development

Adulthood Changes

In young adulthood, spanning the 20s and 30s, individuals typically experience increases in agreeableness and conscientiousness, driven by commitments to careers and romantic relationships that foster greater social integration and self-regulation.^[63] These shifts reflect a broader pattern of maturation, where identity exploration can introduce volatility, such as temporary fluctuations in openness to experience amid life transitions like entering the workforce or forming partnerships.^[64] Longitudinal meta-analyses indicate these changes amount to approximately 0.2 to 0.4 standard deviations per decade for conscientiousness and related traits in this period, based on cohorts tracked from adolescence into adulthood.^[63] During midlife, from the 40s to 50s, the maturity principle continues, with rising emotional stability (lower neuroticism) as individuals gain perspective on stressors and prioritize well-being.^[65] Gender differences emerge, with women often exhibiting steeper gains in conscientiousness, potentially due to amplified role demands in family and professional spheres.^[66] Post-2020 research highlights accelerations in these trajectories influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, where young and midlife adults in affected cohorts showed disrupted patterns, including temporary declines in agreeableness and conscientiousness alongside rises in neuroticism, equivalent to a decade's worth of normative change compressed into two years.^[67] These developmental arcs in adulthood predict key outcomes, such as enhanced life satisfaction and relationship quality tied to adaptive increases in maturity-related traits like conscientiousness.^[64] Conversely, maladaptive shifts—such as sudden drops in emotional stability or extraversion—have been linked to midlife crises, often triggered by psychological turning points like job loss or divorce, leading to poorer well-being if unresolved.^[68]

Late-Life Changes

In late life, typically after age 60, personality traits exhibit distinct patterns of change, with declines observed in extraversion and openness to experience at rates of approximately 0.1 to 0.3 standard deviations per decade.^[69] These shifts may reflect reduced social engagement and diminished interest in novel experiences as physical and cognitive resources wane. In contrast, conscientiousness shows greater stability or a slight increase, potentially due to accumulated life experiences fostering greater self-discipline and reliability.^[69] Such patterns underscore a general trend toward inward focus and preservation of adaptive traits amid aging. Health-related factors significantly influence these alterations, particularly through conditions like dementia, which are associated with spikes in neuroticism. Longitudinal evidence reveals that elevations in neuroticism often precede dementia diagnosis, exacerbating emotional instability and anxiety. Conversely, successful aging—facilitated by active lifestyles involving exercise, social participation, and cognitive stimulation—helps maintain or preserve positive traits like low neuroticism and high conscientiousness, promoting overall well-being.^[70] Longitudinal studies provide robust evidence of these dynamics, demonstrating high mean-level stability in Big Five traits during late adulthood, with coordinated analyses across multiple cohorts showing consistent declines in extraversion and openness alongside relative constancy in conscientiousness.^[71] While the Seattle Longitudinal Study, ongoing since the 1950s with updates into the 2020s, highlights broad stability in psychological attributes amid cognitive trajectories, meta-analyses of diverse samples indicate substantial individual differences in trait profiles, with variability often triggered by major transitions.^[72]^[69] Stressful events, such as bereavement, common in late life, contribute to this variability by prompting adaptive or maladaptive shifts.^[3] Tailored therapeutic interventions offer promise for mitigating negative changes in the elderly, particularly addressing rigidity often linked to entrenched traits or disorders.^[73] Approaches like schema therapy, adapted for older adults through group sessions combining cognitive restructuring and physical activity, effectively reduce maladaptive patterns and enhance flexibility.^[74] Additionally, positive developments such as increased wisdom—cultivated through reflective practices and social roles—correlate with rises in agreeableness, fostering greater empathy and interpersonal harmony in later years.^[75]

Trait-Specific Dynamics

Big Five Traits Overview

The Big Five model, also known as the Five-Factor Model (FFM), serves as the predominant taxonomic framework in personality psychology for examining individual differences and their potential for change over time.^[76] Developed primarily by Paul T. Costa Jr. and Robert R. McCrae in the 1980s, the model emerged from the lexical hypothesis, which posits that the most salient personality characteristics are encoded in natural language descriptors.^[76] Through factor-analytic studies of trait adjectives, they identified five broad, orthogonal dimensions that capture the core structure of personality variation.^[76] The five traits are typically defined as follows: Openness to Experience, reflecting curiosity, imagination, and a preference for novelty; Conscientiousness, encompassing organization, responsibility, and goal-directed behavior; Extraversion, involving sociability, assertiveness, and energy in social settings; Agreeableness, characterized by cooperation, compassion, and trust in others; and Neuroticism, indicating emotional instability, anxiety, and vulnerability to stress.^[76] These traits form a hierarchical structure, with each dimension comprising lower-level facets that provide nuanced assessments; for instance, the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised (NEO-PI-R), a key measurement tool, includes six facets per trait, such as fantasy and aesthetics under Openness.^[76] The model's cross-cultural validity has been substantiated through replications in over 50 languages and cultures, demonstrating consistent factor structures across diverse populations from observer ratings and self-reports.^[77] In the context of personality change, the traits are conceptualized as continuous dimensions rather than categorical types, enabling precise quantification of intra-individual shifts via longitudinal assessments.^[76] Genetic influences account for approximately 40% of variance in these traits, leaving substantial room for environmental factors to drive malleability.^[78] Despite its influence, the Big Five has faced criticism for its origins in Western, educated samples, potentially limiting generalizability to non-Western contexts where cultural norms may alter trait expressions.^[79] An alternative framework, the HEXACO model, extends the structure by incorporating a sixth dimension of Honesty-Humility, which captures sincerity, fairness, and modesty, addressing perceived gaps in the Big Five's coverage of moral character.^[80]

Patterns of Change in Big Five Traits

Research on patterns of change in the Big Five personality traits reveals systematic mean-level shifts across the lifespan, with variations influenced by life events, interventions, and cultural contexts. Longitudinal and meta-analytic studies indicate that these changes are modest but consistent, often aligning with social role investments and adaptive demands. For instance, traits associated with social investment, such as conscientiousness and agreeableness, tend to increase more substantially than those linked to social potency, like extraversion and openness.^[81]^[82] Openness to experience typically peaks during the 20s and exhibits a gradual decline thereafter, reflecting reduced novelty-seeking as individuals prioritize stability and routine in midlife and beyond. This trajectory is evident in large-scale longitudinal data, where openness scores decrease by approximately 0.1 to 0.2 standard deviations (SD) from young adulthood to older age. Interventions like creative pursuits can foster increases in openness, while exposure to psychedelics, such as psilocybin, has been shown to produce significant post-exposure elevations, with some studies reporting gains of around 0.3 SD in trait openness persisting for months.^[17]^[81]^[83] Conscientiousness follows a pattern of steady increase through early and middle adulthood, rising by about 0.2 to 0.4 SD from the 20s to the 50s before stabilizing or slightly declining in later life. This growth is closely tied to the adoption of health-promoting behaviors, such as regular exercise and disciplined routines, which reinforce self-control and goal attainment. Goal-setting interventions, in particular, yield measurable gains, with effect sizes around 0.3 SD in facets like self-discipline, as demonstrated in randomized trials using cognitive-behavioral techniques.^[81]^[17]^[84] Extraversion generally decreases modestly with age, showing a net decline of 0.1 to 0.2 SD across the lifespan, potentially due to reduced social energy and a shift toward introspective activities in older adulthood. However, this trend can be interrupted by event-driven boosts, such as entry into new social roles like parenthood or leadership positions, which may elevate extraversion by 5-10% in the short term through increased social engagement and assertiveness.^[81]^[17]^[3] Agreeableness displays a steady increase throughout adulthood, accumulating about 0.3 SD from young to older age, which supports better interpersonal harmony and cooperation in social contexts. Trauma or major adversities can induce temporary drops, with effect sizes of -0.2 SD or more in agreeableness following events like bereavement or conflict. Cultural variations also modulate these patterns, with steeper increases observed in collectivist societies, where agreeableness levels are inherently higher due to emphases on group cohesion and deference.^[81]^[17]^[85]^[86] Neuroticism declines overall across the lifespan, with a reduction of 0.2 to 0.3 SD from early adulthood onward, as emotional regulation improves with maturity and experience. This decline is less pronounced or even reverses in the face of persistent adversity, where high neuroticism can remain stable or intensify due to chronic stress. Therapeutic interventions, particularly cognitive-behavioral therapies, produce the largest changes in neuroticism, with meta-analytic effect sizes ranging from 0.4 to 0.6 SD, outperforming changes in other traits.^[81]^[17]^[87] A meta-analytic synthesis by Roberts et al. (2006), corroborated by subsequent reviews in the 2020s, underscores that investment-oriented traits like conscientiousness and agreeableness exhibit greater increases (up to 1 SD cumulatively) compared to social potency traits like extraversion and openness, which show minimal or negative change. These patterns highlight how personality development aligns with life stage demands, such as career and family roles, while interventions and events can accelerate adaptive shifts.^[81]^[82]

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Table 3.30, DSM-IV to DSM-5 Acute Stress Disorder Comparison
A. Exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violation in one (or more) of the following ways: Directly experiencing the traumatic event ...<|control11|><|separator|>
[28]
Does personality change following spousal bereavement?
Mroczek and Spiro (2003) found an initial increase in neuroticism after spousal bereavement followed by a sharp decline toward baseline levels in a sample of ...
[29]
Personality and Post-traumatic Growth of Adolescents 42 Months ...
Dec 11, 2017 · The aim of this study was to examine the relationship of teenagers' post-traumatic growth (PTG) and personality and coping style by developing a mediating ...<|control11|><|separator|>
[30]
Trauma exposure and short‐term volitional personality trait change
Jul 29, 2022 · Conscientiousness declined for individuals with highly central traumas. Social support predicted increases in emotional stability, ...INTRODUCTION · METHOD · RESULTS · DISCUSSION
[31]
Prevalence and determinants of secondary posttraumatic growth ...
Results: As many as 40% of participants experienced high levels of growth, with only 27.4% indicating a low level. The obtained results showed positive links ...<|control11|><|separator|>
[32]
Personality and Post-Traumatic Growth: the Mediating Role of ...
Aug 2, 2021 · The results showed a positive relationship between PTG and the traits of extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness, as well ...
[33]
Interactions between Neuroticism and Stressful Life Events Predict ...
High baseline neuroticism was associated with a lower likelihood of response when patients experienced one or more negative life events before treatment.
[34]
[PDF] Intraindividual Variability in Affect - The Personality Project
Intraindividual variability in affect is a multidimensional, stable trait, measured by standard deviation, and is different from average affect levels, ...
[35]
Does Intraindividual Variability of Personality States Improve ...
Nov 27, 2018 · We propose a theory on the role of intraindividual variability of personality states (hereafter state variability) on perspective taking.
[36]
Intraindividual Variability in Personality Research: Considering Time ...
The primary focus is on intraindividual variability, or how people change in their psychological processes across time, and its relevance within the highly ...
[37]
Plasticity, stereotypy, intra-individual variability and personality
Stereotypy overlaps with both behavioural plasticity and intra individual variability. · The concept of stereotypy must include the causal structure of behaviour ...
[38]
Intraindividual variability in adult personality development.
In this chapter, we argue that studying intraindividual variability in personality will profit interested researchers by addressing puzzles and opening up ...
[39]
Intraindividual variability in adult personality development
Such variability may reflect greater behavioral flexibility, as suggested by Noftle and Fleeson (2015) . There are also empirical hints that variability in ...
[40]
Stability and variability of affective experience and interpersonal ...
This study examined both mean levels and intraindividual variability in the mood and interpersonal behavior of individuals with borderline personality disorder ...
[41]
Stability and variability of affective experience and interpersonal ...
This study examined both mean levels and intraindividual variability in the mood and interpersonal behavior of individuals with borderline personality ...
[42]
The stability of personality traits in individuals with borderline ... - NIH
Individuals with BPD tended to exhibit greater differential change, mean level change, and individual variability in change slopes for N and C. In other words, ...
[43]
A Multi-Step Neuronal System-Level Approach | PLOS One
The current study found that genes within the dopamine system make a significant contribution to the variability observed in the highly sensitive personality ...Missing: pathways intraindividual
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Drd4 gene polymorphisms are associated with personality variation ...
Among the more promising of such associations is that between the human dopamine receptor D4 gene (Drd4) variants and novelty-seeking behaviour.
[45]
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2007.0337
[46]
A Systematic Review of Personality Trait Change Through Intervention
... a 5-week trial of pharmacotherapy. Measures of neuroticism and extraversion demonstrated both relative stability and absolute change, and changes in neuroticism ...
[47]
PRO*BPD: effectiveness of outpatient treatment programs for ...
Oct 19, 2018 · Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) and Schema therapy (ST) have demonstrated efficacy in reducing BPD symptoms and costs. However, research has ...
[48]
Results of a Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial of the Clinical ...
Despite large effect sizes, we believe that there is room for improvement of schema therapy. First, further elaboration of the schema therapy protocol with ...Patient Accrual · Treatment Outcomes · Schema Therapy
[49]
Group schema therapy for personality disorders: Systematic review ...
Jun 11, 2024 · The first two pilots exhibited extremely large effect sizes, while the third was medium in size, which was attributed to discrepancies in ...
[50]
Dispositional Mindfulness Co-Varies with Smaller Amygdala and ...
Volumetric analyses showed that higher dispositional mindfulness is associated with decreased grey matter volume in the right amygdala.
[51]
Personality change through mindfulness-based interventions: A preregistered systematic review and meta-analysis - Frederick Almenräder, Gerrit S. Heßmann, Martin Voracek, Ulrich S. Tran, 2025
Summary of each segment:
[52]
Dose–response effects of reported meditation practice on mental ...
Aug 11, 2025 · This study fills these gaps by examining dose–response relationships in a diverse sample of meditators engaging in self-directed practice in ...
[53]
Mystical Experiences Occasioned by the Hallucinogen Psilocybin ...
In early trials of hallucinogens administered under supportive conditions, 50 - 80% of participants claimed lasting beneficial changes in personality, values, ...Missing: 2020s | Show results with:2020s
[54]
Modulatory effects of ayahuasca on personality structure in a ... - NIH
Jul 23, 2020 · Analysis observed a significant reduction in neuroticism scores in the active group at post-test, as indicated by a significant interaction ...
[55]
Microdosing psychedelic drugs associated with increases ... - PsyPost
Apr 2, 2021 · Our most recent findings suggest the positive effects of microdosing on psychological well-being could be due to a reduction in neuroticism. And ...<|separator|>
[56]
Personality traits explain the relationship between psychedelic use ...
May 3, 2024 · The studies report mainly the personality domain openness to increase after psychedelic use, together with decrease in neuroticism. How ...
[57]
Personality change during depression treatment: a placebo ...
Patients taking paroxetine reported 6.8 times as much change on neuroticism and 3.5 times as much change on extraversion as placebo patients matched for ...
[58]
Psychedelics: Threshold of a Therapeutic Revolution - PubMed - NIH
Sep 15, 2023 · The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted two breakthrough therapy designations for psilocybin in treatment resistant depression (TRD) in 2018.
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Ethical and legal issues in psychedelic harm reduction and ...
Apr 7, 2021 · This paper explicates such risks and describes ways in which therapists can mitigate them and strive to practice within legal and ethical boundaries.
[60]
Ethical and Practical Considerations for the Use of Psychedelics in ...
Mar 29, 2023 · This review seeks to ensure that psychiatrists are equipped to use psychedelic psychotherapy both ethically and effectively.
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https://harmreductionjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12954-021-00489-1
[62]
Personality Trait Change in Adulthood - PMC - NIH
Feb 1, 2008 · Research now shows that personality traits continue to change in adulthood and often into old age, and that these changes may be quite substantial and ...
[63]
Refining the maturity principle of personality development by ...
This body of evidence makes the maturity principle one of the most strongly supported findings in personality development (Roberts & Nickel, 2017). More ...
[64]
Gender differences in the Big Five personality development
In both males and females, Conscientiousness and Openness increased linearly from age 16 to age 20, whereas Energy/Extraversion remained stable. Emotional ...
[65]
Differential personality change earlier and later in the coronavirus ...
Sep 28, 2022 · Normative personality change has been estimated to be approximately one-tenth a standard deviation per decade in adulthood [17].Missing: 0.2-0.4 | Show results with:0.2-0.4
[66]
Personality trait development in midlife: exploring the impact of ...
This study examined long-term personality trait development in midlife and explored the impact of psychological turning points on personality change.
[67]
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0274542
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https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5547353/
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[PDF] Trajectories of Big Five Personality Traits: A Coordinated Analysis of ...
Across studies, the linear trajectory models revealed declines in conscientiousness, extraversion, and openness. Non-linear models suggested late-life increases ...
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[PDF] The Seattle Longitudinal Study: Relationship Between Personality ...
This article reviews the history, measures and principal findings of the Seattle Longitudinal. Study. This study began in 1956 focusing upon age differences and ...
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The effectiveness of individual schema therapy in older adults with ...
Jan 24, 2019 · Ten older adults (age > 60 years) with BPD are treated with schema therapy, with weekly sessions during one year.
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New therapy for elderly people with a personality disorder
Jun 6, 2024 · The scientists put together a combination therapy: schema therapy, along with therapy in a gymnasium, all in the form of group sessions.
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The New Science of Practical Wisdom - PMC - PubMed Central
Wisdom tends to increase with active aging, facilitating a contribution of wise grandparents to promoting fitness of younger kin. Despite the loss of their own ...
[74]
An Introduction to the Five‐Factor Model and Its Applications - McCrae
The five-factor model of personality is a hierarchical organization of personality traits in terms of five basic dimensions: Extraversion, Agreeableness, ...
[75]
(PDF) Universal Features of Personality Traits From the Observer's ...
Oct 9, 2025 · The Five-Factor Model of Personality Across Cultures. Chapter. Jan 2002. Robert R. McCrae. This chapter presents reanalyses of data originally ...
[76]
Heritability of personality: A meta-analysis of behavior genetic studies.
Nov 12, 2014 · The aim of this meta-analysis was to systematize available findings in the field of personality heritability and test for possible moderator ...
[77]
Challenges to capture the big five personality traits in non-WEIRD ...
Jul 10, 2019 · We show that commonly used personality questions generally fail to measure the intended personality traits and show low validity.Results · Other Reliability And... · References And Notes
[78]
Empirical, Theoretical, and Practical Advantages of the HEXACO ...
The authors argue that a new six-dimensional framework for personality structure—the HEXACO model— constitutes a viable alternative to the well-known Big Five ...
[79]
Patterns of mean-level change in personality traits across ... - PubMed
Results showed that people increase in measures of social dominance (a facet of extraversion), conscientiousness, and emotional stability, especially in young ...
[80]
Personality stability and change: A meta-analysis of longitudinal ...
Jul 14, 2022 · ... rank-order stability (total k = 189, total N = 178,503) and mean-level change (total k = 276, N = 242,542) from studies published after ...
[81]
Effects of psilocybin therapy on personality structure - PMC
In summary, our study detected changes in personality measures from baseline to 3 months post psilocybin therapy in patients suffering major depression.
[82]
Becoming More Conscientious or More Open to Experience? Effects ...
This research examined the effects of a two–week smartphone–based intervention to either change one facet of conscientiousness (ie self–discipline) or one ...
[83]
Traumatic life events as sources of Big Five personality trait change
Dec 23, 2024 · In contrast, the experience of an own life-threatening illness is linked to more positive changes in Conscientiousness. Furthermore, results ...
[84]
[PDF] THE INFLUENCE OF CULTURE AND PERSONALITY ON ...
Mar 24, 2025 · agreeableness and neuroticism were higher in collectivist cultures where social harmony is emphasized (McCrae & Terraciano, 2005). This is ...
[85]
Does the unified protocol really change neuroticism? Results from a ...
A recent meta-analysis observed moderate between group effects comparing various forms of active treatment, including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), to a ...Table 1 · Fig. 1 · Discussion