Kyle Williams30 said:There simply isn't any research out there stating that on an individual level, it is "impossible" to alter one's personality traits. It isn't as if a person cannot become significantly more conscientious or substantially less neurotic. Perhaps even the title of this thread was somewhat clumsily phrased—does "can one..." mean "is it possible?" To claim otherwise lacks any real scientific foundation. Consider the case of a gentleman who underwent a procedure where his visual neurons were essentially rerouted to the auditory cortex; suddenly, his auditory regions began behaving somewhat like visual ones. Of course, there were limits—constraints inherent in how stimuli are processed—but it worked to an extent. The human brain possesses plasticity (not infinite, certainly, but the boundaries governing our personality shifts aren't clearly defined), and there is still plenty of "fuel" left in adults for "neural rewiring" and neurogenesis within the cortex and hippocampus. Any adult could theoretically reshape their personality, provided they truly possessed the will to do so. Bit by bit, through state after state, what begins as a temporary mood eventually solidifies into a trait.
And naturally, those who refuse to believe change is possible will achieve nothing at all.
While it is true that personality remains stable when viewed as a statistical average—lacking massive, sweeping shifts across populations—
we are talking here about self-report measures and correlation studies.
For instance, we know that smokers remain remarkably consistent in their habits.
However, we wouldn't jump to the conclusion that quitting smoking is impossible just because the statistics show consistency.
In academic research, "character" and "personality traits" are operationalized quite differently, despite laypeople treating them as synonyms.
Personality psychology is a chaotic theory involving just about everything under the sun.
Consequently, one cannot conclude that a person's personality is set in stone and unchangeable.
It requires effort. One must essentially act "against" their own nature until new patterns of perception and reaction consolidate. But first, shouldn't we start by becoming aware of who we actually are at this moment?
What constitutes my core trait, and what is merely a passing state?
Do I feel more at ease in a crowd or in solitude?
Deciding to quit smoking isn't enough, nor is merely wanting to. You have to apply it; you have to find the method.
When our habitual way of reacting to the world becomes a burden to ourselves, I believe that provides sufficient motivation to seek a new path. Otherwise, one might ask: why bother changing at all? 😁
1. I never said changing a specific trait is impossible. I meant that personality as a whole stays mostly fixed—not that you can't shift certain behaviors or specific traits. Besides, there's the question of what a personality trait actually is. How do you define it, and more importantly, how do you measure it? Is what we find through testing a true trait, or just a pattern of behavior?
2. Obviously. Personality is one thing, and its constituent traits are another.
3. Those are valid questions. What really constitutes introversion or extroversion? How do we define them? Using objective metrics (quantifiable data like how often, where, and with whom) or just subjective feelings? It raises the issue of whether they can even be defined without making measurement impossible.
Jesse Peterson5 said:Honestly, I think my core trait is just being stubborn. It’s been part of my DNA since day one. I told myself I’d change and stop being so headstrong, but let's be real—I'm still just as stubborn as ever. I've just gotten better at keeping it under wraps. Same me, just better self-control. 😁
I don't think people actually change. You can't just swap out your core personality; that's your baseline, your default setting for everything else. But after scrolling through this thread, I’ve realized something: people don't change because they *can*, they change because they *have* to. It's about being forced to deal with that one part of yourself that finally becomes too much to handle.
