changing personality-psych 301 (personality changes)

Changing Personality

• Deliberate Steps: Taking medication for anxiety or depression or attending therapy is a conscious effort to change personality traits.

  • Research indicates that these strategies are effective in lowering levels of neuroticism.

  • Therapy is noted as being particularly impactful.

• Psychedelics:

  • Usage of substances such as LSD has been shown to elevate levels of openness in individuals measured a year later after usage.

Steps Beyond Medication and Therapy

• Fake It Till You Make It:

  • This approach involves acting in ways typical of the personality trait one wishes to develop (e.g., behaving extrovertedly to become more extroverted).

  • Such behaviors result in minor, incremental personality changes rather than radical transformations.

Life Events Impacting Personality

• Work Domain:

  • Events such as receiving a job or promotion, or losing a job, significantly influence personality.

• Love Domain:

  • Relationship events (e.g., beginning or ending a relationship, getting married or divorced) also shape personality.

• Research Findings:

  • Generally, work-related events exert a more substantial impact on personality compared to love-related events.

  • Changes in personality are classified as gains (e.g., starting a relationship) or losses (e.g., ending a relationship).

    • Gains tend to have a more significant and quicker effect on personality, whereas losses influence personality over a longer period and result in smaller changes.