Introduction
From the beginning of a person’s life, various events and circumstances influence them directly. It starts with their behavior and other external deeds and concludes with a person’s thinking and mental health. Researching the influence of many factors on the plasticity and stability of people’s brain functioning and the ability to change thinking is crucial in understanding human personality development.
This essay will study the correlation between external factors and personality change regarding aging. As the paper argues, it is essential to state that personality can change during the lifespan but is more substantial before age 30. Although studies have shown that personality changes can occur during a person’s entire life, particular attention should be paid to the flexibility and plasticity of changes in the early stages of a person’s development.
Biological Aspect of Changes
The biological aspect is the first issue of the connection between external factors and personality change. In their article, O’Dea et al. (2021) consider the biological aspect of personality change in terms of a person’s adaptation to different circumstances. For example, according to O’Dea et al. (2021), “organisms use labile traits to respond to different conditions over short time scales” (p. 278).
The external environment constantly forms and influences people’s behavior and character. In addition, it is essential to highlight that a notion assumes that the response to these external happenings can be assessed as standard for all people with slight differences (Terracciano et al., 2006). However, in their study, O’Dea et al. (2021) state that many individuals can have various responses (O’Dea et al., 2021). Consequently, this point brings new understandings to the plasticity of people’s changes in character and personality.
The homogeneity assumption is among important biological notions closely connected with personality change. It assumes a particular level of equality regarding changes in the human species during their lifespan (O’Dea et al., 2021). However, O’Dea et al. (2021) state that particular species can have different levels of adaptation to external circumstances and, therefore, have another homogeneity (O’Dea et al., 2021). In other words, the variations of how human personality changes can significantly depend on a particular person’s characteristics and cannot always be measured in the average point (Jarrett, 2022). The findings mentioned above highlight that personality changes can be significant and depend on the person’s character, age, and life experiences.
Changes in Personality in Correlation with Age
While considering the aging aspect in personality changes, it is vital to understand the notions of plasticity and stability. First, plasticity describes the person’s ability to change their behavior, character, and thinking following age. The second, stability, highlights how mentally, emotionally, and psychologically stable the person is and, therefore, communicates the idea of the level of impossibility for changes. These two factors are crucial in understanding the influence of age on a person’s personality change and are considered in the article by Bleidorn et al. (2022). Notably, particular findings showed that personality can change over a lifespan and be impacted by various situations.
However, there is a difference between changes in people under 30 and older people. For example, as Bleidorn et al. (2022) state, “We found little evidence for increasing rank-order stabilities after Age 25” (p. 588). On the other hand, researchers underline that estimating the level of changes in older people was also underrated (Roberts & Yoon, 2022). It should be noted that the elasticity of personality changes varies from person to person. Different events and circumstances impact thinking and the ability to adapt to the external situation. However, the findings presented by Damian et al. (2019) also state that stability can be assessed at the age of 37.
Consequently, all the abovementioned conclusions can be divided into two primary facts. First, people’s personalities change and do it during their entire life. Second, the particular difference between plasticity in younger and older people is real and should be studied profoundly.
Specific Measurements in Studies
In addition to plasticity and stability, other aspects of a person’s changes and development should be highlighted. Conscientiousness, emotional stability, and agreeableness (Roberts et al., 2006). The age factor can significantly influence these points (Chia-Huei, 2021). For example, a particular increase in correlation with aging will be observed in conscientiousness and emotional stability (Rauthmann, 2021). These changes will likely occur in people between 20 and 40 years old (Roberts et al., 2006). On the other hand, the agreeableness point is influenced only in old age (Feist, 2019). Therefore, these findings highlight that a person under 30 has more elasticity to change regarding the abovementioned characteristics.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is essential to state that various researchers have different conclusions and findings regarding plasticity and stability points in changes in human personality. Many factors, such as age, personal characteristics, and experiences, influence the development and changes in human behavior and thinking. However, the studies mentioned in this paper highlight particular tendencies and understandings related to character’s plasticity.
Two factors connected with age, which are the increase of rank-order stabilities after 25 and the establishment of stability at 37, are essential to understanding age’s influence on personality. On the other hand, studies have shown that plasticity can be observed during a person’s lifespan, depending on many external circumstances. Consequently, one should state that profound research is needed to understand the peculiarities of aging and changes in humans clearly.
References
Bleidorn, W., Schwaba, T., Zheng, A., Hopwood, C. J., Sosa, S. S., Roberts, B. W., & Briley, D. A. (2022). Personality stability and change: A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin, 148(7-8), 588- 619. Web.
Chia-Huei, W. Y. (2021). Work and personality change: What we do makes who we are. Bristol University Press.
Damian, R. I., Spengler, M., Sutu, A., & Roberts, B. W. (2019). Sixteen going on sixty-six: A longitudinal study of personality stability and change across 50 years. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 117(3), 674–695. Web.
Feist, G. J. (2019). Creativity and the Big Two model of personality: Plasticity and stability. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 27, 31-35. Web.
Jarrett, C. (2022). Be who you want: Unlocking the science of personality change. Simon & Schuster.
O’Dea, R. E., Noble, D. W., & Nakagawa, S. (2021). Unifying individual differences in personality, predictability and plasticity: A practical guide. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 13(2). Web.
Rauthmann, J. F. (2021). The handbook of personality dynamics and processes. Elsevier Science.
Roberts, B. W., Walton, K. E., & Viechtbauer, W. (2006). Patterns of mean-level change in personality traits across the life course: A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin, 132(1), 1-25. Web.
Roberts, B. W., & Yoon, H. J. (2022). Personality psychology. Annual Review of Psychology, 73, 489-516. Web.
Terracciano, A., Costa Jr, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (2006). Personality plasticity after age 30. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32(8), 999-1009. Web.