New Research Reveals How to Change Personality Traits and Enhance Life Satisfaction

Can deep-seated personality traits be altered in just a few weeks?

This question has transitioned from speculation to reality, supported by recent psychological studies and a personal account by journalist Lori Clark featured in BBC. This narrative underscores that personality is not a predetermined aspect of one's identity.

* A Personal Encounter with Anxiety and Neuroticism

Clark shares her experience of noticing a persistent itch in her hand, which reminded her of an article discussing individuals who suffer from compulsive scratching, often leading to severe health issues. This triggered a wave of anxiety: “What if I’m one of them?”

This was not an unfamiliar feeling for her, as she has faced neurotic episodes regularly.

According to an online personality assessment, she scored higher than 85% of participants in neuroticism, a trait linked to heightened anxiety and emotional instability.

Clark reflected on how neuroticism has been a part of her life since adolescence but has gradually diminished with age, attributed to her efforts to lessen self-criticism and refrain from overanalyzing social interactions.

* The “Big Five” Model of Personality

Psychologists widely accept the “Big Five” model as a reliable framework for understanding personality, categorizing it into five core dimensions:

• Openness

• Conscientiousness

• Extraversion

• Agreeableness

• Neuroticism

Each dimension comprises various subtraits; for example, neuroticism includes anxiety, while extraversion covers assertiveness and sociability.

* Rethinking Personality Stability

Traditionally, it was believed that personality stabilizes by age thirty. However, this perspective has shifted, as noted by Brent Roberts, a psychology professor at the University of Illinois, who stated:

“Some researchers in the 1980s held that personality is definitively set at a certain age, but findings over the past thirty years have challenged this belief.”

Research indicates that individuals tend to become less neurotic and more conscientious and agreeable over time.

Miriam Steiger, a researcher at the University of Lucerne in Switzerland, explains that these changes result from biological maturation and life experiences that encourage individuals to adopt adult responsibilities.

* Accelerating Personality Change

Recent studies highlight the potential to expedite this natural evolution;

Targeted psychological interventions can lead to changes in personality traits within weeks, sometimes as quickly as six weeks.

Clark identified neuroticism as her most challenging trait. She noted that many aspire to become more:

• Open

• Conscientious

• Less Neurotic

For her, the goal was to reduce stress, avoid unrealistic idealism, and enhance agreeableness, as she believes that distrust contributes to neuroticism.

* The Desire for Personality Change

Roberts points out that while some may wish to decrease their agreeableness, viewing it as a weakness, research shows that positive personality changes correlate with improved quality of life.

Specifically, reductions in neuroticism and increases in extraversion are linked to higher life satisfaction and happiness.

* Research Supporting Personality Change

A significant study conducted in 2019 by psychologist Nathan Hudson at Southern Methodist University involved college students selecting traits they wanted to modify and undertaking weekly challenges aimed at fostering those traits.

After 15 weeks, the findings revealed slight but statistically significant shifts in:

• Extraversion

• Conscientiousness

• Neuroticism

However, traits like openness and acceptance did not show change, and greater commitment to the challenges yielded better results.

In 2021, Steiger conducted a similar study using a smartphone app, resulting in positive changes in extraversion, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and agreeableness, with effects persisting for up to three months post-study.

* Practical Strategies for Personality Change

Research has identified several straightforward activities that can aid in modifying personality traits, including:

_ Reducing neuroticism

_ Daily meditation

_ Maintaining gratitude journals

_ Addressing negative thoughts through journaling

_ Increasing social openness

_ Participating in social events

_ Greeting others

_ Engaging in candid conversations with trusted friends

_ Enhancing agreeableness

_ Performing simple acts of kindness

_ Replacing criticism with positive affirmations

_ Interpreting others' actions through external circumstances rather than character judgments

_ Boosting conscientiousness and self-awareness

_ Timely bill payments

_ Organizing personal spaces

_ Setting short- and long-term goals

_ Increasing cultural openness

_ Staying informed about global events

_ Visiting museums or cultural exhibits

_ Attending cultural or literary events

* Conclusion

Personality is now viewed as a dynamic entity rather than a fixed trait.

While change necessitates awareness and dedication, research affirms that small, consistent actions can lead to meaningful transformations in a matter of weeks, positively impacting overall quality of life and psychological well-being.