Is there stability in personality traits?

Do we change throughout life? Let's look at the stability of personality traits.

The idea that people's personality traits do not change noticeably throughout life is widespread. Following this premise we would assume that our personality traits will remain stable despite the social and Biological changes we go through over the years.

This idea about the fact that there is a stability of personality traits, being a fairly universal aspect, allows people to have some security when predicting their own behaviors and those of those around them, as well as helping us when making long-term plans (e.g., studying a career considering that it will always be our vocation).

In this article we will discuss to what extent the idea that there is a stability of personality traits is true or, on the contrary, how they change throughout life, based on various studies that have been carried out in this regard. or, on the contrary, how they change throughout life, based on various studies that have been conducted in this regard.

Is there really stability in personality traits?

In the field of personality studies within psychology, there have been numerous debates regarding whether there is change or stability of personality traits over the years.

While personality psychology scholars place greater emphasis on the study of traits that remain stable in people throughout their lives, clinical psychology has emphasized the changes in people during the therapeutic process..

Both perspectives could be considered equally valid, since in each of the areas the objectives are different and, moreover, their focus of study are two sides of the same coin that have allowed people to adapt to certain circumstances. In other words, that changes help an individual to adapt to the environment, while stability helps an individual to establish relationships with others, to make predictions and to recognize himself/herself as a person.make predictions and to recognize oneself.

Changes and stability of personality traits throughout the life cycle.

Given the importance of both factors, change and stability of personality traits, we will now discuss in more detail what each one consists of.

1. Personality trait change throughout the life cycle

There are 3 factors, among different levels, that determine the possible changes in personality traits throughout the life cycle.

Level 1 would be that of dispositional traits, which are those personality traits that maintain a certain stability over the years and also have consistency.These are those personality traits that maintain a certain stability over the years and also have a transituational consistency, i.e., in different situations, this being the most stable level of personality.

Level 2 would be that of personal interests or concerns, a level with considerably more changes than level 1, being related to the individual desires or motivations of the individual. the individual desires or motivations of each person, so it could be a personality level that provides more information about a person.

Level 3 is the life history level.This level is related to a person's true identity and it is at this level that phenomenological changes in personality occur, which are really difficult to observe. This level, related to life history, integrates a person's own existence so that he or she is able to answer who he or she is and where his or her own life is oriented, which allows each person to organize his or her own biography.

If level 2 referred to what an individual does, level 3 goes further, explaining what he or she does, level 3 goes further, explaining where that person is going and who he/she wants to become, being a fundamental characteristic of his/her own life.The life history, included in the biography, is a fundamental characteristic of his or her own identity. His life history, included in level 3, brings together elements such as ideologies, important episodes in his life that have come to mark him, life aspirations and also the legacy he might leave at the end of his life to later generations.

As we can see in these 3 factors, changes in personality traits only tend to occur in certain determined aspects, these being those associated with interests, needs or goals and objectives that appear in the different stages of a person's life.Therefore, we could say that, according to this perspective, there are no substantial changes in personality traits throughout the life cycle, with certain personality traits being more susceptible to change than other traits that remain more stable.

On the other hand, there are perspectives that determine that the changes would be determined by some stable personality dispositions.. They also affirm that the context in which the life of an individual unfolds and some circumstances that have been triggered in the environment in which he lives, which have determined those changes, could be determined in a previous way by the tendencies of the own personality to move in those environments.

2. Stability of personality traits throughout the life cycle.

The stability of personality traits over the life cycle has had remarkable empirical support through numerous studies.

According to James, a person's personality traits attain a fairly well established stability around age 30While for other authors who have devoted themselves to the study of personality, traits continue to stabilize over a longer period of time and do not reach their peak of stability until the age of 50.

In either case, most agree that there is a high degree of stability of personality traits throughout the life cycle.

In accordance with the studies carried out as a result of the "big five personality model", it has been found that there is a certain degree of decline in the traits of extraversion, neuroticism and openness to experience with increasing age, while the other major personality traits of extraversion, neuroticism and openness to experience decrease with increasing age.while the other big personality traits, responsibility and agreeableness, increase with age, although there are no significant changes after the age of 30, which would reinforce James' initial theory.

In short, several studies have found that approximately 75% of the variance of the 5 major personality factors remain stable throughout life, so that only 25%, or a quarter, is open to change, which is quite significant, despite the fact that there is a higher proportion in terms of the degree of stability of personality traits.

On the other hand, these studies have found that the stability of personality traits is in general related to genetic or hereditary factorsThis is why this idea seems somewhat limited, since changes in traits can undergo changes depending on one's context, since each factor is composed of a large number of traits that can vary over time, despite the fact that the overall value of the factor remains stable.

Model that integrates the aspects of change and stability of personality traits.

In 1994 McAdams developed a model that integrated change and stability of human personality traits.The new integrative model, taking into account the 3 levels of organization mentioned in the section on changes (dispositional traits, personal interests and life history), which act in parallel in terms of the functions and structure of the personality, there being a space in each of the levels for change and for the stability of personality traits.

To these 3 initial factors or levels, for this new integrative model, they added two more factors that influence the changes and stability of personality: the role of evolution and cultural aspects.

The role of evolution refers to the fact that each person's personality variations are influenced by an evolutionary design, so that all humans, although unique, follow patterns of change common to all other people.

The differential role of culture refers to the fact that the influence on the life experiences of each person depending on the cultural context in which his or her life develops, having a greater impact on his or her process of adaptation to the environment than on personality traits directly. in which his or her life develops, having a greater impact on his or her process of adaptation to the environment than on personality traits directly, so that we could say that culture exerts its influence on people's life histories, and therefore has repercussions on the psychosocial part of people's identity, having common aspects with other individuals belonging to the same culture.