psychology
These 4 life events can still change our personality as adults
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Is our character fixed at birth, or do we evolve throughout life? A study suggests that our personality traits can still be altered by certain life events.
“That’s just me,” many of us like to say. But, is this really the truth? Are our character traits fixed from childhood and no longer develop significantly? For a long time, science has struggled to answer this question, and studies have not provided any clear answers.
An actual research work now suggests that certain drastic experiences can certainly cause changes in our personality. To do this, researchers evaluated 16 years of data from a total of 35,000 Australians. They took the psychological concept of the “Big Five” as a basis, i.e. the five essential aspects of human personality: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. These five character traits are present in all people, but to different degrees. Based on these characteristics, our individual personality is formed.
Until now, it has largely been assumed that the values on the scale for these traits are established quite early in life. However, the new study suggests that there are certain life events that can still alter our levels of these traits.
These 4 drastic experiences can still change our character in the course of life
1. Illness
According to the study authors, anyone who has suddenly become ill or has been seriously injured becomes more extroverted – women, by the way, are three times as strong as men. When family members get sick, it also makes women more extroverted and open. The researchers could not observe this effect in men. Does this have to do with the fact that women in western society do a large part of the care work and are therefore more concerned about their fellow human beings (in both senses of the word)?
2. Money worries
According to the study, financial problems can also be so drastic that they shift our personality traits. Those who suffer from major money worries usually become more extroverted and less conscientious as a result. Incidentally, financial problems make men emotionally less stable – the scientists could not observe this effect in women.
3rd wedding
Even a wedding can have a big impact on our personality. It was particularly exciting that there was a very big difference between women and men: on average, women become more emotionally unstable and less empathetic and considerate as a result of marriage. Men, on the other hand, don’t seem to change much when they say yes.
4. pension
According to the study, the start of retirement has the opposite effect. Here the researchers were able to confirm what they call the “grumpy old man” hypothesis. Men obviously become more intolerable, less empathetic and considerate when they retire, while women do not change significantly when they retire. Well, at least the effect of the wedding balances out!
Such study results are of course not applicable to every single person on this planet. But they still give exciting insights into the human psyche. Maybe you recognize one or the other effect in yourself or someone from your environment?
Sources used: businessinsider.de, psychologytoday.com