Is there a stability in personality traits?

The idea that people's personality traits do not change markedly throughout life is widespread. Following this premise, we would assume that our personality traits will remain stable despite the social and biological changes we have experienced 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 certain security when it comes to predicting our own behaviors and those of those around us, as well as helping us when making long-term plans (p. eg, study a career considering that it will always be our vocation).

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

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Is there really stability in personality traits?

In the field of the study of personality, within psychology, there have been numerous debates regarding whether there are changes or a stability of personality traits throughout the years.

While students of personality psychology place greater emphasis on the study of characteristics that remain stable in people throughout their lives, clinical psychology has made stress on 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, In addition, their study center are two sides of the same coin that have allowed people to adapt to certain circumstances. That is changes help an individual to adapt to the environment, while stability helps an individual to establish relationships with others, make predictions and recognize yourself.

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Changes and stability of personality traits throughout the life cycle

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

1. Change in personality traits throughout life

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

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

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

Level 3 is the life story; it is related to the true identity of a person and it is at this level that the phenomenological changes of the personality take place, which are really difficult to observe. This level, related to life history, integrates a person's own existence in such a way that he is capable of answer who their own life is and where it is headed, allowing each person to organize their own Biography.

If level 2 referred to what an individual does, level 3 goes further, explaining where that person is going and who they want to become, being a fundamental characteristic of his own identity. His life story, included in level 3, brings together elements such as ideologies, important episodes in his life that have marked him, life aspirations and also the legacy that he could leave at the end of his life to later generations.

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

On the other hand, there are perspectives in this regard that determine that the changes would be determined by some stable dispositions of the personality. 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 that environment in the one who lives, which have determined these changes, could be previously determined by the tendencies of the personality itself to move in those changes. environments.

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2. Stability of personality traits throughout the life cycle

The stability of personality traits throughout the life cycle has received very notable empirical support through numerous studies.

According to James, the personality traits of a person reach a fairly established stability around the age of 30, while for other authors who have dedicated themselves to the study of personality, traits continue to be in the process of stabilization over a longer period of time and do not reach their peak of stability until 50 years of age.

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

According to the studies carried out as a result of the “model of the big 5 of the personality” (big five), it has been found that there is a certain degree of decrease in the traits of extraversion, neuroticism and openness to experience as the years go by, while the other big personality traits, responsibility and kindness, increase with age, Although there are no very significant changes after the age of 30, which would reinforce the initial theory of James.

In short, various studies have found that approximately 75% of the variance of the 5 great personality factors maintain stability throughout life, so that only 25% or what is the same, a quarter, is open to changes, something that is quite significant, despite the fact that there is a greater proportion in terms of the degree of stability of the traits of the personality.

On the other hand, these studies have found that stability of personality traits is generally related to genetic or hereditary factors, without taking into account the experience of that person throughout life, that is, the context or the environment, so this idea seems somewhat limited, and it is that the changes of the traits can undergo changes depending on the context of each one, since each factor is made up of a large number of traits that can vary over time, despite the fact that the global value of the factor remains stable.

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

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

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

The role of evolution refers to the fact that the variations of the personality of each person are influenced by a evolutionary design, so that all humans, even if they are unique, follow patterns of change common to all others persons.

The differential role of culture refers to the influence on the life experiences of each person depending on the cultural context in which their life unfolds, having a greater impact on their adaptation process to the environment than on their personality traits directly, so that we could say that culture exerts its influence on people's life stories, so affects the psychosocial part of people's identity, having common aspects with other individuals belonging to the same culture.