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Can People Choose to Change Their Personality Traits? (2015) [pdf]

internal.psychology.illinois.edu

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Re: Can People Choose to Change Their Personality Traits? (2015) [pdf]

#91

Post by klibertp »

aalleavitch wrote: post #69
twobyfour wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are they changing their personality or are they changing their behaviors ? I would think of the personality as the predisposition to certain behaviors. You can change your behaviors to differ from those you're predisposed to; but it takes more conscious effort to maintain those behaviors than it does to maintain the ones you are predisposed to. And changing those behaviors doesn't count as changing your personality,…

If you condition yourself to more regularly exhibit a certain behavior, how is that different from changing your predisposition towards that behavior? Certainly, new habits can be formed and over time people come to exhibit new behaviors reflexively if they've made a habit out of them. Some habits may be harder to form than others, and one's environment will always have a major impact on which habits they're able to…

I don't know what can change the nature of a man, but I think simply changing your behavior is not enough to do so.

While it certainly is possible to form new habits, but as long as they go against your nature the price to pay for this is high: you could cultivate a neurosis or depression by doing so.

Re: Can People Choose to Change Their Personality Traits? (2015) [pdf]

#92

Post by rwnspace »

themodelplumber wrote: post #9

I'm a personality type coach and I help people implement the kinds of changes described in the paper. There are many different models that deal with this kind of change. But taking one step back, I think it should be made more clear up front that "having a desire to change one's personality traits" itself is a trait. There is no need to pressure (most) people to change, and many good people feel a strong pressure to…

I've been thinking about this recently as it pertains to changes in my own life... I've been training myself to be less addicted (in the general sense), and I've noticed several aspects of my 'personality' flip like a switch, in terms of preparedness to deal with uncertainty, fitting extroversion or introversion to the context, sticking up for myself but being more pragmatic in other ways.

You might (probably correctly) say I'm coming out of a depression through my own CBT interventions, though I'm pretty sure I was already on an initial upward trend because of positive environmental changes, so chicken/egg.

What you mentioned about anxiety triggered a lot of associations with Sapolsky's writing on stress (Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers etc), and how bodily aspects interleave with personality tendencies... I do wonder sometimes if a very 'Cartesian' view of personality is problematic pragmatically and philosophically. I.e., 'I'm just an introvert' can be reached by a bad diet or untreated psychiatric symptoms or low social status or just plain old preferring fewer social contacts, and so it's difficult to really /do/ anything with that conception of onself.

Re: Can People Choose to Change Their Personality Traits? (2015) [pdf]

#93

Post by maxxxxx »

EGreg wrote: post #25
themodelplumber wrote: post #9

I'm a personality type coach and I help people implement the kinds of changes described in the paper. There are many different models that deal with this kind of change. But taking one step back, I think it should be made more clear up front that "having a desire to change one's personality traits" itself is a trait. There is no need to pressure (most) people to change, and many good people feel a strong pressure to…

Given your description of your job, I have a quick question: I have found that when I speak, I rarely command attention and captivate as some others do. Probably something in my speech patterns. Perhaps they are slightly more apologetic / geeky / nice than others. People may interrupt me or turn away, even people who respect me. When I do get rapt attention, such as teaching a class, I get an impostor syndrome becaus…

"I have found that when I speak, I rarely command attention and captivate as some others do. "

Be careful with that assessment. You may captivate people like others do but you may not notice. I learned that in toastmasters. I thought that everybody had checked out of my speeches after the first minute but actually people listened and liked the speech.

Re: Can People Choose to Change Their Personality Traits? (2015) [pdf]

#94

Post by irickt »

Houshalter wrote: post #67

The most interesting table in all of personality research: https://espnfivethirtyeight.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/asch... This is taken from correlations with facebook likes. There's a lot of interesting observations here. For instance, introversion correlates very strongly with "nerd culture" stuff. Openness seems to strongly correlate with left or right politics. Emotionally stable people seem to like sports and o…

Context for that chart: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/this-algorithm-knows-yo...

Re: Can People Choose to Change Their Personality Traits? (2015) [pdf]

#95

Post by slfnflctd »

Houshalter wrote: post #67

The most interesting table in all of personality research: https://espnfivethirtyeight.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/asch... This is taken from correlations with facebook likes. There's a lot of interesting observations here. For instance, introversion correlates very strongly with "nerd culture" stuff. Openness seems to strongly correlate with left or right politics. Emotionally stable people seem to like sports and o…

Some of that stuff is considerably culture dependent, so I don't know that I'd call it "The most interesting", but it is fairly thought provoking to a Western perspective.

What stood out to me was how Rap & hip-hop correlated most with Conservative and Relaxed types, I didn't expect that at all.

Re: Can People Choose to Change Their Personality Traits? (2015) [pdf]

#96

Post by notduncansmith »

twobyfour wrote: post #60
volgo wrote: post #2

Read through the paper. It doesn't reveal anything really surprising, but it's a start. Conclusion was: - Most people want to change their personality - People with personalities that are considered "negative" by society (ex: introversion) wanted to become more extroverted - People that wanted to change their personality, did change their personality slightly, and self reported daily behaviors that worked toward the…

Are they changing their personality or are they changing their behaviors ? I would think of the personality as the predisposition to certain behaviors. You can change your behaviors to differ from those you're predisposed to; but it takes more conscious effort to maintain those behaviors than it does to maintain the ones you are predisposed to. And changing those behaviors doesn't count as changing your personality,…

Some predispositions are plastic and can be altered over time by behavior, though it is a complicated business. New preferences, new problem-solving techniques, new mental hygiene habits, these can all effect real change at what many people would call the “personality” level.

Re: Can People Choose to Change Their Personality Traits? (2015) [pdf]

#97

Post by notduncansmith »

jcadam wrote: post #79
volgo wrote: post #2

Read through the paper. It doesn't reveal anything really surprising, but it's a start. Conclusion was: - Most people want to change their personality - People with personalities that are considered "negative" by society (ex: introversion) wanted to become more extroverted - People that wanted to change their personality, did change their personality slightly, and self reported daily behaviors that worked toward the…

I interviewed at a place (looking for Scala devs) that had me take a MBTI test after several rounds of (I believe) successful interviews and a take-home coding assignment. I tested INTJ, as usual. I never heard from them again. Given what I could glean about the culture of the place, I presume the 'Introverted' part of my personality was the issue. Though, you would think a company full of extroverts wouldn't have a…

They may have had too many inteoverts already and needed to balance things out (though personally it’s hard to imagine giving a test like that any weight compared to actual interactions with a person).

Re: Can People Choose to Change Their Personality Traits? (2015) [pdf]

#98

Post by naasking »

xor1 wrote: post #22
naasking wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> that's the very least we should expect from anyone who has negative personality traits Who gets to decide the class of negative personality traits? Is there some objective measure of this "negativity"? It seems there are some gaping holes in your position which are probably impossible to fill.

>Who gets to decide the class of negative personality traits? In this context, negative personality traits are generally decided based on group consensus. >Is there some objective measure of this "negativity"? Sure. Do people like you? Do they like to be around you?

That's not objective, that's subjective. Objective means mind-independent.

Also, tyranny of the majority.

Re: Can People Choose to Change Their Personality Traits? (2015) [pdf]

#99

Post by racer-v »

MadSudaca wrote: post #78
watwut wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being pleasant is not in opposition to ability to think or creativity. You can be both and world is not fair.

I agree. Being pleasant is probably a mix of having a good dose of the agreeableness and extroversion personality traits. Both of which are uncorrelated to creativity and IQ, other two traits.

I know, but the possibility of getting rich is a nice booby prize for the unlikeable and unattractive.

Re: Can People Choose to Change Their Personality Traits? (2015) [pdf]

#100

Post by phkahler »

michrassena wrote: post #87
notheguyouthink wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on how it would be perceived. I did something similar to the described increased-extroversion. I believe my work proved successful - of sorts. I still have the personality trait of being an introvert, but when I was specifically working to push myself, my tolerance for "things" was increased. So while my personality hasn't changed, specifically my preferences haven't changed, my tolerances and ability to enjo…

I think if we were to dig into the reasons someone would want to change their introverted personality, it would be specifically to enjoy or at least tolerate situations they associate with being extroverted. I wonder if the outcome is what matters. Changing one's personality may or may not be possible, and would certainly be a difficult task if it were, but obtaining the behaviors associated with the desired personal…

>> Isn't an introvert saying they wish they were an extrovert (for example) really just shorthand for wanting it to be easy to interact and socialize, as they imagine it is for extroverts.

Introversion vs extroversion isn't really defined (as I understand it) by your social skills or even your desire to be around people. It's based on where one derives their mental energy. Introverts can socialize but it is mentally taxing and they need alone time to recharge. For extroverts interacting with people is exhilarating and kind of is their way to recharge. In this light, you may be able to change a persons ability to socialize but not so much the effect it has on them. I don't think these are entirely separate either If you're not good at it it's got to be more taxing, but then perhaps ability and self perception are not the same thing!

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