Your Personality does not Care Whether you Believe it Can Change: Beliefs about Whether Personality can Change do not Predict Trait Change among Emerging Adults

Abstract

Theorists have suggested that beliefs about whether personality can change might operate in a self–fulfilling fashion, leading to growth in personality traits across time. In the present two studies, we collected intensive longitudinal data from a total of 1339 emerging adults (ns = 254 and 1085) and examined the extent to which both global beliefs that personality can change (e.g. ‘You can change even your most basic qualities’) and granular beliefs that the individual Big Five personality domains can change (e.g. ‘You can change how extraverted and enthusiastic you generally are’) predicted trait change across approximately 4 months. Results indicated that traits did change across time, yet beliefs that personality can change were almost completely unrelated to actual change in personality traits. Our findings suggest that personality development during emerging adulthood does not depend to any meaningful degree on whether or not individuals believe that their traits can change. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology

Keywords

adult personality development implicit theories of personality personality mindsets fixed vs. growth mindsets entity vs. incremental orientation

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Ackerman

R. A.

, Donnellan

M. B.

Kashy

D. A.

(2011). Working with dyadic data in studies of emerging adulthood: Specific recommendations, general advice, and practical tips. In Fincham

F. D.

Cui

(Eds.), Romantic relationships in emerging adulthood. Advances in personal relationships (pp. 67–97). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Allemand

Flückiger

(2017). Changing personality traits: Some considerations from psychotherapy process–outcome research for intervention efforts on intentional personality change. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 27, 476–494. https://doi.org/10.1037/int0000094.

Barrick

M. R.

Mount

M. K.

(1991). The Big Five personality dimensions and job performance: A meta–analysis. Personnel Psychology, 44, 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.1991.tb00688.x.

Baumeister

R. F.

(1994). The crystallization of discontent in the process of major life change. In Heatherton

T. F.

Weinberger

J. L.

(Eds.), Can personality change? (pp. 281–297). Washington, DC, US: American Psychological Association DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/10143-012.

Blackwell

L. S.

, Trzesniewski

K. H.

Dweck

C. S.

(2007). Implicit theories of intelligence predict achievement across an adolescent transition: A longitudinal study and an intervention. Child Development, 78, 246–263. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.00995.x.

Blanton

Jaccard

(2006). Arbitrary metrics in psychology. American Psychologist, 61, 27–41. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.61.1.27.

Bleidorn

, Hopwood

C. J.

Lucas

R. E.

(2018). Life events and personality trait change. Journal of Personality, 86, 83–96. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12286.

Bleidorn

, Kandler

, Riemann

, Angleitner

Spinath

F. M.

(2009). Patterns and sources of adult personality development: Growth analyses of the NEO PI–R scales in a longitudinal twin study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97, 142–155. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015434.

Bogg

Roberts

B. W.

(2004). Conscientiousness and health–related behaviors: A meta–analysis of the leading behavioral contributors to mortality. Psychological Bulletin, 130, 887–919. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.130.6.887.

10.

Briley

D. A.

Tucker–Drob

E. M.

(2014). Genetic and environmental continuity in personality development: A meta–analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 140, 1303–1331. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0037091.

11.

Burke

P. J.

(2006). Identity change. Social Psychology Quarterly, 69, 81–96. https://doi.org/10.1177/019027250606900106.

12.

Burnette

J. L.

, O'Boyle

E. H.

, VanEpps

E. M.

, Pollack

J. M.

Finkel

E. J.

(2013). Mind–sets matter: A meta–analytic review of implicit theories and self–regulation. Psychological Bulletin, 139, 655–701. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029531.

13.

Chiu

C. Y.

, Hong

Dweck

C. S.

(1997). Lay dispositionism and implicit theories of personality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 19–30. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.73.1.19.

14.

Costa

P. T.

McCrae

R. R.

(1989). Personality continuity and the changes of adult life. In Storandt

VandenBos

G. R.

(Eds.), The adult years: Continuity and change. The master lectures (pp. 41–77), 8. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

15.

Dweck

C. S.

(2008). Can personality be changed? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17, 391–394. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8721.2008.00612.x.

16.

Dweck

C. S.

(2013). Self–theories: Their role in motivation, personality, and development (1st ed.). Psychology Press DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315783048.

17.

Dweck

C. S.

Leggett

E. L.

(1988). A social–cognitive approach to motivation and personality. Psychological Review, 95, 256–273. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.95.2.256.

18.

Eccles

J. S.

Wigfield

P. R.

(2002). Motivational beliefs, values, and goals. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 109–132. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135153.

19.

Erdley

C. A.

, Loomis

C. C.

, Cain

K. M.

Dumas–Hines

(1997). Relations among children's social goals, implicit personality theories, and responses to social failure. Developmental Psychology, 33, 263–272. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.33.2.263.

20.

Fleeson

(2001). Toward a structure– and process–integrated view of personality: Traits as density distributions of states. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 1011–1027. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.80.6.1011.

21.

Foliano

, Rolfe

, Buzzeo

, Runge

Wilkinson

(2019). Changing mindsets: Effectiveness trial. National Institute of Economic and Social Research.

22.

Funder

D. C.

(2008). Persons, situations, and person–situation interactions. In John

O. P.

, Robins

R. W.

Pervin

L. A.

(Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (3rd ed., pp. 568–580). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.

23.

Geukes

, Nestler

, Hutteman

, Küfner

A. C. P.

Back

M. D.

(2017). Trait personality and state variability: Predicting individual differences in within– and cross–context fluctuations in affect, self–evaluations, and behavior in everyday life. Journal of Research in Personality, 69, 124–138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2016.06.003.

24.

Gosling

S. D.

, Rentfrow

P. J.

Swann

W. B.

(2003). A very brief measure of the Big–Five personality domains. Journal of Research in Personality, 37, 504–528. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0092-6566(03)00046-1.

25.

Gunty

A. L.

, Frazier

P. A.

, Tennen

, Tomich

, Tashiro

Park

(2011). Moderators of the relation between perceived and actual posttraumatic growth. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 3, 61–66. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0020485.

26.

Hennecke

, Bleidorn

, Denissen

J. J. A.

Wood

(2014). A three–part framework for self–regulated personality development across adulthood. European Journal of Personality, 28, 289–299. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.1945.

27.

Hudson

N. W.

(2020, in press). Dynamics and processes in personality change interventions. In Rauthmann

J. F.

(Ed.), The handbook of personality dynamics and processes. San Diego, CA: Elsevier.

28.

Hudson

N. W.

, Briley

D. A.

, Chopik

W. J.

Derringer

(2019). You have to follow through: Attaining behavioral change goals predicts volitional personality change. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 117, 839–857. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000221.

29.

Hudson

N. W.

, Derringer

Briley

D. A.

(2019). Do people know how they've changed? A longitudinal investigation of volitional personality change and participants’ retrospective perceptions thereof. Journal of Research in Personality, 83, 10387.

30.

Hudson

N. W.

Fraley

R. C.

(2015). Volitional personality trait change: Can people choose to change their personality traits? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 109, 490–507. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000021.

31.

Hudson

N. W.

Fraley

R. C.

(2016a). Changing for the better? Longitudinal associations between volitional change and psychological well–being. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 42, 603–615. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167216637840.

32.

Hudson

N. W.

Fraley

R. C.

(2016b). Do people's desires to change their personality traits vary with age? An examination of trait change goals across adulthood. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 7, 847–856. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550616657598.

33.

Hudson

N. W.

Fraley

R. C.

(2017). Volitional personality change. In Specht

(Ed.), Personality development across the lifespan (pp. 555–571). San Diego, CA: Elsevier https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-804674-6.00033-8.

34.

Hudson

N. W.

Fraley

R. C.

(2018). Moving toward greater security: The effects of repeatedly priming attachment security and anxiety. Journal of Research in Personality, 74, 147–157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2018.04.002.

35.

Hudson

N. W.

, Fraley

R. C.

, Chopik

W. J.

Briley

D. A.

(2020). Change goals robustly predict trait growth: A mega–analysis of a dozen intensive longitudinal studies examining volitional change. Social Psychological and Personality Science, in press.

36.

Hudson

N. W.

Roberts

B. W.

(2014). Goals to change personality traits: Concurrent links between personality traits, daily behavior, and goals to change oneself. Journal of Research in Personality, 53, 68–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2014.08.008.

37.

Hudson

N. W.

Roberts

B. W.

(2016). Social investment in work reliably predicts change in conscientiousness and agreeableness: A direct replication and extension of Hudson, Roberts, and Lodi–Smith (2012). Journal of Research in Personality, 60, 12–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2015.09.004.

38.

Hudson

N. W.

, Roberts

B. W.

Lodi–Smith

(2012). Personality trait development and social investment in work. Journal of Research in Personality, 46, 334–344. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2012.03.002.

39.

Jacques–Hamilton

, Sun

Smillie

L. D.

(2018). Costs and benefits of acting extraverted: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 48, 1538.

40.

John

O. P.

Srivastava

(1999). The Big–Five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives. In Pervin

L. A.

John

O. P.

(Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (2nd ed., pp. 102–138). New York: Guilford Press.

41.

Jussim

(1986). Self–fulfilling prophecies: A theoretical and integrative review. Psychological Review, 93, 429–445. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.93.4.429.

42.

Kammrath

L. K.

Dweck

(2006). Voicing conflict: Preferred conflict strategies among incremental and entity theorists. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32, 1497–1508. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167206291476.

43.

Kandler

Zapko–Willmes

(2017). Theoretical perspectives on the interplay of nature and nurture in personality development. In Specht

(Ed.), Personality development across the lifespan (pp. 101–115). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-804674-6.00008-9.

44.

Kiecolt

K. J.

(1994). Stress and the decision to change oneself: A theoretical model. Social Psychology Quarterly, 57, 49–63. https://doi.org/10.2307/2786974.

45.

Kray

L. J.

Haselhuhn

M. P.

(2007). Implicit negotiation beliefs and performance: Experimental and longitudinal evidence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93, 49–64. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.93.1.49.

46.

Lehnart

, Neyer

F. J.

Eccles

(2010). Long–term effects of social investment: The case of partnering in young adulthood. Journal of Personality, 78, 639–670. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2010.00629.x.

47.

Lodi–Smith

Roberts

B. W.

(2007). Social investment and personality: A meta–analysis of the relationship of personality traits to investment in work, family, religion, and volunteerism. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 11, 68–86. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868306294590.

48.

Lucas

R. E.

Donnellan

M. B.

(2011). Personality development across the life span: Longitudinal analyses with a national sample from Germany. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101, 847–861. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0024298.

49.

Magidson

J. F.

, Roberts

B. W.

, Collado–Rodriguez

Lejuez

C. W.

(2014). Theory–driven intervention for changing personality: Expectancy value theory, behavioral activation, and conscientiousness. Developmental Psychology, 50, 1442–1450. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030583.

50.

McAdams

D. P.

Pals

J. L.

(2006). A new Big Five: Fundamental principles for an integrative science of personality. American Psychologist, 61, 204–217. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.61.3.204.

51.

McCrae

R. R.

Costa

P. T.

(2008). The five–factor theory of personality. In John

O. P.

, Robins

R. W.

Pervin

L. A.

(Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (3rd ed., pp. 150–181). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.

52.

McCrae

R. R.

, Costa

P. T.

Jr. , Lirna

M. P.

, Simoes

, Ostendorf

, Angleitner

, … Piedmont

R. L.

(1999). Age differences in personality across the adult life span: Parallels in five cultures. Developmental Psychology, 35, 466–477. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.35.2.466.

53.

Mill

J. S.

(1843). A system of logic, ratiocinative and inductive, being a connected view of the principles of evidence and the methods of scientific investigation 1. London: Harrison and Co.

54.

Mõttus

(2017). Five–factor theory and personality development. In Specht

(Ed.), Personality Development Across the Lifespan (pp. 87–100). Academic Press DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-804674-6.00007-7.

55.

Paulhus

D. L.

Vazire

(2007). The self–report method. In Robins

R. W.

, Fraley

R. C.

Krueger

R. F.

(Eds.), Handbook of research methods in personality psychology (pp. 224–239). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.

56.

Quintus

, Egloff

Wrzus

(2017). Predictors of volitional personality change in younger and older adults: Response surface analyses signify the complementary perspectives of the self and knowledgeable others. Journal of Research in Personality, 70, 214–228. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2017.08.001.

57.

Richard

F. D.

, Bond

C. F.

Stokes–Zoota

J. J.

(2003). One hundred years of social psychology quantitatively described. Review of General Psychology, 7, 331–363. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.7.4.331.

58.

Roberts

B. W.

(2018). A revised sociogenomic model of personality traits. Journal of Personality, 86, 23–35. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12323.

59.

Roberts

B. W.

, Hill

P. L.

Davis

J. P.

(2017). How to change conscientiousness: The sociogenomic trait intervention model. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 8, 199–205. https://doi.org/10.1037/per0000242.

60.

Roberts

B. W.

Jackson

J. J.

(2008). Sociogenomic personality psychology. Journal of Personality, 76, 1523–1544. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2008.00530.x.

61.

Roberts

B. W.

, Luo

, Briley

D. A.

, Chow

P. I.

, Su

Hill

P. L.

(2017). A systematic review of personality trait change through intervention. Psychological Bulletin, 143, 117–141. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000088.

62.

Roberts

B. W.

, O'Donnell

Robins

R. W.

(2004). Goal and personality trait development in emerging adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87, 541–550. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.87.4.541.

63.

Roberts

B. W.

, Walton

, Bogg

Caspi

(2006). De–investment in work and non–normative personality trait change in young adulthood. European Journal of Personality, 20, 461–474. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.607.

64.

Roberts

B. W.

, Walton

K. E.

Viechtbauer

(2006). Patterns of mean–level change in personality traits across the life course: A meta–analysis of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin, 132, 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.132.1.1.

65.

Roberts

B. W.

Wood

(2006). Personality development in the context of the neo–socioanalytic model of personality. In Mroczek

D. K.

Little

T. D.

(Eds.), Handbook of personality development (pp. 11–39). Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

66.

Roberts

B. W.

, Wood

Caspi

(2008). The development of personality traits in adulthood. In John

O. P.

, Robins

R. W.

Pervin

L. A.

(Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (3rd ed., pp. 375–398). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.

67.

Robins

R. W.

, Noftle

E. E.

, Trzesniewski

K. H.

Roberts

B. W.

(2005). Do people know how their personality has changed? Correlates of perceived and actual personality change in young adulthood. Journal of Personality, 73, 489–522. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2005.00317.x.

68.

Robinson

O. C.

, Noftle

E. E.

, Guo

, Asadi

Zhang

(2015). Goals and plans for Big Five personality trait change in young adults. Journal of Research in Personality, 59, 31–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2015.08.002.

69.

Schleider

Weisz

(2018). A single–session growth mindset intervention for adolescent anxiety and depression: 9–month outcomes of a randomized trial. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 59, 160–170. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12811.

70.

Sisk

V. F.

, Burgoyne

A. P.

, Sun

, Butler

J. L.

Macnamara

B. N.

(2018). To what extent and under which circumstances are growth mind–sets important to academic achievement? Two meta–analyses. Psychological Science, 29, 549–571. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797617739704.

71.

Soto

C. J.

John

O. P.

(2017). The next Big Five Inventory (BFI–2): Developing and assessing a hierarchical model with 15 facets to enhance bandwidth, fidelity, and predictive power. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 113, 117–143. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000096.

72.

Soto

C. J.

, John

O. P.

, Gosling

S. D.

Potter

(2011). Age differences in personality traits from 10 to 65: Big Five domains and facets in a large cross–sectional sample. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100, 330–348. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021717.

73.

Tucker–Drob

E. M.

Briley

D. A.

(2019). Theoretical concepts in the genetics of personality development. In McAdams

, Shiner

R. L.

Tackett

J. L.

(Eds.), The handbook of personality development (pp. 40–58). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

74.

Vazire

(2010). Who knows what about a person? The Self–Other Knowledge Asymmetry (SOKA) model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98, 281–300. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017908.

75.

Wigfield

Eccles

J. S.

(2000). Expectancy–vale theory of achievement motivation. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25, 68–81. https://doi.org/10.1006/ceps.1999.1015.

76.

Wilson

A. E.

Ross

(2001). From chump to champ: People's appraisals of their earlier and present selves. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 572–584. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.80.4.572.

77.

Winter

D. G.

, Stewart

A. J.

, John

O. P.

, Klohnen

E. C.

Duncan

L. E.

(1998). Traits and motives: Toward an integration of two traditions in personality research. Psychological Review, 105, 230–250. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.105.2.230.

78.

Wrzus

Roberts

B. W.

(2017). Processes of personality development in adulthood: The TESSERA framework. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 21, 253–277. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868316652279.

79.

Yeager

D. S.

Dweck

C. S.

(2012). Mindsets that promote resilience: When students believe that personal characteristics can be developed. Educational Psychologist, 47, 302–314. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2012.722805.