Psychology
Title: Week 3 discussion
Number of sources: 0
Paper instructions:
Is a person’s personality stable or does it change throughout their life?
Read Invisibilia: Is Your Personality Fixed, Or Can You Change Who You Are? by Alix Spiegel (2016). This article explores the question through the dramatic example of a man in prison for a heinous crime.
Pick one position and provide a rationale for your choice:
Position 1: personality is stable over time
Position 2: personality changes over time
—-
Personality Stable Or Does It Change Throughout Their Life?
Student’s Name
Institution
Date
For a long time, personality was thought to be unmalleable, and that a person would remain as he or she was for their entire existence. But, the study of the working of the brain and the corresponding behaviors through cognitive and behavioral science found that personality changes significantly. Yet, not all aspects of personality change; some remain stable throughout a person’s life.
Research has found that personality is a product of genetics and factors in the environment, which explains why some qualities are stable. Others change as the person moves from one environment to another (Hampson & Goldberg, 2020). Some of the qualities that remain stable in a person’s life are sociability, politeness, and emotional stability. A person who is likable as a child is likely to be liked even when he or she is older. An extroverted child is likely to be extroverted in old age (Spiegel, 2016). But, other aspects of a person change as he or she goes through life and as their personality matures. People become nicer, more emotionally stable, and more generous as they age. They become better adapted to life and its demands.
The notion of personality instability faces opposition from scholars like Lee Ross, a Stanford University psychologist. Ross said that people do not change and that the inconsistencies observed in their behavior are due to the unique factors of their situation and the roles they are playing (Spiegel, 2016). Walter Michael says that human beings uphold the idea that personality does not change because they try to have some form of stability in their lives (Spiegel, 2016). They like things to stay as they pictured initially. But even the human personality is unstable because the situations of life and the traits they gain affect their thinking and behavior.
Overall, personality is both stable and unstable. People retain the genetically acquired characteristics, but the environment and the increase in age causes changes or a refinement of some characteristics.
References
Hampson, S. E., & Goldberg, L. R. (2020). Personality Stability and Change over Time. The Wiley Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences: Models and Theories, 317-321.
Spiegel, A. (2016). Invisibilia: Is your personality fixed, or can you change who you are? Shots. June 24.
