{"id":88115,"date":"2023-01-09T16:17:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-09T20:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=88115"},"modified":"2023-01-10T15:23:01","modified_gmt":"2023-01-10T19:23:01","slug":"fixed-personality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/fixed-personality\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Personality Fixed? Science Says No"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What exactly is personality? Is one&#8217;s personality fixed for life? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most people think of their personality\u2014the totality of their abilities, preferences, and temperaments\u2014as something innate and unchanging. However, science shows that you can, in fact, change your personality. Moreover, the idea of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/can-you-change-your-personality\/\">fixed personality<\/a> is unhelpful because it limits what you can achieve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here&#8217;s why the idea of a fixed personality is problematic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-idea-of-a-fixed-personality-limits-what-you-can-achieve\"><strong>The Idea of a Fixed Personality Limits What You Can Achieve<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In his book <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personality-isnt-permanent-book\/\">Personality Isn&#8217;t Permanent<\/a><\/em>, Hardy argues that the idea of a fixed personality fosters a major <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/self-limiting-beliefs\/\">self-limiting belief<\/a>: <strong>Change isn\u2019t an option.<\/strong> As a result, you limit your life significantly: You choose jobs, relationships, and activities that you <em>already<\/em> do and aren\u2019t outside your comfort zone. You believe that whatever feels uncomfortable or challenging to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/your-genius\/\">who you are<\/a> <em>now<\/em> must not be for you, and you miss out on harder but more rewarding things.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In practice, this looks like settling for a lesser position at work because the one you\u2019d rather have is daunting, or giving up on a new hobby because it wasn\u2019t immediately enjoyable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>The Politics of Discomfort<\/strong><br><br>In <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind\/1-page-summary\"><em>The Coddling of The American Mind<\/em><\/a><em>, <\/em>authors Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff argue that the idea that you should avoid challenging, uncomfortable things has been gaining popularity in the last couple of decades. Rather than encouraging children to challenge the limits of their comfort zones, parents are increasingly trying to shield them from discomfort. The authors argue this has led to a generation of weak-minded students and young adults who feel like they can\u2019t handle discomfort.<br><br>Rather than shielding children from discomfort, the authors argue that it\u2019s necessary for children to face\u2014and learn to overcome\u2014stressors and setbacks. Doing so will help them develop emotional resilience and grow into adults who don\u2019t limit themselves to low-risk choices.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-personality-change-is-possible\"><strong>Personality Change Is Possible<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>According to Hardy, science shows that your personality is not fixed and that you can change it\u2014<\/strong>studies consistently demonstrate that personality traits change over the course of your life.<strong> <\/strong>While he contends that your past <em>influences<\/em> your personality, it doesn\u2019t fully <em>determine<\/em> it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>In reality, your personality is largely determined by the life you live<\/strong>. In other words, your culture, goals, environment, job, habits, and social roles all play a part in shaping your personality. This means that as your life\u2014the decisions you make, behaviors you engage in, and people and places you surround yourself with\u2014changes, your personality does too. This is all good news: It means you can change the things you want to change about yourself. You aren\u2019t stuck within the limitations of your current personality.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Hardy notes that the life you live helps determine your personality, but he doesn\u2019t clarify <em>which kinds of life events<\/em> have the greatest influence. While it may intuitively seem like large-scale, significant life events would shape your personality the most, this is inaccurate. In reality, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.livescience.com\/personality-age-change.html\">life changes that are less dramatic\u2014but change your long-term roles and environments\u2014influence your personality much more<\/a>. For instance, the experience of having your first child will change your personality less than the <em>everyday process<\/em> of raising your kid into adulthood.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What exactly is personality? Is one&#8217;s personality fixed for life? Most people think of their personality\u2014the totality of their abilities, preferences, and temperaments\u2014as something innate and unchanging. However, science shows that you can, in fact, change your personality. Moreover, the idea of a fixed personality is unhelpful because it limits what you can achieve. Here&#8217;s why the idea of a fixed personality is problematic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":59603,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,43],"tags":[846],"class_list":["post-88115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-psychology","category-self-improvement","tag-personality-isnt-permanent","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Is Personality Fixed? Science Says No - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The notion that personality is fixed isn&#039;t just untrue\u2014it&#039;s problematic. 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Here&#039;s how the idea of a fixed personality limits your potential.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/fixed-personality\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-09T20:17:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-01-10T19:23:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/man-thinking.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1297\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"759\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/fixed-personality\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/fixed-personality\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Darya Sinusoid\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46\"},\"headline\":\"Is Personality Fixed? 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