Potsdam.
Become more open and courageous? Personality can be worked on. But it is not always necessary, explains a psychologist.
More conscientious, open-minded and goal-oriented: many people would like to start the new year with something on their own personality change – to become supposedly better people. What ours character and why a radical change of old habits does not always lead to the desired result, but why bad qualities generally have their positive sides, explains the professor of personality psychology Eva Asselmann in an interview with our editors.
Ms. Asselmann, how is ours doing personality the end?
Eva Asselmann: That’s quite a lot of things, but to a large extent one can describe the individual differences between people with the so-called Big Five (see below). These are the five major superiors personality traits: Openness to new experiences, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and neuroticism.
Basically play for our personal development two major factors play a crucial role, namely our genes and the environment in which we live. However, it is not possible to quantify exactly how much influence genes and environment have on our personality, since both interact. As a rough guide, however, about a third is genetically determined. One only speaks of a personality trait when a trait is stable over time and occurs in different situations.
Does that mean our personality has matured at some point?
Asselman: No, we’ve known for a number of years that personality develops throughout life. In the past, it was often assumed that personality develops in childhood and adolescence and that one is finished at some point. So similar to that body growth, which is then complete. We now know that this is not the case and that we continue to change throughout life.
This is partly due to environmental experiences that we have in certain time windows of our lives. First we go to school, then we study and finally we retire. These are very typical experiences that we have in different age groups and through which our personality can always be further developed.
Sounds like drastic experiences are needed to change personality. Is that correct?
Asselman: In the case of radical experiences, it is assumed that they usually lead to new roles and role requirements to lead. When you start working life, you are no longer a pupil or student, but an employee. You are confronted with very specific expectations and attitudes.
If you try to meet these requirements, you naturally adapt your behavior. Keep these new requirements and related behavior change over a longer period of time – so the idea behind it – can trigger a permanent change in personality.
Are there good and bad personality traits?
Asselman: Many people consider higher levels in the Big Five to be desirable. However, we often overlook the positive aspects associated with lower values in the respective characteristic. For example, introverts can dig deep into one thing for a long time at a time and be good with themselves. Diversity is also something very helpful and enormously important.
Imagine if we were all the same. For example everyone high flyer with high values in the Big Five. Then we would have a real problem, because we would no longer have the right people for a lot of tasks and jobs.
Especially in larger groups or in companies It’s incredibly important that people are different. Simply because we have many social niches that each have different personalities. We can only do this through diversity, and this in turn makes our everyday life colourful, varied and interesting.
But why do so many still want to change something about themselves and their personality?
Asselman: We humans strive to advance and develop. That’s a basic one human Characteristic. Most want higher scores in the Big Five because they expect it to help them achieve certain goals that they consider very worthwhile.
Many think that if they were more conscientious, they would be better at school, college, or work. Or if they were more compatible, then they would get along better with their partner in the relationship. They believe that they would then be more loveable or happier, but without really thinking about why they would like to be like that and whether the supposed goal is really the key to their own happiness is.
How to give up old habits and traits?
Asselman: I advise you not to want to turn one hundred and eighty degrees right away, but to ask yourself first: which ones Strengthen do I bring it with me? What supposed weaknesses do I have? And what strengths might lie in these weaknesses? Quite often there are positive aspects to supposedly bad idiosyncrasies that we hastily overlook.
If you still want to change, it helps to start with very specific problems in everyday life and to formulate your goals in as much detail as possible. So instead of saying “I’ll be more conscientious from now on”, it’s better to determine when you want to clean and tidy up the apartment in the future.
From habit research we know that it takes at least six to eight weeks for new habits to form and that we are very likely to stick with them for a long time afterwards.
Personality: This is what defines the so-called “Big Five”.
open people According to personality psychologist Eva Asselman, people are open to new things and especially intellectual things. These people are enthusiastic about music and art, literature, museums, foreign languages and countries. They like to try exotic food and are curious and bright. extraverts are sociable, outgoing, talk a lot and enjoy being around people.
conscientiousness describes people who are tidy, hardworking, tidy, reliable. Agreeable people in turn, attach great importance to harmonious coexistence. They are usually courteous, respectful, friendly and it is particularly important to them to get along well with other people.
If emotionally stable According to Asselmann, you are robust and resistant to stress, even when life gets more turbulent. When tragedy strikes, for example, you stay calm and don’t get thrown off track that easily. These people are therefore less susceptible to negative feelings such as stress, anxiety or depression.
To person
Prof. Dr. Eva Asselmann (33) is a psychologist and professor for differential and personality psychology at the Health and Medical University (HMU) in Potsdam. She conducts research on the topics of personality development, health promotion and prevention.
As a coach and trainer, she advises individuals and larger organizations. Her current book “Where we grow” was published in August 2022 and sheds light on the latest findings in personality psychology.
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