"The researchers who study personality in adulthood and later life long ago abandoned these ideas when the data didn't match the myth. Still, there remains a considerable amount of mystery surrounding the question of why people's personalities change. Josephine, as stubborn as she once was, has learned over time that it's better to be more flexible."
"Once offered as a nature plus nurture alternative to each extreme, the more complex 'niche-picking' proposal suggested that people's personalities lead them to choose certain environments, which, in turn, further influence their personalities. Over time, their personalities mold even more to those environments."
Personality research has moved beyond nature versus nurture debates to reveal that people's personalities do change significantly across adulthood. The niche-picking theory explains this change: individuals with certain personality traits select environments that align with those traits, and these chosen environments subsequently reinforce and further shape their personalities. For example, someone's stubbornness or flakiness may stem from initial predispositions, but life experiences and deliberate environmental choices lead to meaningful personality evolution. This framework demonstrates that while initial personality traits influence early life choices, these environments are not permanently constraining. People can learn and adapt through their experiences, suggesting personality remains malleable throughout the lifespan rather than being fixed by genetics or childhood experiences.
#personality-development #niche-picking-theory #nature-vs-nurture #lifespan-psychology #environmental-influence
Read at Psychology Today
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