Just recently, I referenced research that said our personalities are formed by age 6, by wait a sec! Hold your horses. Not so fast there...
A new study, a really long, long, long study of 63 years, says we've gotten it all wrong. The "longest-ever study into human character" reveals that if you don't like who you are at 14, wait a while, and you'll be completely different! Good news? Bad news? In fact, there's very little "left" of the "old you" once you get into those golden years.
This is amazing. In 1947, the teachers of 1,208 14-year old Scottish kids, evaluated six personality traits related to self-confidence, mood stability, conscientiousness, creativity/originality and the desire to excel.
Sixty-three years later, 635 of them were located and 174 agreed to complete the questionnaire. The "subjects" also got someone who knows them well to complete the questionnaire. The subjects were 77 years old at the follow-up.
The good news is that as we age, many of us become "less impulsive, moody and irritable". Yeah, can we have some of that now?
We move from being more social to enjoying greater levels of solitude. Are we tired and fed up at that point and figure it's just easier to stay away from the unpredictable that's out there? Is this why only 174 were willing to complete the questionnaire? *chuckle*
One of the researchers reported that "First jobs and then parenthood tend to accentuate the trends toward general maturity and better and more stable mood." I'm leaning toward pessimism here, but that sure sounds like "life exhaustion" or the "embrace the horror" model.
Sixty-three years later, 635 of them were located and 174 agreed to complete the questionnaire. The "subjects" also got someone who knows them well to complete the questionnaire. The subjects were 77 years old at the follow-up.
The good news is that as we age, many of us become "less impulsive, moody and irritable". Yeah, can we have some of that now?
We move from being more social to enjoying greater levels of solitude. Are we tired and fed up at that point and figure it's just easier to stay away from the unpredictable that's out there? Is this why only 174 were willing to complete the questionnaire? *chuckle*
One of the researchers reported that "First jobs and then parenthood tend to accentuate the trends toward general maturity and better and more stable mood." I'm leaning toward pessimism here, but that sure sounds like "life exhaustion" or the "embrace the horror" model.
The researcher indicated that "In older age, people tend to become more accepting of themselves and all that goes with that". Like I said, "Embrace the horror". She went on to say that "there are large individual differences in these patterns and lots of that depends on what's going on in a person's life". Well, of course.
The overall results of the study indicated that the six traits were "in flux" over a lifetime. There's nothing stable about being human.
There was a mild link between conscientiousness and mood stability, but that was about it. Did you know that there is a strong link between job success and conscientiousness? Well, that makes sense, doesn't it?
So, I guess the big news is that we change over the course of our lifetimes. Life gives us experiences and we change in response. If we don't dial back some features of our personalities, we'll wreck ourselves. If we don't speed up some aspects of our development, we won't be able to meet the global demands of our lives. It's a constant balancing act.
Since we're apparently only "medium rare" by 6, you've got time to make changes. It takes introspection, honesty about strengths and weaknesses and discipline to improve.
I hope that by the time I've reached "Me.2" there are a bunch of improvements. I live in California; I've got faults, OK?
Just do the best you can. TTFN, Claudia
Follow me on Facebook at Dr. Claudia McCulloch
There was a mild link between conscientiousness and mood stability, but that was about it. Did you know that there is a strong link between job success and conscientiousness? Well, that makes sense, doesn't it?
So, I guess the big news is that we change over the course of our lifetimes. Life gives us experiences and we change in response. If we don't dial back some features of our personalities, we'll wreck ourselves. If we don't speed up some aspects of our development, we won't be able to meet the global demands of our lives. It's a constant balancing act.
Since we're apparently only "medium rare" by 6, you've got time to make changes. It takes introspection, honesty about strengths and weaknesses and discipline to improve.
I hope that by the time I've reached "Me.2" there are a bunch of improvements. I live in California; I've got faults, OK?
Just do the best you can. TTFN, Claudia
Follow me on Facebook at Dr. Claudia McCulloch
