Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsDefinitionKey TheoriesPersonality TypesDevelopment Tips
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Personality development refers to the process of developing, enhancing, and changing one’s personality over time. Such development occurs naturally over the course of life, but it can also be modified through intentional efforts.
When we meet new people, it is often theirpersonalitythat grabs our attention. According to the American Psychological Association, personality refers to the enduring behaviors, traits, emotional patterns, and abilities that make up a person’s response to the events of their life.
“Personality is a blend of behavioral and thought patterns that are relatively stable over time, characterizing an individual’s traits and attitudes," saysLudovica Colella, a CBT therapist and author of “The Feel Good Journal.”
Understanding how personality develops can provide insight into who someone is and their background while also increasing our understanding of what’s behind our personality traits and characteristics.
At a GlancePersonality development involves all of the factors that influence how our personalities form and change over time. This can include our genetic background and the environment where we are raised. While personality tends to be pretty stable, it can change over time, especially as people get older.This article discusses how personality is defined, different theories on how personality forms, and what you can do if you are interested in changing certain aspects of your own personality.
At a Glance
Personality development involves all of the factors that influence how our personalities form and change over time. This can include our genetic background and the environment where we are raised. While personality tends to be pretty stable, it can change over time, especially as people get older.This article discusses how personality is defined, different theories on how personality forms, and what you can do if you are interested in changing certain aspects of your own personality.
Personality development involves all of the factors that influence how our personalities form and change over time. This can include our genetic background and the environment where we are raised. While personality tends to be pretty stable, it can change over time, especially as people get older.
This article discusses how personality is defined, different theories on how personality forms, and what you can do if you are interested in changing certain aspects of your own personality.
HEXACO Personality Test: History, Facets, Benefits, Drawbacks
What Is Personality Development?
While personality is relatively stable, Colella notes that it isn’t entirely fixed. “People can undergo changes in their attitudes, behaviors, and thought patterns in response to new experiences or personal growth,” she explains.
Perhaps most importantly, the ongoing interaction of all these influences continues to shape personality. Personality involves both inborn traits and the development of cognitive and behavioral patterns that influence how we think and act.
Personality development has been a major topic of interest for some of the most prominent thinkers in psychology. Since the inception ofpsychologyas a separate science, researchers have proposed a variety of ideas to explain how and why personality develops.
Theories of Personality Development
Our personalities make us unique, but how does personality develop? What factors play the most important role in the formation of personality? Can personality change?
To answer these questions, many prominent thinkers have developed theories to describe the various steps and stages that occur during the development of personality. The following theories focus on several aspects of personality formation—including those that involve cognitive, social, and moral development.
Freud’s Stages of Psychosexual Development
In his well-knownstage theory of psychosexual development, Sigmund Freud suggested that personality develops in stages that are related to specific erogenous zones. These stages are:
Freud also believed that failure to complete these stages would lead to personality problems in adulthood.
Freud’s Structural Model of Personality
Freud not only theorized about how personality developed over the course of childhood, but he also developed a framework for how overall personality is structured.
According to Freud, the basic driving force of personality and behavior is known as thelibido. This libidinal energy fuels the three components that make up personality: the id, the ego, and the superego.
According to Freud, these three elements of personality work together to create complex human behaviors. The superego attempts to make the ego behave according to these ideals. The ego must then moderate between the primal needs of the id, the idealistic standards of the superego, and reality.
Freud’s concept of the id, ego, and superego has gained prominence in popular culture, despite a lack of support and considerable skepticism from many researchers.
While Freudian theory is less relevant today than it once was, it can be helpful to learn more about these theories in order to better understand the history of research on personality development.
What Are the Id, Ego, and Superego?
Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development
Erik Erikson’seight-stage theory of human developmentis another well-known theory in psychology. While it builds on Freud’s stages of psychosexual development, Erikson chose to focus on how social relationships impact personality development.
The theory also extends beyond childhood to look at development across the entire lifespan.
Erikson’s eight stages are:
At each stage, people face a crisis in which a task must be mastered. Those who successfully complete that stage emerge with a sense of mastery and well-being.
However, Erikson believed that those who do not resolve the crisis at a particular stage may struggle with those skills for the remainder of their lives.
Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development
Jean Piaget’stheory of cognitive developmentremains one of the most frequently cited in psychology.
While many aspects of Piaget’s theory have not stood the test of time, the central idea remains important today:Children think differently than adults.
Piaget’s four stages are:
Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development
Although this theory includes six stages, Kohlberg felt that it was rare for people to progress beyond stage four, stressing that these moral development stages are not correlated with the maturation process.
Kohlberg’stheory of moral developmenthas been criticized for several different reasons. One primary criticism is that it does not accommodate different genders and cultures equally.Yet, the theory remains important in our understanding of how personality develops.
Why Personality Theories MatterWhile these theories suggest different numbers and types of stages, and different ages for progressing from one stage to the next, they have all influenced what we know today about personality development.
Why Personality Theories Matter
While these theories suggest different numbers and types of stages, and different ages for progressing from one stage to the next, they have all influenced what we know today about personality development.
5 Basic Personality Traits
The goal of personality development theories is to explain how we each develop our own unique characteristics and traits. While the list of options could be almost endless, most of these personality traits fall intofive basic categories:
The “Big 5” is one of the most recognized models of personality and also the most widely used, though some suggest that it isn’t comprehensive enough to cover the huge variety of personality traits that one can grow and develop.
Personality Development Tips
Theorists such as Freud believed that personality was largely set in stone fairly early in life. However, we now recognize that personality can change over time.
Research suggests that a person’s broad traits are quite stable, but changes do happen, particularly as people age.
On a global level, people spend a lot of money on personal development, with this market bringing in more than $38 billion annually (and expected to grow).If you’re interested in making positive changes to your personality, these tips can help:
Identify Your Current Traits
Reflect on your behaviors and how they impact your life and relationships. This self-awareness lays the foundation for personal growth.—LUDOVICA COLELLA, CBT THERAPIST
Reflect on your behaviors and how they impact your life and relationships. This self-awareness lays the foundation for personal growth.
—LUDOVICA COLELLA, CBT THERAPIST
You won’t know where to place your efforts if you don’t identify the personality traits you need to work on. A personality test can provide an assessment of your current traits. Pick one or two traits to work on that you feel would help you grow as a person and focus on them. You can try our fast andfree personality testas a good starting point:
This personality test was reviewed Rachel Goldman, PhD, FTOS
Identify Your Values
Set a Daily Personal Development Goal
Keep a Positive Mindset
It is also important to work on forging agrowth mindset, Colella explains. This allows you to recognize that personality is not set it stone and can instead evolve over time. “Embrace challenges, learn from failures, and see setbacks as opportunities for growth,” Colella says.
Changing yourselfcan be difficult, especially if you’re working on a part of your personality you’ve had for a long time. Staying positive along the way helps you pay more attention to the pros versus the cons. It also makes the journey more enjoyable for you and everyone around you.
Be Confident
When you have something about yourself that you’d like to change, it can be easy to let your perceived imperfection reduce your confidence. Yet, you canbe confidentand continue to develop your personality in meaningful ways at the same time, giving you the best of both worlds while pursuing personality development.
Stepping outside your comfort zone can be challenging, Colella notes, but slowly expanding your horizons can lead to gradual growth. “Expanding your comfort zone involves taking small, manageable steps, gradually pushing your limits at a pace that feels comfortable for you,” she explains.
Can You Change Your Personality?
15 Sources
Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
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