November 2020
·
73 Reads
·
3 Citations
Personality traits are defined as patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that endure across time. Yet personality changes across the lifespan, and there is less stability in childhood and old age than in adulthood. These two contrasting views, personality stability versus personality change, are reconciled by two forces. As people mature, their personality traits tend to change in a more socially desirable or normative direction. In addition to this developmental trend, people also remain somewhat stable in terms of their standing on a trait relative to others. The influences that produce stability and change include genetics and experience working together in complex ways that are far from being understood.