CHAPTER
                                                                                        50
                        Dynamics and processes in personality
                                                        change interventions
                                                                        Nathan W. Hudson
                               Department of Psychology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, United States
                                                                                 OUTLINE
                     Dynamics and processes in personality                                              Can people volitionally change?                            1285
                         change interventions                                        1274               Volitional change interventions                            1287
                     What are personality traits?                                    1274         Future directions                                               1290
                     Can personality traits change?                                  1275               What is the nature of intervention-driven
                           The social investment hypothesis                           1275                  personality change?                                    1290
                           Sociogenomic theory                                        1277              What factors promote successful
                                                                                                            interventions?                                         1291
                     Interventions to change personality traits                      1278               Can nonvolitional interventions work?                      1292
                           Empirical evidence for personality change                              Conclusion                                                      1292
                               via intervention                                       1282
                     Volitional personality change interventions 1283                             References                                                      1293
                           Do people want to change their personality
                               traits?                                                1284
                                                Abstract                                              translateintoimprovementsinrelevantlifeoutcomes.
                                                                                                      Although this is a fledgling area of research, initial
                       Personality traits predict a wide array of critically                          empirical evidence provides a promising prognosis
                       important life outcomes. Moreover, a large body of                             for active attempts to change personality traits. This
                       research suggests that personality traits can and do                           chapter overviews modern theories and empirical
                       change in response to psychological maturation and                             data on (1) how and why personality is thought to
                       life experiences. However, psychologists have only                             naturalistically change across time, and (2) whether
                       recently taken interest in whether personality traits                          interventions might be able to successfully change
                       might also be able to be changed via intervention—                             people’s     traits.   Future research directions are
                       and whether intervention-driven trait changes can                              discussed.
                   The Handbook of Personality Dynamics and Processes                      1273                                          #2021Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
                   https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-813995-0.00050-9
               1274                                         50. Personality change interventions
                                                                            patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors;
                                     Keywords
                  Adult personality development, Volitional personal-       abilities, preferences, motives, and goals; and
                  ity change, Change goals, Personality change inter-       evenpersonal style, such as distinctive manner-
                  ventions, Sociogenomic theory, Social investment          isms(e.g.,“grandmaalwayshasaplateoffresh-
                  hypothesis                                                bakedcookieswaitingwhenwevisit”)ortypical
                                                                            ways of narrating their own life stories (e.g.,
                                                                            McAdams & Pals, 2006; Roberts & Wood,
                 Dynamics and processes in personality                      2006). Personality traits, in contrast, are one of
                             change interventions                           themanynarrowersubcomponentsofpersonal-
                                                                            ity and refer specifically to people’s abstractly
                  Personality traits predict a broad array of crit-         construed,      relatively    enduring patterns of
               ically important life outcomes, including health,            thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that are
               well-being, the quality of one’s relationships,              expressedinfunctionallyconsistentwaysacross
               success in one’s career, and even mortality (for             differentsituations(Roberts,2009).Forexample,
                                                            ´               theBigFivepersonalitydimensionofagreeable-
               an overview, see Ozer & Benet-Martınez, 2006;
               Roberts, Kuncel, Shiner, Caspi, & Goldberg,                  ness represents the abstract propensity to
               2007). Given their importance in potentially con-            behaveinakind,tenderhearted,modestfashion
               tributing to such a wide variety of positive life            (Goldberg, 1993). This basic tendency toward
               outcomes,researchershavenaturallytakeninter-                 warmth and relationship promotion, however,
               est in whether and how personality traits change             may manifest in dramatically different ways
               (e.g., Lucas & Donnellan, 2011; Soto, John,                  across     different     situations.    For    example,
               Gosling, & Potter, 2011). To that end, although              Allport     (1961)    mused that an agreeable
               manystudies over the course of several decades               American traveling across Europe would likely
               have found that personality traits naturalistically          quicklylearnthatbelchingaftermealsisapolite
               change as a function of circumstances or age                 expression of satisfaction in some cultures and
               (e.g.,  Hudson & Roberts, 2016; Hudson,                      an offensive gesture in others—and the agree-
               Roberts, & Lodi-Smith, 2012; Lehnart, Neyer, &               able traveler would most certainly adapt his/
               Eccles, 2010; Lucas & Donnellan, 2011; Soto                  her behavior in different countries accordingly.
               et al., 2011), researchershaveonlyrecentlybegun              Thus, traits such as agreeableness do not repre-
               to study the extent to which active attempts to              sent patterns of concrete thoughts, feelings, and
               directlychangepersonalitytraitsviaintervention               behaviors (e.g., the concrete behavior of belch-
               might be plausible (e.g., Hennecke, Bleidorn,                ing after meals)—but they rather represent the
               Denissen, & Wood, 2014; Hudson & Fraley,                     abstract    functions     that    dynamically guide
               2015; Magidson, Roberts, Collado-Rodriguez, &                thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, such as
               Lejuez, 2012). The purpose of this chapter is to             expressing politeness, consideration, and kind-
               overview theory and empirical findings from                  ness in whatever manner is appropriate in par-
               the emerging literature on interventions explic-             ticular situations.
               itly designed to change personality traits.                      From a research perspective, traits are a par-
                                                                            ticularly compelling component of personality.
                                                                            For one, traits appear to be the naturalistic
                        What are personality traits?                        waythatevenlaypersonsintuitivelyunderstand
                                                                            and talk about personality (Goldberg, 1993).
                  Onthebroadestlevel, personality refers to the             Moreover, traits represent an extremely useful
               myriadofwaysthatindividuals candiffer from                   moderate level of abstraction—they are not too
               oneanother—includinginterms oftheir typical                  specific and situationally constrained so as to
                                                                  IV. Applications
                                                     Can personality traits change?                          1275
             represent minute “trivia” regarding a person’s      The social investment hypothesis
             thoughts, feelings, and behavior; but they are         Beyond biological maturation, the normative
             also not so general as to lack predictive ability   developmental patterns observed in personality
             (Funder, 1991). Indeed, personality traits have     traits(e.g.,mostpeoplebecomemoreemotionally
             been   shown     to   predict   important     life  stable with age) may also be attributable to com-
             outcomes—such as occupational attainment,           monly shared life experiences (Roberts et al.,
             divorce,andmortality—equallyaswellassocio-          2008). Specifically, according to the social invest-
             economic status or even cognitive ability           ment hypothesis, most societies prescribe that
             (Roberts et al., 2007).                             young adults should invest in a specific series
                                                                 of culturally predefined social roles as they pro-
                                                                 gress through life (Helson, Kwan, John, &
                    Can personality traits change?               Jones,   2002;   Hutteman,     Hennecke,    Orth,
                                                                 Reitz, & Specht, 2014; Lodi-Smith & Roberts,
               Given that personality traits predict a wide      2007). For example, as they age, most young
             array of critical life outcomes, psychologists      adults in Western cultures commit to careers,
             have strived to understand the extent to which      romanticrelationships,andeventuallygenerative
             traits change across time—perhaps motivated         roles, suchasparenthoodorcaringforagingpar-
             by the presumption that trait change may            ents. Acquisition of these roles is normative, and
             precipitate changes in relevant life outcomes.      thosewhodonotcommittothemfrequentlyface
             To that end, a large body of research has found     immensepressurefromfamily,peers,andsociety
             that personality traits can and do change.          todoso(e.g.,Barber&Axinn,1998).Forinstance,
             For example, meta-analyses reveal that as peo-      single adults often field probing questions and
             ple get older, they tend to become more             commentary from family and friends regarding
             agreeable, conscientious, and emotionally stable    their plans and efforts (or lack thereof) to
             (Roberts & Mroczek, 2008; Roberts, Walton, &        marry. Similarly, childless couples may experi-
             Viechtbauer, 2006). These normative patterns        ence pressure from their parents to produce
             of personality trait development are thought to     grandchildren.
             occur for at least two reasons. First, personality     Importantly, these culturally prescribed social
             traits are believed to mature in biologically pre-  roles entail specific behavioral norms—and suc-
             determined ways, analogous to physical matu-        cessfully committing to social roles requires
             ration (McCrae et al., 1999; Roberts, Wood, &       individualstoacceptandinternalizethosenorms
             Caspi, 2008). Supporting this notion, twin stud-    (Wood & Roberts, 2006). For instance, success-
             ies have found that the ways in which people’s      fully committing to a career requires one to
             personality traits change across time are par-      behave in conscientious manners—being punc-
             tially heritable (Bleidorn, Kandler, Riemann,       tual, producinghigh-qualitywork,andresponsi-
             Angleitner, & Spinath, 2009; Briley & Tucker-       bly managing one’s duties (e.g., Judge, Higgins,
             Drob, 2014). In other words, monozygotic (i.e.,     Thoresen,&Barrick,1999).Thesocialinvestment
             identical) twins, who share 100% of their genes,    hypothesis states that, over time, the norms and
             tendtoexperiencemoresimilarchangesintheir           demands associated with one’s social roles
             personality traits across time than do dizygotic    become internalized and coalesce into enduring
             (i.e., fraternal) twins, who share an average of    personality trait change.
             50%oftheirgeneticvariation.Thissuggeststhat            This internalization is thought to occur for
             genetics partially shape the ways that personal-    multiple reasons. For one, individuals incorpo-
             ity develops across time.                           rate important social roles into their identities
                                                         IV. Applications
             1276                                  50. Personality change interventions
             (e.g., Lodi-Smith & Roberts, 2007). This shift in      In sum, social roles tend to shape people’s
             identity may influence individuals’ internal        thoughts, feelings, and behaviors over time—
             behavioral standards and lead them to strive        which can eventually coalesce into personality
             to pull their thoughts, feelings, and behavior      trait change. Consequently, the fact that most
             in alignment with the ideals and norms associ-      people become more conscientious with age,
             ated with their new roles (e.g., Burke, 2006).      for example, may be partially driven by the fact
             For example, someone who views his/her pro-         that most people invest in careers during young
             fession as central to his/her identity may strive   adulthoodandinvestinginacareerisassociated
             to be the “best employee possible”—which            withincreasesinconscientiousness.Empirically
             would entail engaging in more numerous con-         supporting these ideas, as can be seen in Fig. 1,
             scientious thoughts, feelings, and behaviors        studies have found that committing to one’s
             (e.g., being punctual, being thorough and dili-     career is, in fact, associated with growth in
             gent to excel in one’s work). Similarly, a man      agreeableness and conscientiousness over the
             whoseidentityisdeeplyembeddedinhisfamily            course of several years (Hudson et al., 2012;
             mayfocushiseffortsonbeinga“goodhusband”             Hudson&Roberts,2016).Conversely,deinvest-
             and “good father,” which would naturally            ing in (i.e., withdrawing from) one’s career is
             require him to engage in agreeable (e.g., loving,   associated with losses in conscientiousness
             sensitive, kind) and conscientious (e.g., respon-   across time (Hudson & Roberts, 2016; Roberts,
             sible, dutiful) thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.  Walton, Bogg, & Caspi, 2006). Similarly, com-
             In sum, accepting, internalizing, and striving to   mitting to romantic partnerships, one’s commu-
             excel in one’s social roles may create strong       nity, and generative roles such as caring for
             intrapsychic presses to change thoughts, feel-      childrenoragingparentsmayalsofostergrowth
             ings, and behaviors.                                in traits such as agreeableness, conscientious-
               Asanonmutuallyexclusivealternative,froma          ness, and emotional stability (e.g., Lehnart
             more behavioristic perspective, social roles can    et al., 2010; Lodi-Smith & Roberts, 2007).
             serve as strong, consistent external presses for       Importantly, as these studies illustrate, the
             certain thoughts, feelings, and behaviors—and       social investment hypothesis not only explains
             changes to thoughts, feelings, and behaviors        normativetrendsinpersonality(e.g.,mostpeople
             maybedriven by basic reinforcement and pun-         become more conscientious with age)—it also
             ishmentprocesses.Forinstance,workplacestend         provides an explanation for why individual dif-
             toreinforceconscientiousbehaviors(e.g.,respon-      ferences in personality development occur. It is
             sibility,producinghighqualitywork)withpraise        the people who invest most strongly in their
             andpromotions; and workplaces tend to punish        careers,forexample,thatexperiencethegreatest
             nonconscientious behaviors (e.g., shoddy work-      growth    in   conscientiousness    across   time
             manship,tardiness)withstagnantsalaries,repri-       (Hudson et al., 2012; Hudson & Roberts, 2016).
             mands,andperhapseventermination.Similarly,          College    students   who smoke marijuana
             in the domain of family roles, romantic partners    regularly—andthusarepresumablymorelikely
             or children may reinforce kind, considerate, lov-   to engage in stereotypical nonconscientious
             ing, and responsible behaviors (e.g., with expres-  behaviors associated with marijuana culture—
             sions of gratitude and reciprocity) and punish      tend to experience relative declines in conscien-
             selfish, inconsiderate, irresponsible ones (e.g.,   tiousness across time (Roberts & Bogg, 2004).
             with conflict and discord). Thus, in addition to    Similarly, individuals who invest in romantic
             intrapsychic forces, social roles may provide       relationships experience greater growth in emo-
             strong  external   pressures   that  also  shape    tional stability, as compared with their peers
             thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.                  who remain single—perhaps due to receiving
                                                         IV. Applications