“Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side that he never shows to anybody.”
Mark Twain
My own coaching success “batting average” keeps dipping unlike my favorite World Series bound San Francisco Giants team. Maybe I should start working with unflappable seniors instead of my current portfolio of successful and high powered professionals.
I’ve often wondered just how much our core personality really changes as we get older. Can we really teach “old dogs” new tricks?
Although we associate personality as a stable and unchanging set of attributes and traits that are highly genetically predetermined (about 50% of the variance in any personality trait is pretty well set at birth) there is some new research suggesting a plasticity over time.
Maybe “zebras can change their stripes” as we they get older. Or maybe they just fade. What do you think?
A study by Dr. Florin Dolcos and his colleagues at the University of Alberta identified brain patterns that help healthy older people regulate and control emotion better than their younger counterparts ((St. Jacques, P., Dolcos, F., & Cabeza, R.(2008). Effects of Aging on Functional Connectivity of the Amygdala during Negative Evaluation: A Network Analysis of fMRI Data. Neurobiology of Aging [Epub ahead of print – May 2008; doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2008.03.012)).
During the study, participants were asked to evaluate the emotional content of images as positive, neutral or negative. Their brain activity was monitored using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine which takes a picture of the brain while it is functioning. The older participants over the age of 60 rated the images as less negative than the younger participants. The scans showed increased interactions between the amygdala, a brain region involved in emotion detection, and the anterior cingulate cortex, a brain region involved in emotion control (both related to emotional intelligence).
Bottom line it suggests that as we get older we improve our ability to deal with adverse situations.
Apparently, as we age we tend to adapt and become less affected by upsetting situations.
In a groundbreaking study by Brent Roberts and Daniel Mroczek at the University of Chicago, they found that personality indeed seems to have the greatest plasticity between the ages of 20 and 40 but we still continue with personality shifts well into old age. In general, people show enhanced confidence, emotional control, empathy/sensitivity and tolerance of stress as they age ((Roberts, B. & Mroczek, D. (2008). Personality trait change in adulthood. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17, 31-35)).
Their summary of personality change over time found the following:
- Gregariousness appears to decrease late in life
- Agreeableness increases significantly between the ages of 50 to 70
- Conscientiousness remained pretty stable in adolescence but dramatically increased in young adulthood and into midlife
- Emotional stability increased into young adulthood (late 30s) and then remained fairly constant as we age
Taken together, “older wine indeed matures” as we become more calm, confident, warm, and responsible. People demonstrate really unique patterns of development throughout their entire life–all related to the experiences they have during specific stages of life.
I guess I really can’t wait to get older…..Be well….
[tags] personality, amygdala, emotional control, aging, trait changes in adulthood, plasticity of emotions,leadership, engagement, productivity, kenneth nowack, ken nowack, nowack[/tags]
Ken Nowack
Kenneth Nowack, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist (PSY13758) and President & Chief Research Officer/Co-Founder of Envisia Learning, is a member of the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations. Ken also serves as the Associate Editor of Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research. His recent book Clueless: Coaching People Who Just Don’t Get It is available for free for a limited time by signing up for free blog updates (Learn more at our website)
