How to Change Your Personality: 4 Key Mechanisms Explained

Methods for changing personality – are you interested?

Everyone must have thought about wanting to change their personality at some point.

For example, wanting to overcome shyness, become more proactive, or improve a short-tempered personality.

However, have you given up thinking that personality cannot be easily changed?

Actually, the latest psychological research has revealed that personality can be changed.

According to research conducted by US and European research teams called “The process and mechanisms of personality change“, there are four important mechanisms for personality change.

This research result is very encouraging for people who want to change their personality.

The idea that personality cannot be changed because it is innate is an outdated belief.

Now, methods for changing personality are being scientifically elucidated.

This article will explain in detail the four mechanisms of personality change.

What factors are involved in changing personality?

Also, what factors hinder personality change?

We will explain these clearly along with specific methods for changing personality.

If you want to change your personality, please use this as a reference.

Once again, personality researcher and author of Villain Encyclopedia, Tokiwa (@etokiwa999), will provide the explanation.
※We have developed the HEXACO-JP Personality Assessment! It has more scientific basis than MBTI. Tap below for details.

What is personality in the first place?

Personality can be understood through various methods

There are various personality assessment tools to understand your own personality.

1. Big Five
   • A theory that captures personality through five major traits (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, openness).
   • Big Five can be said to be a scientifically backed, highly reliable personality assessment tool.
2. HEXACO
   • Captures personality through six traits, adding Honesty-Humility to the five traits of Big Five.
   • HEXACO can be said to be a useful tool for understanding personality in more detail.
3. MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator)
   • Classifies into 16 types through combinations of four scales (extraversion-introversion, sensing-intuition, thinking-feeling, judging-perceiving).
   • MBTI is widely used as a tool for deepening self-understanding and understanding others.
4. 16Personalities
   • Like MBTI, it classifies into 16 types, but its characteristic is that it also incorporates Big Five elements.
   • Since it can be assessed online for free, it can be said to be an easily accessible tool.

Based on these assessment results, do you want to change your personality?

There are personalities that make it easier to earn money and personalities that make it easier to feel happiness.

And while personality is influenced by genetics, there are also parts that can change depending on the environment.

Let’s change according to your own purposes.

Methods for changing personality – 4 important mechanisms

Is it true that personality is formed in youth and remains almost unchanged throughout life?

It is said that personality is formed in youth and remains almost unchanged throughout life.

But is this really true?

Recent research has revealed that while personality is stable in the long term, it can change moderately throughout life.

In other words, personality is not fixed but holds the potential for change.

So what mechanisms are involved in changing personality?

This article will explain in detail the four important mechanisms of personality change.

By understanding the process of personality change, you should be able to gain clues for consciously changing your own personality.

Let’s explore the mechanisms of personality change together.

While personality is stable in the long term, it can change throughout life

Research has shown that while personality is stable in the long term, it can change moderately throughout life.

Until now, it was believed that once personality is formed, it hardly changes at all.

However, recent research has revealed that personality is not fixed and can change according to situations and experiences.

For example, experiencing significant life events can cause major changes in personality.

Also, by intentionally making efforts to change one’s personality, it is possible to gradually transform one’s character.

How to Change Personality: What Are the Mechanisms?

The mechanisms of personality change are thought to involve four main factors.

These are preconditions, triggers, reinforcing factors, and integration.

Personality changes through the complex interplay of these factors.

Now, let’s take a detailed look at each of these factors.

• Preconditions: A strong will and motivation to change personality is necessary
• Triggers: Environmental changes or significant life events serve as catalysts
• Reinforcing factors: Establishing personality change by repeating new habits and providing rewards
• Integration: Practicing personality change in all aspects of daily life and incorporating it as part of oneself

When these factors come together, personality change is facilitated.

How to Change Personality: First Step, Establishing Preconditions

The first step in personality change is having a strong will and motivation to change one’s personality.

This becomes the precondition.

To change personality, you first need to clarify which aspects of your personality you want to change.

For example, if you want to improve a short-tempered personality, that becomes a specific goal.

It’s also important to be psychologically open to personality change.

You must be prepared to embrace a new self without fearing change.

Strong will for personality change, clear goals, and psychological preparation.

Only when these preconditions are in place can you take the first step toward personality change.

How to Change Personality: Having a Strong Desire is Important

To change personality, having strong will and clear goals is most important.

Just vaguely wanting to change your personality makes it difficult to take action.
It’s important to specifically visualize which aspects of your personality you want to change and how.

It’s also important to strongly feel the necessity of changing your personality.
Because you believe that changing your personality will allow you to live a better life, it becomes the driving force to take action.

Strong will for personality change should give you the power to continue without giving up even when facing difficulties.
Having a strong desire is the first step in personality change.

How to Change Personality: Finding Triggers as the Catalyst

What serves as the catalyst for change are triggers.
Triggers refer to events or situations that promote personality change.

For example, leaving a stressful environment can become a catalyst for personality change.

Also, significant life events such as marriage, childbirth, or job changes can serve as triggers.
Triggers encourage reviewing habitualized behaviors and give a push toward personality change.

Finding triggers that work for you could be said to be the first step toward personality change.
Since triggers differ from person to person, it’s important to find ones that suit you.

By seizing the catalyst for personality change, the door to a new self should open.

Changing Environment as a Trigger for Personality Change

One trigger for personality change is environmental change.
It might be difficult to change personality in a familiar environment.
This is because environment is one of the factors that shape personality.

For example, being in a stressful workplace can make you develop an easily irritated personality.
Leaving such an environment becomes a catalyst for personality change.

By placing yourself in a new environment, you might be able to display a different side of yourself than before.
Changing environment can be the first step toward personality change.

However, just changing the environment is insufficient; subsequent efforts are also essential.
It can be said that it’s important to work on personality change using environmental change as a trigger.

Life Events Such as Marriage and Childbirth Can Also Serve as Triggers

Significant life events such as marriage, childbirth, and job changes can also serve as triggers for personality change.
Life events are occurrences that become turning points in life.
By taking on new roles and responsibilities, you may become a different version of yourself.

For example, through child-rearing, you might develop more volunteer spirit and patience.

Also, through job changes, communication skills might improve in order to adapt to new environments.
Life events also become opportunities to reflect on yourself.

By looking back on your past self and thinking about your future self, motivation for personality change increases.
It can be said that it’s important to view life events as opportunities for personality change and approach them positively.

How to Change Personality: The Role of Reinforcing Factors in Establishing Change

Reinforcing factors play an important role in establishing personality change.
Reinforcing factors are elements that promote and maintain personality change.

For example, repeatedly practicing new habits reinforces personality changes.
Additionally, receiving positive feedback from those around you can also serve as a reinforcing factor.
Reinforcing factors increase motivation for personality change and provide support when you’re about to give up.

It’s important to find reinforcing factors that suit you and actively incorporate them.
By utilizing reinforcing factors, personality changes become rooted in daily life.

It can be said that understanding the role of reinforcing factors is important to make personality changes sustainable rather than temporary.

Repeating new habits to reinforce personality change

To establish personality changes, repeatedly practicing new habits is effective.
By making them habitual, you’ll naturally be able to perform new behaviors without conscious effort.

For example, if you want to overcome shyness, make it a habit to talk to strangers a little bit every day.
If you want to live a healthy lifestyle, make regular meals and exercise part of your daily routine.
By repeating new habits, desirable personality traits become rooted in daily life.

To form habits, it’s important to start with small goals.
Let’s accumulate actions daily within a manageable range.

Sometimes you might stumble.
At such times, it’s important not to give up and continue.
Once habits are established, personality changes should naturally be reinforced.

Maintaining desirable personality by giving rewards

Giving rewards is one effective method for maintaining personality changes.
Rewards reinforce desirable behaviors and boost motivation.

For example, receiving a salary increase for working diligently at work is a type of reward.
This increases motivation for work and maintains desirable personality traits.

You can also set rewards for yourself.
It’s good to prepare treats for when you achieve your goals.

It’s important to understand that rewards play a supportive role in maintaining personality changes.
Let’s work on personality change at your own pace while utilizing appropriate rewards.

Practicing personality change in all aspects of daily life: The integration process

To truly establish personality changes, it’s essential to practice them in all aspects of daily life.
This is called the integration process.

Integration means incorporating new personality traits as part of yourself. For example, suppose someone who was previously withdrawn develops assertiveness.
Integration means being able to demonstrate that assertiveness not only at work but also in private life.

As integration progresses, new personality traits are naturally expressed.
The ideal is to be able to perform desirable behaviors without conscious effort.

It can be said that through the integration process, personality changes become authentic.

What are the factors that hinder personality change?

The desire to maintain familiar environments and self-image

One factor that hinders personality change is the desire to maintain familiar environments and self-image.
People find comfort in familiar environments and self-images they’re accustomed to.
Therefore, they may feel resistance to change.

For example, if you’ve worked at the same workplace for many years, you might feel anxious about jumping into a new environment.

Also, being trapped in the fixed idea of “this is who I am” can lead to rejecting change.
Such psychological resistance can hinder personality change.

Letting go of familiar environments and self-image might require courage.

Insufficient reinforcement of personality change can lead to reverting to original personality

Reinforcement is essential for establishing personality changes.
If reinforcement is insufficient, even newly acquired personality traits may revert to their original state.

For example, suppose someone overcame shyness and started actively interacting with people.

However, without reinforcing factors to continue that behavior, they might gradually revert to their previous shy personality.

Reinforcing factors include positive feedback from others and personal rewards.

By actively incorporating these reinforcing factors, personality changes become established.

Also, when reinforcing factors are lacking, motivation for personality change may decline.

You might find it bothersome to continue new behaviors or feel like giving up.

At such times, it’s important to recognize again the importance of reinforcing factors.

To sustain personality changes, let’s find and utilize our own reinforcing factors.

Successfully incorporating reinforcing factors holds the key to successful personality change.

Attributing personality changes to external factors makes changes less likely to stick

Attributing personality changes to external factors can become problematic in establishing changes.
External factors refer to factors other than yourself, such as environment, luck, or the influence of others.
When you think personality changes are thanks to external factors, it leads to undervaluing your own efforts.

For example, thinking “I became assertive because the environment changed” is attribution to external factors.
Certainly, environmental changes can trigger personality changes.

However, your own efforts are essential for establishing changes.
Recognizing personality changes as the result of your own efforts is important for sustaining changes.

It can be said that recognizing your hard work and having confidence is important.

Methods to change personality – Summary

Personality change requires strong will and clear goals

To change, strong will and clear goals are absolutely essential.

Simply having a vague desire to change your personality will make it difficult to take action.

First, it’s important to clearly identify which parts of your personality you want to change and how you want to change them.

Then, approach that goal with strong determination.

The path to personality change is never smooth.

Sometimes you may experience setbacks.

At such times, it’s important to remember your goals and continue without giving up.

With strong will and clear goals, a path will surely open up.

The first step toward personality change begins with facing yourself and strengthening your resolve to change.

Changing Your Environment and Repeating New Habits is the Key to Changing Your Personality

To change your personality, changing your environment and repeating new habits is the key.

Environmental change provides an opportunity for personality transformation.

By placing yourself in a new environment, you may discover a different version of yourself.

However, simply changing your environment is not enough.

What becomes important here is the repetition of new habits.

By making desirable behaviors habitual, personality change becomes established.

For example, by making it a daily habit to actively interact with people, you can improve your communication skills.

Habit formation requires time and effort, but it’s important to continue without giving up.

Environmental change and the repetition of new habits hold the key to successful personality transformation.

Practice Methods for Changing Your Personality in Every Aspect of Daily Life

To truly establish personality change, it’s important to practice it in every aspect of daily life.

Ideally, you should be able to demonstrate your new personality not just in specific situations, but in all aspects of your life.

For example, suppose you’ve become able to speak up actively at work.

Being able to demonstrate that same assertiveness in your private life is the true form of personality change.

It’s important to consciously practice your new personality in every aspect of daily life.

Continue to challenge yourself without fear of failure.

By doing so, your new personality will naturally begin to emerge.

Even Modest Personality Changes Bring Meaningful Transformation

Personality change, even if modest, brings meaningful transformation to your life.

In expecting dramatic personality changes, you might overlook small changes.

However, even slight changes can potentially have a major impact on your life.

For example, becoming slightly more assertive might help you make new friends or seize opportunities.

Also, the accumulation of small changes can eventually lead to major transformation.

Personality change cannot be achieved overnight.

It’s important to value small changes and move forward step by step.

Even modest changes should be approached at your own pace.

Cherish Your Authenticity While Aiming to Become a Better Version of Yourself

Changing your personality does not mean losing your authenticity.

Rather, it can be said to be an effort to become a better version of yourself.

Making use of your individuality and strengths while overcoming weaknesses.

That is the essence of personality change.

There’s no need to feel guilty about changing your personality.

What’s important is growing while cherishing your authenticity.

However, it’s also important not to lose sight of yourself.

※There’s also the concept of “non-cognitive skills” which is very similar to personality. This is explained below.

非認知能力とは？８つの種類と鍛え方を科学的に説明