A systematic review of personality trait change through intervention.

2017/01/05 by Brent W. Roberts, Jing Luo, Daniel A. Briley +3 · 1 voice · 4 citations
Psychology · #Personality Disorders and Psychopathology #Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development #Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications

paper · doi:10.1037/bul0000088

openalex publication_date 2017/01/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/03

Abstract

The current meta-analysis investigated the extent to which personality traits changed as a result of intervention, with the primary focus on clinical interventions. We identified 207 studies that had tracked changes in measures of personality traits during interventions, including true experiments and prepost change designs. Interventions were associated with marked changes in personality trait measures over an average time of 24 weeks (e.g., d = .37). Additional analyses showed that the increases replicated across experimental and nonexperimental designs, for nonclinical interventions, and persisted in longitudinal follow-ups of samples beyond the course of intervention. Emotional stability was the primary trait domain showing changes as a result of therapy, followed by extraversion. The type of therapy employed was not strongly associated with the amount of change in personality traits. Patients presenting with anxiety disorders changed the most, and patients being treated for substance use changed the least. The relevance of the results for theory and social policy are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Citations

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• Randomized Controlled Trial of Outpatient Mentalization-Based Treatment Versus Structured Clinical Management for Borderline Personality Disorder

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Discussions

• While, according to a new meta analysis, people’s personalities don’t seem to change on their own, they can be changed by intervention: https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000088 Clinical interventions that [bsky, 0 points, 1 comments]