Summary: The long-held belief that personality becomes “set in stone” after young adulthood is being challenged by new research. A comprehensive psychological study has found that older adults (ages 60–80) are just as capable of adopting new social and emotional behaviors as those in their twenties.
Following an eight-week intervention focused on stress management and social regulation, older participants showed improvements in emotional stability and extraversion that matched their younger counterparts. Surprisingly, the older group demonstrated even higher levels of engagement and commitment to the training, suggesting that motivation—not age—is the primary driver of personality growth later in life.
Key Facts
- Shattering Stereotypes: Socio-emotional training—including recognizing and regulating feelings—was found to be equally effective for adults in their 70s as for those in their 20s.
- Higher Engagement: Older participants delved more deeply into training materials and assignments than younger participants, potentially offsetting any age-related learning declines.
- Stable Growth: The positive changes in personality traits like emotional stability remained detectable for up to a year after the eight-week program ended.
- Personality Plasticity: The study challenges the idea that personality traits develop less strongly after young adulthood, proving the brain remains plastic for social change.
- Long-Term Benefits: Participants in both age groups reported a better ability to handle challenging social situations and daily stressors after the course.
Source: Heidelberg University
You can teach an old dog new tricks.
Younger and older adults alike are able to adopt new socio-emotional behaviors. Even older adults benefit from a personality intervention aimed at handling stress and challenging social situations better.
This is the conclusion of a psychological aging research study conducted by researchers from Germany and Switzerland led by Prof. Dr Cornelia Wrzus (Heidelberg University) and Prof. Dr Corina Aguilar-Raab (University of Mannheim).
The study examined the effects of an intervention program in participants of varying ages. It concluded that social and emotional skills training benefits both younger and older adults.
According to the scientific community, socio-emotional behaviors include a person’s ability to recognize, express, and regulate their feelings as well as social relationships. This ability is associated with personal traits that influence, for example, how a person typically thinks, feels, and behaves in certain situations.
Previous research indicates that personality traits develop less strongly after young adulthood, Prof. Wrzus reports.
Yet the underlying processes remain poorly understood, and intervention studies scarcely investigated age differences, explains the researcher from the Institute of Psychology at Heidelberg University.
“Investigations frequently focus on young adults between the ages of 18 and 30.”
Participants in the current study attended weekly training sessions and completed assignments for everyday life on how to better handle stress and deal with challenging social situations. 165 subjects – young adults mainly in their twenties and older adults between 60 and 80 – took part in the eight-week in-person training course.
The researchers from Heidelberg, Mannheim, Hamburg, and Zurich (Switzerland) used a multi-method approach to examine the effects of the intervention program. Before, during, and after the training and for up to a year after the program ended, the effects of the intervention on emotional stability and extraversion were measured based on questionnaires and an indirect computer-based test.
The analysis shows that the average change in these socio-emotional behaviors and personality traits barely differed in the two age groups. For the researchers, one “striking and unexpected result, since it seems more difficult for older adults to learn something new, like a foreign language or a musical instrument,” reports Prof. Wrzus.
The study also tested one possible explanation: during the study participants were asked how intensively they practiced their tasks. The result: older participants delved more deeply into the training materials and weekly assignments, i.e., demonstrated slightly greater engagement.
“Our study results somewhat contradict the adage that ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks’. That is good news for aging populations. When people are sufficiently motivated, they maintain the ability to change and learn new things,” stresses Cornelia Wrzus, who researches socio-emotional development and personality development in adulthood and old age at Heidelberg University.
In addition to Prof. Wrzus and Prof. Aguilar-Raab, Gabriela Küchler (Heidelberg University), Kira Borgdorf (University of Mannheim), Prof. Dr Wiebke Bleidorn (University of Zurich) and Prof. Dr Jenny Wagner (University of Hamburg) contributed to the research.
Funding: The German Research Foundation funded the work.
Key Questions Answered:
A: That used to be the scientific consensus, but this study shows that the “socio-emotional” parts of our personality—how we handle stress and talk to others—remain surprisingly flexible well into our 80s.
A: Motivation and “homework.” While learning a new language might get harder with age, the older participants in this study were more likely to actually do the practice assignments and take the emotional training seriously, which leveled the playing field with the younger group.
A: This study used a specific 8-week structured course. However, the takeaway is that with the right motivation and social skills training, anyone can become more emotionally stable or outgoing, regardless of their birth year.
Editorial Notes:
- This article was edited by a Neuroscience News editor.
- Journal paper reviewed in full.
- Additional context added by our staff.
About this personality and neuroscience research news
Author: Ute Mueller-Detert
Source: Heidelberg University
Contact: Ute Mueller-Detert – Heidelberg University
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
“Personality intervention affects emotional stability and extraversion similarly in older and younger adults” by Gabriela Küchler, Kira S. A. Borgdorf, Corina Aguilar-Raab, Wiebke Bleidorn, Jenny Wagner & Cornelia Wrzus . Communications Psychology
DOI:10.1038/s44271-025-00350-2
Abstract
Personality intervention affects emotional stability and extraversion similarly in older and younger adults
Past research showed that personality traits develop less strongly after younger adulthood, though the underlying processes remain poorly understood, and personality intervention studies scarcely investigated age differences. Also, existing findings are mostly limited to explicit assessments of personality traits (i.e., questionnaires).
In this preregistered, multi-method study, we examined associations between changes in personality states and explicit and implicit trait self-concepts of emotional stability and extraversion throughout an 8-week socio-emotional intervention, 3 and 12 months later.
The sample consisted of younger and older adults (N = 165, age range = 19-78 years). Findings indicate changes in personality states, explicit self-concepts for both traits, and the implicit self-concept of extraversion.
Only state changes in emotional stability predicted changes in the corresponding explicit but not implicit trait self-concept. Importantly, the effects were consistent across age groups, and exploratory analyses showed higher engagement among older adults throughout the intervention.
The findings emphasize that older adults might benefit as much from socio-emotional interventions as younger adults, and potential age differences in skill acquisition might be set off through engagement.
