Summary: The long-held idea that personality becomes fixed after early adulthood is being reconsidered. New, comprehensive psychological research shows that older adults (ages 60–80) can adopt new social and emotional behaviors as effectively as people in their twenties.
After participating in an eight-week socio-emotional intervention focused on stress management and social regulation, older participants experienced improvements in emotional stability and extraversion comparable to those of younger participants. Notably, older adults showed greater engagement with the training materials and assignments, suggesting that motivation and practice — not chronological age — drive personality development later in life.
Key Findings
- Stereotypes challenged: Socio-emotional training—covering emotional recognition, expression, and regulation—was equally effective for adults in their 70s as for adults in their 20s.
- Higher engagement among older adults: Older participants tended to complete practice tasks more thoroughly, which may counteract age-related declines in certain types of learning.
- Durable improvements: Positive changes in emotional stability and outgoingness were still detectable up to a year after the eight-week program ended.
- Personality plasticity into later life: The results indicate that the social and emotional aspects of personality remain malleable well beyond young adulthood.
- Practical benefits: Participants across age groups reported better handling of difficult social interactions and everyday stress following the course.
Source: Heidelberg University
You can teach an old dog new tricks.
Both younger and older adults proved able to acquire new socio-emotional skills. Older adults benefited from structured training designed to improve responses to stress and to support more effective interactions in challenging social situations.
This conclusion comes from a psychological aging study led by Prof. Dr. Cornelia Wrzus (Heidelberg University) and Prof. Dr. Corina Aguilar-Raab (University of Mannheim), with collaborators from Heidelberg, Mannheim, Hamburg and Zurich.
The research evaluated an intervention program that taught practical strategies for recognizing and regulating emotions, communicating clearly, and managing interpersonal conflict. One hundred sixty-five participants—mainly young adults in their twenties and older adults aged 60 to 80—attended weekly in-person training sessions for eight weeks and completed exercises designed for everyday situations.
Using a multi-method design, researchers measured changes before, during, and after the program and followed up three months and twelve months later. Outcomes were assessed through self-report questionnaires and an indirect computer-based test that captured both explicit and implicit aspects of personality related to emotional stability and extraversion.
Analyses showed that average changes in socio-emotional behaviors and traits were similar across the two age groups. This is a notable outcome: many kinds of learning, such as acquiring a new language or musical skill, become more difficult with age, yet socio-emotional skill learning appeared robust in older adults.
The researchers explored why older adults matched younger participants. A key explanation was engagement: older participants reported practicing assignments more intensively and investing greater time and attention in course tasks. This stronger engagement plausibly offset age-related differences in other kinds of learning, helping older participants achieve similar trait-level gains.
“Our results counter the notion that personality change is largely restricted to early adulthood,” says Prof. Wrzus. “When motivation and structured practice are present, people remain capable of changing how they manage emotions and social interactions well into later life.”
The study team included Gabriela Küchler (Heidelberg University), Kira Borgdorf (University of Mannheim), Prof. Dr. Wiebke Bleidorn (University of Zurich) and Prof. Dr. Jenny Wagner (University of Hamburg).
Funding: The research was supported by the German Research Foundation.
Key Questions Answered:
A: Earlier consensus held that personality stabilizes in early adulthood, but this study shows that the socio-emotional components—how we handle stress and relate to others—remain flexible into later life.
A: Motivation and deliberate practice. Older adults tended to engage more deeply with practice assignments and applied the training consistently, which helped equalize outcomes between age groups.
A: This study used a specific eight-week, structured program. Still, its main takeaway is that with motivation and guided socio-emotional training, many people can increase emotional stability and social confidence regardless of age.
Editorial Notes:
- This article was edited by a Neuroscience News editor.
- The journal paper was reviewed in full by staff.
- Additional context and clarification were provided by the editorial team.
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. DOI: 10.1038/s44271-025-00350-2
Abstract
Personality intervention affects emotional stability and extraversion similarly in older and younger adults
Previous studies suggested that personality traits change less after young adulthood, but the mechanisms are not well understood and few intervention studies directly compared age groups. Most earlier findings relied on explicit questionnaires rather than multiple measurement methods.
In this preregistered, multi-method trial, researchers tracked state-level personality changes as well as explicit and implicit self-concepts of emotional stability and extraversion during an eight-week socio-emotional intervention and at three- and twelve-month follow-ups.
The sample included younger and older adults (N = 165, age range 19–78). Results showed changes in momentary personality states and in explicit self-concepts for both traits, plus changes in the implicit self-concept of extraversion. State-level improvements in emotional stability predicted shifts in explicit trait self-concepts but not in implicit self-concepts.
Crucially, effects were consistent across age groups, and exploratory analyses revealed higher engagement among older adults during the intervention. These findings indicate that older adults can benefit from socio-emotional interventions to the same extent as younger adults, and that engagement can help offset age-related differences in skill acquisition.