Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 16, 2026

Brain Morphology of Cannabis Users With or Without Psychosis: A Pilot MRI Study
Published on: August 18, 2020
An Existential-Humanistic View of Personality Change: Co-Occurring Changes with Psychological Well-Being in a 10 Year
Hilda Osafo Hounkpatin1, Alex M Wood2, Christopher J Boyce2
1Centre for Biostatistics, Institute of Population Health, University of Manchester, Jean McFarlane Building (1st Floor), Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL UK.
Abstract:
Increasingly, psychological research has indicated that an individual's personality changes across the lifespan. We aim to better understand personality change by examining if personality change is linked to striving towards fulfilment, as suggested by existential-humanistic theories of personality dynamics. Using the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, a cohort of 4,733 mid-life individuals across 10 years, we show that personality change was significantly associated with change in existential well-being, represented by psychological well-being (PWB). Moreover, personality change was more strongly related to change in PWB than changes in other well-being indicators such as depression, hostility and life satisfaction. Personality changed to a similar degree and explained greater variation in our well-being measures than changes in socioeconomic variables. The findings indicate personality change is necessary for the holistic development of an individual, supporting a greater need to understand personality change and increasing room for use of personality measures as indicators of well-being and policy making.
Related Concept Videos
Carl Rogers' Humanistic Perspective on Personality
The organism refers to an individual's inherent blueprint, which Rogers saw as innately positive and directed toward helping others, unlike Freud's view of the id as driven by base impulses. The self is a person's...
Humanistic Psychology
This approach...
Social Cognitive Perspective on Personality
Self-Evaluation: Self-Enhancement and Self-Verification
Introduction to Personality Psychology
Early Theories of Personality
The study of...
Humanistic Therapy

