By the time you hit 60, you have probably heard some version of the line that people “don’t really change.” But new research suggests that, at least for some everyday personality traits, that idea may be too simple. What if learning to stay calmer under pressure or speak up more in social situations is still on the table?
A study led by Prof. Dr. Cornelia Wrzus at Heidelberg University and Prof. Dr. Corina Aguilar-Raab at the University of Mannheim found that older adults improved just as much as younger adults after an eight-week, in-person training focused on stress and challenging social moments. The research tracked changes linked to emotional stability and extraversion, two traits many people wish they had “a bit more of” when life gets messy.
What “socio-emotional skills” really mean
In everyday terms, socio-emotional skills are the habits we use to recognize feelings, manage them, and handle relationships without things spiraling. They include noticing when stress is building and choosing a response that helps rather than hurts. Programs in this space often overlap with ideas from social and emotional learning, which focuses on skills people practice and strengthen over time.
In this study, the researchers focused on emotional stability and extraversion. Emotional stability is basically how steady you stay when something goes wrong, like a tense conversation or a problem you did not see coming. Extraversion, in simple terms, is about how outgoing and energized you tend to be around other people.
How the eight-week training worked
Participants attended weekly sessions and practiced assignments in daily life, with a clear goal of handling stress and difficult social situations better. The sample included 165 people, with younger adults mostly in their twenties and older adults between 60 and 80. It was not a quick “read this and feel better” approach, it asked people to show up and do the work.
The training emphasized realistic moments, not abstract theory. Think of the kind of week where plans change, someone says the wrong thing, or you feel your nerves rise and you can’t quite shake them. In practical terms, the program tried to give people tools they could use when life feels hectic and stress starts stacking up.
How researchers measured personality change
Personality research often relies on questionnaires, but the team added another layer. They measured changes before, during, and after the training, and followed up for up to a year. Along with surveys, they used a computer-based test designed to capture more automatic self-associations.
That test was based on the Implicit Association Test, a method researchers use to see how quickly people connect “self” with certain traits. The study was also preregistered on the Open Science Framework, which is a way to publicly document the plan before results are analyzed. That does not make a study perfect, but it does make it harder to quietly shift the goalposts later.
Similar benefits across younger and older adults
The headline result was that both age groups changed in broadly similar ways on average. The researchers found that shifts in socio-emotional behaviors and related personality measures barely differed between younger and older adults. For many readers, the surprising part is not that change happened, it is that older adults kept pace.
Prof. Wrzus described the result as unexpected because learning new skills is often assumed to get harder with age. People often point to learning a language or an instrument as examples where progress can feel slower later in life. But personality-linked behaviors may not follow the same script.
Why older adults might have kept up
One clue came from how participants engaged with the training. During the study, people reported how much they practiced the weekly tasks and used the materials. Older participants, on average, showed slightly greater engagement with the assignments.
That matters because motivation is not a side detail, it can be the engine. If someone is willing to practice how they respond to tension, or how they behave in challenging social moments, those repeated “in the moment” choices can add up. And for people who struggle with anxiety in everyday confrontations, structured practice may feel especially relevant.
Why this matters for real life after 60
This research pushes back, at least a little, on the idea that personality is locked in by retirement age. That is potentially important for aging populations, where staying socially connected and emotionally resilient can shape quality of life. It also suggests that the right format and support can help people change, even later on.
There is also a bigger social angle here. Many older adults face loneliness after life transitions like moving, losing a partner, or leaving the workplace. Skills that support steadier emotions and healthier interactions could make it easier to build routines that protect mental health, including maintaining close friends and handling conflict without withdrawing.
What to keep in mind before you celebrate
The study does not mean personality is endlessly flexible, or that an eight-week course will transform anyone into a totally new person. The sample was made up of volunteers, and people who sign up for this kind of training may already be more motivated than the average person. That is a real limitation, especially if we are thinking about how these ideas might work at scale.
Still, the results fit with a growing line of research on intentional personality change. For example, a 2021 study in PNAS reported that structured interventions can help people shift traits they want to change, at least for the duration of a program. The open question now is what works best for different people, and how to make changes stick when life gets busy again.
The study was published in Communications Psychology.
