8 Unit 1 Your Development and Relationships
Changing Your
Personality
With so many infl uences on your
personality, you can see why you are
such a complex person. The effects
environmental factors have on your
personality will continue throughout
your life. The infl uence will never be
as strong, however, as it was during
your early childhood years. Your
personality has taken form. Any
changes that occur from now on will
likely require effort on your part. You
can change personality traits, but
these patterns are hard to break.
Young people who feel good
about themselves generally want to
be the best they can be. They know
they are not perfect and never will be.
They recognize their shortcomings
and try to enhance them.
There may be some less desirable
personality traits that you would like
to improve or change. Changing a
quality that has been a part of your
1-3 Teachers and coaches often play an important role in personality formation.
© bikeriderlondon/Shutterstock
Life Connections
How to Make a Change
When thinking about changing your personality,
select only one area for improvement at a time. Do not try
to change everything about yourself at once. Then write
a specifi c plan of what you will do to change this quality.
As part of your plan, set a realistic goal for yourself. Also,
plan a reward for yourself when you reach your goal. This
will give you an incentive to try even harder to make a
change. The fi nal step is to put your plan in action.
Change does not happen easily. Do not be
surprised if you fall into your old habits sometimes. Do
not let this discourage you. With time, you will be able
to make a positive change if it is really important to you.
Writing Activity
Look again at the list of personality traits in
Figure 1-1. Are there some positive changes you would
like to make to your personality? Are you as friendly
as you could be? Do you complain too often? Do you
make fun of someone because he or she is different?
Write a list of your traits and identify the one you would
most like to improve or change. Then write a plan of
what you can do to change this trait.
Refl ect
Discuss