Defining the question

Before people address the subject of altering and ameliorating personality, they need to establish that personality change is even possible. Scientists, students, and lay people have repeatedly asked the question: barring serious brain lesions and disease, can an individual's personality change in more than a superficial sense? Answers have varied depending largely on (a) how broad a definition of personality one uses and (b) the scientific lens through which personality is examined. The answers most often heard start off in the affirmative. Some developmental psychologists will answer, “Of course personality changes. After all, personality is the product of numerous interactions between a changing body and a changing environment. As they both change so does one's psyche.” Others would answer, “If you accept that no one is born with a personality, you must conclude that humans either acquire it spontaneously and fully effloresced at some moment in time (hardly likely) or that its development is a gradual and largely contingency-based process.