Carl Jung believed that it was possible to change your personality type. Let’s talk about that.
First of all, the mainstream 16 personalities community believes that it is not possible to change your personality type. You have one personality type that was either formed in your early years, or born from your biology.
Carl Jung, the father of typology, believed that it was possible to change yor personality type. So why do people disagree with him?
The frustration with chameleons and type-shifters
Modern typology has been focused on finding objective proof for personality type. Most want to believe that type is something biological or genetic in its nature. This is probably a cultural change, as there is a large shift in psychology to believe that type and personality has genetic factors.
There is also a frustration with people online who say they have changed their personality type, with many believing these people are simply mistyped, or have misunderstood the theory. Or, they’re just stupid. But are they?
The argument for a changing type
Carl Jung argued that trauma can cause us to change our personality. This is probably true, and most likely, significant changes in our lifestyle or environment can also slightly or significantly impact our personality. Beyond that, we know today, that epigenetics is real, and that it is possible to change our very DNA through hard, consistent, long-term effort. If you consistently work with coaching, youtube videos, and social programs, you can significantly change your behaviour and personality.
It is definitely true that you can change your behaviour, most likely in any way you want. It may not always be easy. Some people have higher cognitive flexibility than others. For some, it is very easy to change, for other people, it can be very difficult.
It is possible though, that your values are hard-wired. Values, interests, and passions, seem hard to change. Even if we train a person to do a certain thing or think a certain way, they will most likely have certain values or interests. Forcing someone to act in a way that goes against their interests or values is a sure way to make that person unhappy or depressed.
It is possible that you could even change your values, but how? That’s unclear. So can we change our personality type? We can definitely change our behaviour and lifestyle. Perhaps personality type is something deeper, unrelated to our behaviour? What do you think? Leave a comment down below!
