HOW STABLE IS MY PERSONALITY?

One way to think about this question is to imagine going to a class reunion when you're in your 80s.

- BEN WARREN, ELY

Would your classmates have the same personalities as they did back when you were at school? The answer, according to long-term studies that have given personality questionnaires to the same people over decades, is that personality is relatively stable, but it's not fixed. You and your peers would likely have changed in meaningful ways, but there would also be a strong strand of continuity in your traits.

One way this stability manifests is in the differences between you as individuals.

You might all have become a little more outgoing and amiable with age, and yet the same person who was the most friendly at school would still be the most friendly all these years later.