New Study Challenges the Idea That We Stop Psychologically Growing After 30

Personality intervention with social and emotional skills training benefits older adults just as much as younger adults.

The idea that personal change is limited to youth is being challenged by new research. Both younger and older adults are capable of developing new socio-emotional skills, including better ways of managing stress and navigating difficult social situations.

A study led by Prof. Dr Cornelia Wrzus (Heidelberg University) and Prof. Dr Corina Aguilar-Raab (University of Mannheim), involving researchers from Germany and Switzerland, examined how people of different ages respond to a structured personality intervention. The results show that social and emotional skills training is effective across the lifespan.

Socio-emotional skills remain changeable across age

In psychology, socio-emotional abilities refer to how people identify, express, and regulate emotions, as well as how they manage relationships with others. These abilities are closely tied to personality traits that shape how individuals think, feel, and behave in everyday situations.

Earlier studies have suggested that personality development slows after young adulthood, as Prof. Wrzus notes. However, the mechanisms behind this pattern are still not well understood, and most intervention research has focused on younger participants. “Investigations frequently focus on young adults between the ages of 18 and 30.”

To explore this further, participants in the study took part in weekly sessions designed to build practical skills for handling stress and challenging interactions. A total of 165 individuals joined the eight-week in-person program, including younger adults mostly in their twenties and older adults between 60 and 80 years old.

Researchers from Heidelberg, Mannheim, Hamburg, and Zurich (Switzerland) used multiple methods to track changes over time. They assessed emotional stability and extraversion before, during, and after the training, and continued monitoring participants for up to a year using questionnaires and a computer-based test.

Older adults show comparable improvement

The findings revealed that both age groups improved to a similar degree. Changes in socio-emotional behavior and personality traits were nearly identical between younger and older participants. Prof. Wrzus described this as a “striking and unexpected result, since it seems more difficult for older adults to learn something new, like a foreign language or a musical instrument.”

The study also explored why this might be the case. Participants reported how much effort they put into practicing the exercises, and older adults showed slightly higher levels of engagement, spending more time working through the training materials and assignments.

“Our study results somewhat contradict the adage that ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.’ That is good news for aging populations. When people are sufficiently motivated, they maintain the ability to change and learn new things,” stresses Cornelia Wrzus, who researches socio-emotional development and personality development in adulthood and old age at Heidelberg University.

Reference: “Personality intervention affects emotional stability and extraversion similarly in older and younger adults” by Gabriela Küchler, Kira S. A. Borgdorf, Corina Aguilar-Raab, Wiebke Bleidorn, Jenny Wagner and Cornelia Wrzus, 25 November 2025, Communications Psychology.
DOI: 10.1038/s44271-025-00350-2

The German Research Foundation funded the work.

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