Is Your Personality A Chameleon In Relationships?

How Do Relationships Shape Who We Are?

Afshara
3 min readSep 21

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Photo by cottonbro studio from Pexels

Our lives would not be the same without our relationships. The people we connect with can exert a significant influence on who we are as human beings, regardless of whether it is a love relationship or a friendship only. In reality, studies indicate that relationships have a big impact on how we behave. So, let’s see how relationships might influence someone’s personality and explore the science behind personality change in relationships.

How Relationships Change Our Personality According To Science:

The previous research studies stated that our personalities are not static and can change over time. Additionally, openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism are the Big Five personality qualities that can be greatly impacted by a person’s surroundings, especially relationships. In reality, studies have shown that personality traits are extremely changeable and can shift in response to social situations and the environment.

To better understand the phenomena of personality change in relationships, scholars introduced some theories. For example, according to the social role theory, individuals frequently take on roles that are consistent with their expectations. For instance, in an intimate relationship, one person may take on the responsibility of providing care whereas the other becomes the provider. These responsibilities may become deeply engraved over time, altering that person’s personality traits.

Yet another theory such as the self-expansion theory claims that when individuals involve others in their lives it motivates them to feel more open about themselves. Furthermore, according to this notion, relationships can promote personality expansion and development through the sharing of experiences and the learning of new abilities.

Additionally, studies have demonstrated that a relationship’s strength can influence personality development. According to research, people in healthy relationships undergo more favourable personality changes compared to people in unhealthy ones. This shows that a relationship’s emotional support and meaningful interactions can foster someone’s…

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Afshara

Ph.D. Candidate (Mgmt)| Educator |Content Writer | Writing about things that intrigue my curious mind | https://beacons.ai/afshara17