There wasn’t just one lock-down – we all had our own experience. Some people - including me and my family - were forced into months of unbroken solitude, others trapped for weeks on end with an estranged spouse. Some saw it as a positive experience – a welcome opportunity to slow down, go for walks and relax with a loving partner, or enjoy quality time with the children.
Whichever way the lock-down played out, there has been one near-universal aspect to the past months – it abruptly disrupted our daily routines and living arrangements in ways that would not normally occur. Nothing new. And we don't know how long this will last.
The Senior editor at Aeon+Psyche Christian Jarrett asks interesting questions: Will this strange time have left its mark on us, not just superficially, but deep down? As we venture out tentatively, do we do so with our personalities somehow altered? And if so, how will our new selves cope as we begin to mix and travel once again?
I strongly agree with his answers. For much of psychology’s history, personality – the set of enduring habits of behavior, emotion, and thought that form each person’s unique identity – was considered set in stone, at least beyond early adulthood. Research over the last few decades, however, has led to a consensus that, while personality traits are relatively stable, they are not completely fixed. Instead, they continue to evolve through life and in response to major life events.
In other words, from a theoretical perspective, there is every possibility that at least some of us will have been left changed by the lock-down.
Honestly, I have problems getting along without the usual daily face-to-face contact with friends, family, and colleagues. Anecdotal evidence seems to suggest the same. Although conscious that I’ve been more fortunate than many in my experience of the pandemic so far, I also know that I’ve been feeling less stressed due to less rushing around, but also more withdrawn and introverted. Friends of mine (also not too adversely affected) agree they feel different – more reflective, perhaps, but also less sociable. In one of my previous write-ups at this corner, I praised my status at the home office. Maybe you still remember it?
The many months of changes to our routines may have led to changes in our behavior that will stick long after the pandemic has finished. It “may lead to new norms, which may over time also shape our personalities,” says Wiebke Bleidorn at the Personality Change Laboratory at the University of California, Davis. I am sure, she is so very true.
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