Who Wants to Use Which Interventions for Volitional Personality Change? Patterns and Predictors of Intervention Acceptance.
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Volitional personality change (VPC) can be facilitated through personality change interventions, yet little is known about how acceptable different VPC interventions are and which individual characteristics shape these preferences. In a preregistered laboratory study (N = 282), participants rated their willingness to use eleven VPC interventions (e.g., psychotherapy, personality feedback, digital interventions, pharmaceuticals, gene editing) to change each HEXACO trait and completed measures of HEXACO traits, trait-specific change goals and desired trait levels, subjective well-being, intelligence, and science-fiction hobbyism. Across all HEXACO traits, we identified a two-factor solution distinguishing active, behavioral from passive, biomedical interventions. Active approaches—especially psychotherapy and personality feedback—were substantially more accepted and showed more trait-specific variation than passive interventions. Stronger change goals robustly predicted higher acceptance across traits and intervention types. At the person level, lower subjective well-being was linked to greater acceptance of passive VPC interventions, and broader dispositions and interests more strongly related to acceptance of passive than active VPC interventions. These findings indicate that acceptance of VPC interventions is rather person-specific: while people generally prefer active, behavioral interventions, acceptance of passive approaches depends more on broader personality, well-being, and interests.
Institution: University of Graz
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7225339890