My Personality Transplant
The Atlantic|March 2022
How to find happiness, how I made myself less unpleasant
By Olga Khazan. Photograph by Devin Christopher
My Personality Transplant

One morning last summer, I woke up and announced, to no one in particular: “I choose to be happy today!” Next I journaled about the things I was grateful for and tried to think more positively about my enemies and myself. When someone later criticized me on Twitter, I suppressed my rage and tried to sympathize with my hater. Then, to loosen up and expand my social skills, I headed to an improv class.

I was midway through an experiment—sample size: 1—to see whether I could change my personality. Because these activities were supposed to make me happier, I approached them with the desperate hope of a supplicant kneeling at a shrine.

Psychologists say that personality is made up of five traits: extroversion, or how sociable you are; conscientiousness, or how self-disciplined and organized you are; agreeableness, or how warm and empathetic you are; openness, or how receptive you are to new ideas and activities; and neuroticism, or how depressed or anxious you are. People tend to be happier and healthier when they score higher on the first four traits and lower on neuroticism. I’m pretty open and conscientious, but I’m low on extroversion, middling on agreeableness, and off the charts on neuroticism.

Researching the science of personality, I learned that it was possible to deliberately mold these five traits, to an extent, by adopting certain behaviors. I began wondering whether the tactics of personality change could work on me.

Denne historien er fra March 2022-utgaven av The Atlantic.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

Denne historien er fra March 2022-utgaven av The Atlantic.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA THE ATLANTICSe alt
Boat Fish Don't Count
The Atlantic

Boat Fish Don't Count

The wild, obsessive, dangerous pursuit of Montauk's biggest striped bass

time-read
10+ mins  |
October 2024
The Anti-Rock Star
The Atlantic

The Anti-Rock Star

Leonard Cohen's battle against shameless male egoism

time-read
10+ mins  |
October 2024
A Brief History of Yuval Noah Harari
The Atlantic

A Brief History of Yuval Noah Harari

How the scholar became Silicon Valley's favorite guru

time-read
10+ mins  |
October 2024
Rachel Kushner's Surprising Swerve
The Atlantic

Rachel Kushner's Surprising Swerve

She and her narrators have always relied on swagger-but not this time.

time-read
9 mins  |
October 2024
Men on Trips Eating Food
The Atlantic

Men on Trips Eating Food

Why TV is full of late-career Hollywood guys at restaurants

time-read
5 mins  |
October 2024
You Think You're So Heterodox
The Atlantic

You Think You're So Heterodox

Joe Rogan has turned Austin into a haven for manosphere influencers, just-asking-questions tech bros, and other \"free thinkers\" who happen to all think alike.

time-read
10+ mins  |
October 2024
What Abortion Bans Do to Doctors
The Atlantic

What Abortion Bans Do to Doctors

In Idaho and other states, draconian laws are forcing physicians to ignore their training and put patients' lives at risk.

time-read
10+ mins  |
October 2024
THE LOYALIST KASH PATEL WILL DO EXACTLY WHAT TRUMP WANTS.
The Atlantic

THE LOYALIST KASH PATEL WILL DO EXACTLY WHAT TRUMP WANTS.

A 40-year-old lawyer with little government experience, he joined the administration in 2019 and rose rapidly. Each new title set off new alarms.

time-read
10+ mins  |
October 2024
THE RADICAL CONVERSION OF MIKE LEE
The Atlantic

THE RADICAL CONVERSION OF MIKE LEE

IN 2016, HE TRIED TO STOP TRUMP FROM BECOMING PRESIDENT. BY 2020, HE WAS TRYING TO HELP TRUMP OVERTURN THE ELECTION. NOW HE COULD BECOME TRUMP'S ATTORNEY GENERAL.

time-read
10+ mins  |
October 2024
HYPOCRISY, SPINELESSNESS, AND THE TRIUMPH OF DONALD TRUMP
The Atlantic

HYPOCRISY, SPINELESSNESS, AND THE TRIUMPH OF DONALD TRUMP

He said Republican politicians would be easy to break. He was right.

time-read
10+ mins  |
October 2024