Do Your Peers Influence Your Personality?

People feel that it is impossible for a person to change his/her personality. However, studies indicate that personalities can be changed, and the rate of change in personality depends on the extent of influence one receives.

One of the most important influences that impact one’s personality is probably the people that take a great part of one’s life such as peers, family members or teachers. Being next to a person who exert a great influence in one’s life can impact you on major life decisions and make remarks that can change an individual entirely as a person and affect what kind of person you become. There is a great quote that talks about how important it is to have great individuals around you, which is: “choosing to surround yourself with great, positive personnel can have a positive impact and make you a better person.”

The positive impact mentioned in the quote can mean many things such as changes in perspective, development in emotions, or personality. People usually believe that such change in a person is a negative thing, but with a better person at your side, these positive impacts usually ends up as something truly positive.

I had a personal experience of how being surrounded by positive personnel can lead to a positive change in personality. Before I came to AISG, I was quiet and introverted because I did not have the freedom to voice my thoughts in Korea, and I felt awkward to act outgoing. My friends in Korea judged me as weird for being outgoing, thus I kept my outgoing traits to myself. However, after I came to AISG, the friends here were more open-minded and they appreciated what I had to say. At the same time, they gave me positive advice of how I can use my outgoing personality to become a great individual in an international school. Their willingness to accept whatever I said and showing me how to take advantage of my “weirdness” transformed me into an extrovert.

People can encounter a great change in personality and much of it depends on the individuals that the people surround themselves with.