“Can an Old Dog Learn (and Want to Experience) New Tricks? Cognitive Training Increases Openness to Experience in Older Adults”, 2012 (; backlinks; similar):
The present study investigated whether an intervention aimed to increase cognitive ability in older adults also changes the personality trait of openness to experience.
Older adults completed a 16-week program in inductive reasoning training supplemented by weekly crossword and Sudoku puzzles. Changes in openness to experience were modeled across 4 assessments over 30 weeks using latent growth curve models.
Results indicate that participants in the intervention condition increased in the trait of openness compared with a waitlist control group.
The study is one of the first to demonstrate that personality traits can change through nonpsychopharmocological interventions.