Credibility & Redemption: Can We Change?

If you’re following the trial in New York against Donald Trump, the headline story is the credibility of Michael Cohen who is testifying against him. With his sordid  reputation and history he is being rightfully assailed for his credibility. He has willingly admitted repeated lying and stealing in the past. So it makes his present testimony suspect to say the least. How do you judge him here? Does his willingness to admit past lies for his own benefit mean he is untruthful here? Is he persuasive? Has he changed as he claims? Is he looking for forgiveness? Is this just expediency to prevail in his obvious animus toward Donald Trump? We can all make our judgement of him, but In the end the jury will conclude.

How Do We Change?

But lets’s move past this individual and think about the matter of personality change and, more to the point, character change. Personality is fixed and stable in most of us, like introversion or extroversion. Character is another matter. Can a person’s character change over time? And how? This is a central research question and the focus of research, especially among incarcerated individuals, facing their consequences.

We all change over the course of our lives often in response to life events that compelled the shift. Some of these are dramatic of course. A loss of some kind, a job, a move, a death, and whatever overtakes us. And we adapt. This is our great capacity as human beings. We adjust and move forward as we can. But what about making a change that is motivated as an act of determination and will? Here’s where the notion gets difficult. What are the factors that affect personal character change. How does a person change their character?

Fixed or Growth Mindset

Carol Dweck is a prominent Stanford psychologist known for her research on ‘mindset’. She offers the distinction between a ‘fixed and growth mindset.’ And this distinction underpins her assertion that by ‘adopting a growth mindset’ it can lead to personal development and character change. It is pertinent for parents, educators and anyone in the helping business. For any of us and all of us it is worthy of reflection. Adopting a ‘growth mindset’ means doing the work with discipline to change and overcome limitations that we have taken for granted as beyond our control. She uses the example of talking to a person who says: “I’m not good at math.” And Dr. Dweck responds: ‘yes!’ She is reminding the person that they are stuck in a ‘fixed mindset’. But by rejecting the individuals’s helpless assertion, they are challenged to do the work with discipline. ‘I will become proficient and even achieve mastery here! I am mot helpless. Adopting this attitude reflects the ‘growth mindset’.

And I am guilty of this myself! Why? Because…well…I’m not good at math.

Thank you Dr. Carol!