Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Mar;17(2):360-384.
doi: 10.1177/1745691621991852. Epub 2021 Jul 20.

Personality Change Through Arts Education: A Review and Call for Further Research

Michael P Grosz  1 , Julia M Lemp  2 , Beatrice Rammstedt  3 , Clemens M Lechner  3
Affiliations
Review

Personality Change Through Arts Education: A Review and Call for Further Research

Michael P Grosz et al. Perspect Psychol Sci. 2022 Mar.

Abstract

Education involving active engagement in the arts, herein called arts education, is often believed to foster the development of desirable personality traits and skills in children and adolescents. Yet the impact of arts education on personality development has rarely been systematically investigated. In the current article, we reviewed the literature on personality change through arts education. We identified 36 suitable experimental and quasi-experimental studies. Evidence from these studies tentatively suggests that arts-education programs can foster personality traits such as extraversion and conscientiousness but not self-esteem. In addition, the effects of arts education appeared to be stronger in early and middle childhood than in preadolescence and early adolescence. However, the evidence for the effectiveness of arts education was very limited among the few included true experiments. Furthermore, the reviewed studies were heterogenous and subject to content-related, methodological, and statistical limitations. Thus, the current evidence base is inconclusive as to the effects of arts education on personality development. By identifying potential effects of arts education and limitations of past research, our review serves as a call for more research and guidepost for future studies on arts education and personality change.

Keywords: arts education; arts interventions; personality change; personality development; self-esteem.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared that there were no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship or the publication of this article.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Four potential paths from arts education to personality trait change.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Weighted average effect size dz for effect of arts education on personality change in various designs, age groups, forms of arts education, and personality domains. The shades of gray indicate the number of participants that the weighted average effect sizes were based upon (darker shades = larger samples). k = number of samples; Blended = measures that assessed more than one personality domain.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Update of

References

    1. Alan S., Boneva T., Ertac S. (2019). Ever failed, try again, succeed better: Results from a randomized educational intervention on grit. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 134(3), 1121–1162. 10.1093/qje/qjz006 - DOI
    1. Alan S., Ertac S. (2018). Fostering patience in the classroom: Results from randomized educational intervention. Journal of Political Economy, 126(5), 1865–1911.
    1. Almlund M., Duckworth A. L., Heckman J., Kautz T. (2011). Personality psychology and economics. In Hanushek E. A., Machin S., Woessmann L. (Eds.), Handbook of the economics of education (pp. 1–181). Elsevier. 10.1016/B978-0-444-53444-6.00001-8 - DOI
    1. Asendorpf J. B., Baumert A., Schmitt M., Blum G., van Bork R., Rhemtulla M., Borsboom D., Chapman B. P., Clark D. A., Durbin C. E., Hicks B. M., Condon D. M., Mroczek D. K., Costantini G., Perugini M., Freese J., Goldberg L. R., McCrae R. R., Nave C. S., . . . Mõttus R. (2016). Open peer commentary and author’s response. European Journal of Personality, 30, 304–340. 10.1002/per.2060 - DOI
    1. Aspin D. (2000). Lifelong Learning: The mission of arts education in the learning community of the 21st century. Music Education Research, 2(1), 37–41. 10.1080/14613800050004440 - DOI

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources