Adaptability is a skill that encompasses a wide range of abilities and features. One of the most essential aspects of adaptation is the psychological aspect. Although the assumptions to be made on this topic vary depending on the context, one’s psychological characteristics have a substantial impact on all skills and actions that lead to increased adaptability. Accordingly, one of the elements that have an impact on one’s adaptation skills is expected to be one’s personal drives. In this case, the question is who would have better adaptability skills and who would find it more difficult to be adaptable? To answer this question, this article will address what the psychological side of adaptability entails, which attributes are associated with increased adaptability and which are not, and finally, people with various personal drives and their adaptability abilities.
Psychological aspect of adaptability
The psychological element of adaptability can be complex due to the different parts that it entails. These different parts of the psychological aspect of adaptability mainly consist of an individual’s cognitive, behavioral, and emotion regulation in a situation of change or/and uncertainty (Martin et al., 2012). Cognitive adjustment reflects changes or modifications in thinking in response to novel situational demands. An example of this could be willingness to change the thought of “I will hate this new situation, it is going to be so difficult” and taking actions to change it. The new thought could be “I have doubts about the new circumstance but I will be conscious of my needs during this shift and do my best to learn to live with it.” Behavioral adjustment refers to modifications in the type, magnitude, and intensity of behavior to deal with new and uncertain circumstances. Imagine an employee who, in most cases, takes action on their assignments without consulting their superiors. This behavior (taking actions without asking the manager) may need to be adjusted in a scenario that requires adaptability. This could be performed by altering their behavior or the amount of consulting they receive from their job. The new behavior could be initiating a meeting with their manager before taking further steps on their assignments. Lastly, emotional regulation (affective adjustment) entails the modification of any kind of emotional tendencies and responses in a situation of change and uncertainty. It is inevitable to experience unpleasant emotions in a new situation-even if it includes a positive change in it-. As a result, being aware of one’s own emotions and attempting to moderate them before expressing them to others is an example of emotional regulation. An employee who is angry because he has learned that he would be working in a different place can be an example of this. If this person talks to their management right away when they’re angry, it would probably result in an argument.. However, if the employee first applies their own coping strategy to deal with the stress, such as going for a walk, journaling down their thoughts, or listening to their favorite music, they would be more relaxed during the conversation with their boss.
Who is more adaptable?
We know that everyone is unique and has unique capabilities. Accordingly, everyone’s psychological adaptability strengths and weaknesses are different. In order to know who would be better at coping with change and who would struggle more with it, we need to investigate the psychological traits that influence the skills of adaptability. Personality traits and psychological characteristics that are thought to be related to adaptability are explained below:
– Extroversion
According to studies that looked into individual differences in adaptability, the personality trait of extroversion is linked to good adaptability skills. Extroversion is characterized by being outgoing and drawing energy from interacting with others. It is thought that being extroverted may help someone to easily seek help, and communicate their concerns when being faced with change. Furthermore, it may contribute to enhanced observation skills which may lead to the ability of making a good analysis of the environment, which is important for adapting to a change.
– Being a curious learner
It may be easier to embrace change if you are curious about what life has in store for you and what you can learn from everyone and everything. Furthermore, being curious might influence how a new circumstance or change is perceived. Curious people, for example, are more likely to regard the new situation as a chance to learn new things rather than as an “issue” that must be adjusted.
– Self monitoring
Self-monitoring is a personality trait that involves the ability to monitor and regulate self-presentations, emotions, and behaviors in response to social environments and situations. It involves being aware of your own behavior and the impact it has on your environment. If we are aware of our actions then we tend to act appropriately in every situation. Furthermore, being aware of one’s own feelings and reactions would provide better emotional regulation which was discussed as part of the psychological aspect of adaptability.
– Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence is the ability to perceive, manage, and regulate emotions. People who are emotionally aware often self-manage their emotional responses effectively. They are aware of other’s emotions and therefore handle interactions with others well. Their ability to pick the emotional signals and respond appropriately minimizes harm within relationships and amplifies mutual connection. Emotional intelligence and self-monitoring can be considered related. Emotional intelligence can be seen as a specifically emotion-focused aspect of self-monitoring.
– Positive attitude towards the changes
People who have good adaptability skills often practice positive self-talk to help them get through difficult activities. They are also at ease with self-correcting without causing any ego damage. Moreover, their positive mindset leads to actively pursuing and cherishing the positive moments in life. They often are grateful for good things and therefore able to see the good in change, and transition. This positive attitude towards the change can be considered as part of “being a curious learner” which was discussed earlier.
– Goal orientation
Goal orientation is a personality trait that affects how people interpret and react to events or situations that are the consequence of their own goals. Having a high goal orientation leads to striving to improve one’s skills and to perform well compared to others. Someone with high goal orientation would be able to focus on their goal, assess the necessary steps to take, analyze the needs which need to be fulfilled in order to achieve their goal. This would lead to adapting to various situations easier than people who don’t have high goal orientation.
– Being a team player
Since we, humans, are living in a highly social environment, situations in which we must adapt may occur within a group. Sometimes the change itself might even be about taking part in a new group. Someone who describes themselves as a “team player” wouldn’t struggle with taking part and performing in a group. This would make it easier to face different challenges and unpredictable circumstances. Furthermore, being a team player provides the opportunity of being able to take help when necessary during an adaptation process
– Self-efficacy
Self-efficacy can be defined as the perceived capability of performing a task. It is a dynamic trait that changes over time when new information is obtained and experiences are acquired (Gist & Mitchell, 1992). Self-efficacy reflects on the construction and arranging of adaptive behavior to fit changing situations.Moreover, it provides individuals with the confidence to deviate from familiar structures and routines when necessary, enhancing their cognitive flexibility (Gist & Mitchell, 1992). Therefore it is strongly related to adaptability.
Who is less adaptable?
As can be seen, there are many features that contribute to adaptability. Well, is it possible to talk about a feature that negatively affects adaptability and complicates an individual’s adaptation process? Skills can be improved with practice, training and getting knowledge. Therefore, it is hard to define the factors that lead to lower adaptability skills because adaptability can be seen as a skill set. On the other hand, there is one factor that seems to be related to not being adaptable: Rigidity. Rigidity or fixedness can be defined as not being flexible, having the mindset of“this is the only way”. Rigid thinking occurs when an individual is unable to consider alternatives to the current situation, alternative viewpoints, or innovative solutions to a problem. Rigid thinkers cling tightly to preconceptions and generalizations, and often react with fear or hostility in the face of unexpected change or challenges.
Personal Drives and Adaptability
In the context of the Personal Drives Assessment, personal drıves reflect a highly primary, unconscious emotion that causes a person to exhibit a particular pattern of behavior or communication. Personal drives cause people to react differently to the same situation. An example of this is situations that involve change and require adaptation. As mentioned earlier, there are many characteristic factors that affect the ability to adapt. Personal drives are more situational and less obvious than these characteristic features, and are internally focused. However, considering that it directly affects the individual’s reaction to a certain situation, it is expected that one’s adaptability skills will vary depending on personal drives.
Adaptability amongst different personal drives
– Blue: The color blue reflects structure orientation. People who have high blue scores in their profile find it difficult to be spontaneous and flexible. They like to keep order and clarity. They strictly engage in agreements, contracts and rules. It is very hard for them to change their opinion. Therefore, adaptability is not their strength. It would take a long time for them to develop new structures and regulations, which they severely need.
– Purple: The color purple reflects group orientation. People who have high purple scores like to stick to the things that have been there for a long time such as agreements and old stories. Their group identity is very important for them and they value the norms within the group. On the other hand, change is something difficult for them. Therefore, adaptability wouldn’t be their best skill.
– Silver: The color silver reflects experience orientation. People who have high silver scores arto see the big picture in a complicated situation. However, it might take a long time for them to see it. They might be slow to react because of this. In a situation of change, they would be able to see the big picture after some time. On the other hand, they wouldn’t be that good at taking actions during the change. This would lead to having inadequate adaptability skills.
– Green: The color green reflects people orientation. People who have high green scores would easily take help in a situation of change. They would also help others to adapt to the change. However, their pitfall in a situation that requires adaptability would be them getting distracted by their interaction with others and not taking the necessary actions in time. Moreover, since they get their energy from other people, in a stressful environment (which is very likely in a situation of change), they might not be the most efficient. Therefore, they wouldn’t have the best adaptability skills.
– Yellow: The color yellow reflects being thought-driven. People with high yellow scores can find creative and innovative solutions to problems. They like to be free and independent. Therefore, in a situation that requires adaptability, they would come up with great strategies as long as they have the space to be in their head for some time. Moreover, since they live in the future, they would probably already be thinking of the possible scenarios that may occur and be prepared in their mind. It can be concluded that people with high yellow scores have good adaptability skills.
– Orange: The color orange reflects goal-orientation. Their goals are the most important and prior thing for people who have high orange scores. Moreover, the way that the goal is achieved is less important than achieving the goal for them. This means that even in a completely different situation, they would find ways to achieve their goals. They are also good at taking actions towards their goals. Therefore, adaptability can be considered as their strength.
-Red: The color red reflects power orientation. People who have high red scores dare to tell their honest opinion without being hesitant of possible conflict. They like to be dominant and they can easily take the lead in the group. This may seem like an advantage in a situation of change. However, if there are different opinions and they feel threatened, then they would experience strong emotions like anger. This would lead to them losing their control and just focusing on their power rather than the main goal. Therefore it may be concluded that they have adequate adaptability skills due to their ability to take actions. However, circumstances really matter for them to perform adaptability.
To conclude, adaptability includes different psychological aspects. Some of these aspects are personality traits that are more resistant to change. However, many of them are skills and attitudes that can be modified and improved. On the other hand, some researchers have an ongoing discussion about considering adaptability as a personality type. Even if adaptability is a personality trait, there are numerous strategies to enhance it. This also relates to personal drives. Personal drives determine what motivates us and what demotivates us. It also gives an idea about how we react in certain situations. However, it is not a fixed criterion that determines exactly how we adapt to different situations. Lastly, the whole process of self-development in terms of adaptability starts with being aware of our own behaviors, strengths and weaknesses. Moreover, willing to change if necessary is the key element of improving our skills.
