Becoming More Compassionate (or Conscientious) at the State or Trait Level? Effects of a Short-Term Volitional Intervention Promoting Moral and Non-Moral Personality Change

People can intentionally change specific personality traits, but whether such interventions effectively change moral character traits is less clear. The present study (total N = 179), using two active intervention groups, examined whether a 5-week goal-setting intervention could lead to trait change for either a moral trait, compassion ( n = 87), or the Big 5 trait of conscientiousness ( n = 92). Participants self-selected into one condition after receiving trait-standing feedback and completing a brief reflection task. They set implementation intentions and reflected on their progress every 3 days throughout the intervention. State assessments (N assessments = 1014) were collected every 3 days in addition to trait assessments at pre- and post-test, with follow-up assessments 2 weeks post-program. Results indicated that participants in both intervention groups reported changes in their chosen trait in the short term. In the absence of a randomized blinded control condition, we cannot be certain whether observed changes reflect genuine intervention effects versus demand characteristics, expectancy effects, or regression to the mean. Nonetheless, findings provide preliminary evidence that implementation intention-based interventions may facilitate self-reported short-term increases in moral traits.