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In a nutshell, yes I think you can change yourself. Changing other people is a completely different story.
I think one's personal belief about whether someone can change goes hand-in-hand with their own view of themselves. I've changed tremendously for the better in the past five years. Sure, a statement like 'for the better' has its own philosophical questions, but I'm more focused on doing what I think is best for me than worrying about it. People can change if they put in the effort and follow the right formula to instill it. Although with bumps along the road and days when I feel like it's useless, I've put in a lot of energy to deconstructing and rewiring my mind over the last year by reading a lot about it (Osho was a good start) and putting it into practice (affirmations, mindfulness, meditation). I had quite a fucked up childhood, adolescence, and my early 20s were a blur. There's a lot of good to take from it all and I wouldn't trade any of that experience for anything else in the world. But it's definitely thrown up some roadblocks as I try to reshape my personality and develop a more positive outlook on life in general. Perspective is a big part of that. The best measure of this is the people around you; your family and friends. You can say you've changed all you want, but if the people who know you the best haven't noticed then you haven't done shit.
One example of what I've been working on: my anger. I've always been a very reactive person. Although I still react at times when I get trapped in the situation, I've learned how to ease back, assess the situation, and respond to it instead. To me, that's a small but very significant change. Emotional intelligence 101. Changing your attitudes and behaviors. It works wonders.
I'm sure someone on here can pull empirical evidence to support one claim or the other, but I usually like to just speak from firsthand experience anyways.
Change, although difficult, is very much possible in my opinion.
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