Category: Personality

2 Personality Traits That Indicate High IQ

The personality traits that suggest you have higher intelligence.

The personality traits that suggest you have higher intelligence.

The personality traits of being open to experience and having stable emotions both indicate a higher IQ, research finds.

People who are open to experience are more interested in things that are complex, new and unconventional.

Emotional stability is linked to being better at dealing with stress and minor frustrations.

People who are emotionally stable usually find it easier to control their urges and are mostly unselfconscious.

Both stable emotions and being open to experience are linked to better general knowledge, which are two aspect of intelligence.

Psychologists call general knowledge ‘crystallised intelligence’ is one of the two main types of intelligence.

Crystallised intelligence becomes more important as people get older as acquired information and skills predict their success in life.

The other type is called ‘fluid intelligence’, and refers to abstract reasoning and the speed at which the brain works.

The study included 201 university students in the UK who were given tests of personality and general knowledge questions, including:

  • Who wrote Anna Karenina?
  • Who discovered penicillin?
  • Which Beatle was shot in New York?

(See the end of the article for the answers.)

The results showed that people got more answers correct if their personalities were more emotionally stable and they were more open to experience.

Openness to experience is particularly important for general knowledge because it makes people more curious and motivates them to learn new things.

Another personality trait the researchers found was linked to greater general knowledge was introversion.

Signs of introversion include preferring to be in a quiet, relaxing environment and having a rich mental life.

Having a rich mental life likely encourages people with this personality trait to pick up more information about the world.

(The answers are: Leo Tolstoy, Alexander Fleming and John Lennon, respectively.)

The study was published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences (Chamorro-Premuzic et al., 2006).

2 Personality Traits Linked To Chronic Anxiety

The two personality traits can interact with each other to produce chronic anxiety problems.

The two personality traits can interact with each other to produce chronic anxiety problems.

People who are both neurotic and introverted are more likely to experience anxiety problems, research finds.

Signs of introversion include preferring to be in a quiet, relaxing environment and having a rich mental life.

Neurotic people have a tendency towards sadness, irritability and self-consciousness.

The two personality traits can interact with each other to produce chronic anxiety problems.

It may be because people who are both introverted and neurotic tend to pay more attention to things going wrong, rather than to potential rewards.

Over the years, focusing on problems rather than rewards may condition people with these personality traits to experience more anxiety.

This is hardly surprising if all a person sees is problems everywhere.

Another contributing problem could be that introverted and neurotic people are less likely to get help from others, the study’s authors write:

“…perhaps an introverted neurotic person is prone to experiencing greater anxiety because of a lack of social support to aid in the amelioration of such anxiety (an introverted person may not seek much interaction with others).

Thus, an introverted person may not have the coping strategy of seeking social support as an option, which then maintains and potentially exacerbates anxiety…”

The conclusions come from a study of 466 young adults who were assessed twice over three years.

The results showed that those who were both neurotic and introverted were more likely to be experiencing high levels of anxiety issues three years later.

The study’s authors write:

“Low extraversion and high neuroticism relate to greater susceptibility to negative affect, less susceptibility to signals of reward, greater susceptibility to signals of punishment, and higher vulnerability to arousal and anxiety.”

On their own, being neurotic or introverted may not cause a major anxiety problem.

For example, people who are highly neurotic, but also outgoing and extraverted, may be protected from anxiety, the authors write:

“Even if an individual is highly neurotic, this same individual with high extraversion would more likely also be sensitive to signals of reward, which may offset or mask feelings of extreme anxiety.”

People who are just introverted, but with a stable personality (non-neurotic), were no more likely to be anxious, the study found:

“…even if an individual is highly introverted, this same individual with low neuroticism and low emotional reactivity would be less likely to react to signals of punishment with negative affect such as anxiety.”

The study was published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology (Gershuny & Sher, 1998).

The Personality Trait That Lowers Dementia Risk

The trait may encourage people to keep their mind active, which is a protective factor against dementia.

The trait may encourage people to keep their mind active, which is a protective factor against dementia.

People who are open to experience have a lower risk of developing dementia.

This personality trait, one of the five major aspects of personality, is linked to being more imaginative, sensitive to feelings, intellectually curious and seeking variety.

Openness may encourage people to keep their mind active, which a protective factor against dementia.

People who are more open also tend to have higher levels of education, which also reduces dementia risk.

The second personality trait linked to dementia in the study was neuroticism.

However, not all traits are protective: being neurotic increased the risk of developing dementia by 6 percent, the researchers found.

The major personality trait of neuroticism involves a tendency towards worry and moodiness.

People who are neurotic are more likely to experience negative emotions like depression, anxiety, guilt and envy.

Other studies have found that being neurotic may double the risk of developing dementia later in life.

Neurotic people are particularly sensitive to chronic stress.

Personality, though, is not destiny, when it comes to dementia — good brain health is about nature and nurture.

Many factors reduce dementia risk, such as a healthy lifestyle, which includes eating properly and getting enough exercise.

Indeed, making four out of five critical lifestyle changes can reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s by 60 percent.

Keeping the mind active is thought to reduce dementia risk.

Learning new activities, travelling and deepening social relationships may all be beneficial.

The present study included 524 people who were given tests of personality and symptoms of pre-dementia.

Ms Emmeline Ayers, the study’s first author, explained:

“While more studies are needed, our results provide evidence that personality traits play an independent role in the risk for or protection against specific pre-dementia syndromes.

From a clinical perspective, these findings emphasize the importance of accounting for aspects of personality when assessing for dementia risk.”

Related

The study was published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (Ayers et al., 2020).

2 Personality Traits Linked To Negative Thoughts

The best strategy for getting rid of negative thoughts.

The best strategy for getting rid of negative thoughts.

People high in neuroticism are more likely to experience negative thoughts.

In addition, being introverted is linked to spontaneously remembering more negative life events.

Together, both personality traits — neuroticism and introversion — are linked to depression and anxiety.

On the other hand, people with stable emotions who are more extraverted are at lower risk of depression and anxiety.

Neuroticism and introversion are two of the ‘Big Five’ personality traits, which also include agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness to experience.

The study included 71 people who were given personality tests and asked to recall some personal memories.

Dr Florin Dolcos, study co-author, explained:

“We’re looking at traits that are associated with the way that people process the emotional world and the way that they respond to it.

We wanted to look not only at how personality traits might influence what and how people remember, but also to examine how that impacts their (subsequent) emotional state.”

The results showed that both men and women who were more introverted tended to recall more negative memories.

Neurotic women had a tendency to repeatedly return to the same memories, the study revealed.

Psychologists call this rumination.

Dr Dolcos explained:

“Depressed people recollect those negative memories and as a result they feel sad.

And as a result of feeling sad, the tendency is to have more negative memories recollected.

It’s a kind of a vicious circle.”

Neurotic men, though, recalled a higher proportion of negative memories.

Getting rid of negative thoughts

To get rid of negative thoughts, people use a variety of strategies.

For women, trying to suppress negative thoughts did not work, as they returned stronger than before.

(See: the problem with thought suppression.)

Men who made an effort to think differently about their memories — what psychologists call ‘reappraisal’ — recalled more positive memories.

Suppression was not linked to any differences for men.

One of the best ways of getting rid of negative thoughts is using flexible emotional control strategies.

Related

The study was published in the journal Emotion (Denkova et al., 2012).

These Two Personality Traits Could Add Years to Your Life (M)

One trait reliably increased the risk of early death, while two others appeared protective.

One trait reliably increased the risk of early death, while two others appeared protective.

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The Personality Type That Is Easiest To Read At First Glance

The study tested how good we are at assessing a stranger’s personality in a few minutes.

The study tested how good we are at assessing a stranger’s personality in a few minutes.

The personalities of happy, confident people are particularly easy to read at first glance.

It may be because happier people are more likely to project their true personalities.

However, even the personalities of those lower in well-being are relatively easy to read, the research revealed.

The study tested the ability to assess other people’s personalities when speed dating.

It emerged that most can make reasonably accurate judgements about major aspects of personality, such as how open, extraverted and agreeable another person is.

However, some people are much easier to read than others, said Ms Lauren Gazzard Kerr, the study’s first author:

“Some people are open books whose distinctive personalities can be accurately perceived after a brief interaction, whereas others are harder to read.

Strikingly, people who report higher well-being, self-esteem, and satisfaction with life tend to make the task easier.”

The study used a speed dating format in which 372 people met for the first time for only a few minutes.

Afterwards, they were each asked to rate the personality of the person they had met.

The results revealed that the impressions they formed were generally accurate.

However, people were worse at judging the personalities of potential romantic partners than strangers in whom they had no romantic interest.

Perhaps nerves were getting in the way.

One thing emerged strongly: the personalities of happier people are easier to read at first glance.

Dr Lauren Human, study co-author, said:

“Perhaps people that have greater well-being behave in ways that are more in line with their personality — being more authentic or true to themselves.”

Alternatively, it may be that some people tend to be happier because their personalities are perceived more accurately by those they meet.

The researchers next want to find out why some people’s personalities are easier to read, explained Dr Human:

“Understanding why some people are able to be seen more accurately could help us determine strategies that other people could apply to enhance how accurately they are perceived.”

Related

The study was published in the Journal of Research in Personality (Kerr et al., 2020).

This Personality Type Is Most Likely To Cheat

While men are guided by their personality, women’s loyalty is tied directly to the health of the bond.

While men are guided by their personality, women’s loyalty is tied directly to the health of the bond.

Men with performance anxiety who like to take risks are most likely to cheat.

Women, though, tend to cheat if they are dissatisfied with their relationship.

The standard of a man’s relationship does not have much effect on whether he cheats; instead, it is his personality that matters.

The study supports the stereotype that men who are cheaters will continue to cheat, whatever kind of partnership they are in.

Risk-takers tend to be impulsive and can have problems controlling themselves.

Gambling, drug-taking and aggressive behaviour can all be signs of someone who is a risk-taker.

Cheating is one more way for this type of man to find excitement.

The pattern is different among women, where unhappiness in their current relationship predicts cheating.

In fact, women who are dissatisfied with their relationship are twice as likely to cheat on their partner as those who are satisfied.

One-in-five are unfaithful

The study included almost one thousand men and women in (supposedly) monogamous relationships.

The results showed that 23 percent of men and 19 percent of women admitted being unfaithful at some point.

Men’s infidelity was predicted by personality factors like risk-taking.

Professor Milhausen, who led the study, said:

“All kinds of things predict infidelity.

What this study says is that when you put all of those things together, for men, personality characteristics are so strong they bounce everything else out of the model.

For women, in the face of all other variables, it’s still the relationship that is the most important predictor.”

Related

The study was published in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior (Mark et al., 2011).

The Personality Type Linked To Poor Mental Health

This personality type affects around one in six people in the US.

This personality type affects around one in six people in the US.

People with personality disorders are at double the risk of developing mental health problems by 35-years-old.

People with personality disorders are more likely to be socially disadvantaged, separated or divorced.

By 35, people with personality disorders are almost twice as likely to be experiencing depression and/or anxiety.

Personality disorders affect around one in six people in the US.

The three most common personality disorders in the US are:

  1. Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder.
  2. Paranoid personality disorder.
  3. Antisocial personality disorder.

Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) is one of the most well-known of personality disorders.

Those with OCPD are typically perfectionists who are also highly fearful or anxious.

They want to control everything and find it very hard to relax.

In contrast, those with a paranoid personality disorder are extremely mistrustful of others.

They are very sensitive and are always on the lookout for things that confirm their worst fears: that everyone is out to get them.

They assume others are hostile, they bear grudges and find it hard to have an emotional connection with others.

Finally, people with an antisocial personality disorder typically have no regard for other people’s feelings or judgements.

They see themselves as free of society’s rules and standards and are similar to what we think of as a psychopath.

→ More details on how to spot personality disorders.

Dr Paul Moran, who led the Australian study of 1,520 people, said:

“At the age of 24, personality disorder was already linked with social disadvantage, substance misuse and poor mental health.

Eleven years later, the presence of personality pathology predicted the occurrence of anxiety and depression, as well as the absence of long-term relationships.

What is most striking is that these associations were not due to pre-existing mental health, substance use or social problems.

People with personality disorder appear to be a distinctly vulnerable group with regards to future mental health and relationship problems.”

The study was published in the The Lancet Psychiatry (Moran et al., 2016).

This Personality Trait Is A Sign Of High Fluid Intelligence

Fluid intelligence refers to the raw speed at which the brain works.

Fluid intelligence refers to the raw speed at which the brain works.

A hunger for new, unconventional ideas is one of the strongest indicators of high IQ.

People with high IQs are intellectually curious and enjoy things like unusual activities, philosophical arguments and brain teasers.

This desire for new ideas is linked to an aspect of IQ called fluid intelligence.

Fluid intelligence refers to the speed at which the brain works, like the raw power of an engine or the speed at which a computer can process information.

Fluid intelligence is contrasted with crystallised intelligence.

Crystallised intelligence is something like general knowledge: the information that people have learnt about the world over the years.

Seeking the new

The conclusions come from a study of 2,658 employees working at 10 different companies in the UK.

They were all given tests of personality and intelligence.

The results showed that high fluid intelligence was linked to hunger for new ideas.

Like an interest in ideas, being willing to try new activities was also linked to intelligence, the authors write:

“Actions refers to willingness to try different activities, and to a preference for novelty and variety over familiarity and routine.

Fluid intelligence involves things like reaction times, quick thinking, reasoning, seeing relationships and approaching new problems.

This means that individuals high on [fluid intelligence] have an innate ability to cope more efficiently with novel experiences, and to deal with intellectually stimulating tasks such as brain teasers, which would thus make it rewarding for them to pursue such activities.

Similarly, individuals low on [fluid intelligence] may in time grow to avoid such activities, due to their low ability to handle them, which would thus make them less rewarding.”

Related

The study was published in the journal Learning and Individual Differences (Moutafi et al., 2006).

5 Warning Signs Of A Toxic Personality

How to spot people with a toxic personality.

Toxic personalities can survive and even prosper in the workplace, and elsewhere, if they have one critical ingredient.

People with toxic personalities have a mixture of arrogance and deceitfulness.

People with toxic personalities:

  1. are willing to flatter others to obtain favours,
  2. to take advantage of others by cheating,
  3. enjoy showing off their higher status to others,
  4. act in an entitled way,
  5. and want to have things others do not.

However, toxic personalities can survive and even prosper in the workplace, and elsewhere, if they have one critical ingredient: social skills.

Social skills help those with toxic and dark personalities to hide their deceitful nature.

The toxic person continues to abuse trust and trick others behind a smokescreen of harmlessness.

Unfortunately, the study also revealed that others tend to view those who are good at office politics as ripe for promotion, despite their negative traits.

The good news for those who lack social skills is that honesty and humility are highly valued as well.

Dishonest and entitled

The conclusions come from research that reveals how people with dark personalities get ahead in the workplace.

Professor Gerhard Blickle, study co-author, said:

“Such personalities tend to focus on themselves all the time.

Good social skills enable them to deceive others.”

For the study, the researchers interviewed 203 small groups, each containing three people who were colleagues.

They provided data on one another about their personality and social skills.

The results showed that people who were dishonest and entitled could succeed at work if they had good social skills.

They tended to have better jobs and to be seen as more capable by their superiors.

However, those without social skills could still succeed at work with honesty and humility.

Professor Blickle said that rooting out toxic personalities means placing less emphasis on good impressions and more on performance:

“In order to slow down the ascent of toxic personalities, more attention should be paid to actual performance and less to the good impression when selecting staff and making assessments.

Here, it makes sense for instance to also look at the sickness and notice rate of employees, or customer loyalty.”

The study was published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences (Kholin et al., 2020).

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