Political news is frequently found by studies to be a major stressor in people’s lives.
People with this personality trait live an average of two to four years longer.
People with this personality trait live an average of two to four years longer.
People who are conscientious have stronger immune systems and live the longest lives, research finds.
Conscientious people tend to be self-disciplined and they aim for achievement.
Highly conscientious people live an average of two to four years longer.
They are also less likely to smoke or drink and experience lower levels of stress.
Two aspects of conscientiousness have the strongest link to a long life:
Now, a new study finds that the link is at least partly explained by the immune system.
People higher in conscientiousness have lower levels of a biological marker called interleukin-6, which is linked to inflammation in the body.
Dr Páraic Ó Súilleabháin, the study’s first author, said:
“Our personality is critically important throughout our lives, from early stages in our development, to the accumulation of the impact of how we think, feel, and behave across our lives, and in the years preceding our death.
It is also becoming increasingly apparent how important personality actually is for our long-term health and resulting longevity.
For instance, it has been shown that people scoring lower on the personality trait of conscientiousness (a tendency to be responsible, organized, and capable of self-control) can be at a 40% increased risk of future death compared to their higher scoring counterparts.
What is not clear is how this could happen, and importantly, what biological pathway might be responsible for this link.”
The study included 957 adults who were tracked over 14 years.
Dr Ó Súilleabháin explained the results:
“We found that part of the reason why people who score higher on the personality trait of conscientiousness live longer is as a result of their immune system, specifically due to lower levels of a biological marker called interleukin-6.
There are likely further biological mechanisms that are yet to be discovered which will give a clearer picture of all the different ways that our personalities are so critical to our long-term health.”
Other personality traits linked to a stronger immune system include extraversion and being emotionally stable.
→ Read on: How to change your personality.
The study was published in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity (O’Súilleabháin et al., 2021).
Around 25% of Americans experience an anxiety disorder at some point in their lives.
Around 25% of Americans experience an anxiety disorder at some point in their lives.
Being neurotic is the strongest risk factor for depression and anxiety, research finds.
Neuroticism is a tendency to experience negative emotions like fear, guilt, shame, sadness and anger.
People who are neurotic tend to startle easily and can be nervous even when there is nothing to be nervous about, the study showed.
The good news is that a depressive personality can be changed, contrary to what many people think.
Also, being high in conscientiousness and an extravert together has a protective effect on people who are highly neurotic.
The conclusions come from a study of 132 adolescents who were told they would receive mild electric shocks at specific moments.
The results showed that neurotic people were more nervous even when they knew there was no shock coming.
Professor Michelle Craske, the study’s first author, said:
“…these findings suggest that persons with high neuroticism would respond with appropriate fear to actual threatening events, but with additional unnecessary anxiety to surrounding conditions.
This type of responding may explain why neuroticism contributes to the development of pervasive anxiety.”
Professor Craske explained that her goal is to see what separates depression from anxiety and what unites them:
“Anxiety and depression often go hand in hand; we’re trying to learn what factors place adolescents at risk for the development of anxiety and depression, what is common between anxiety and depression, and what is unique to each.
We chose this age group because 16-to-19 is when anxiety and mood disorders tend to surge in prevalence.”
Many of the participants were already experiencing anxiety and depression before the study started, Professor Craske said:
“We assumed most would not be currently anxious or depressed and we would see who develops disorders over time.
We were surprised to see that more than 20 percent had a current or past anxiety disorder, and 30 percent had a current or past mood disorder at the start of the study.”
The study was published in the journal Biological Psychiatry (Craske et al., 2009).
These antagonistic personality traits are linked to prejudiced view against gay and trans people.
14.5 million pairs of twins reveal the root cause of your personality, intelligence, propensity for mental illness and health.
Feeling lonely is a part of some people’s genetic makeup.
Feeling lonely is a part of some people’s genetic makeup.
People who are neurotic have a genetic tendency towards loneliness, research finds.
Neuroticism is a personality trait that indicates a tendency to experience stress and insecurity.
However, loneliness is not just genetic, it is also a result of life circumstances.
In fact, the environment plays a bigger part than genetics — which is good news, because that means it can change.
Lonely people do not have to stay that way, whatever their genetic makeup.
Professor Julie Aitken Schermer, the study’s first author, said:
“If you have rich interactions with people, that’s an environmental component that would combat the genetic impact of loneliness.”
The conclusions come from research on 764 pairs of twins in Australia.
Twins enable researchers to separate out the influence of genetics and the environment on a person.
All were asked about their personality and any loneliness they experienced.
The results showed that people who were neurotic reported feeling more lonely.
In contrast, those who were high in extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness were less likely to experience loneliness.
The authors write:
“The results suggest common genetic and unique environmental factors play a role in personality and loneliness.”
Professor Schermer is worried about the spread of loneliness across society:
“It does concern be me because we’re getting lonelier as a society.
We’re not having the same richness of interaction.”
Professor Schermer sees it in her students:
“They’re all looking at their devices and not interacting with each other.
I always tell my students, ‘Put your stuff down and talk to each other.’
This is the key time to make friends – they already have things in common.”
The study was published in the Journal of Research in Personality (Schermer & Martin, 2019).
This fast walker personality study reveals that there is a relationship between how a person walks and their personality.
This fast walker personality study reveals that there is a relationship between how a person walks and their personality.
Fast walkers are more likely to have personalities that are extraverted, conscientious and open to new experiences.
Naturally, though, with age, people tend to walk more slowly.
However, those high in extraversion, conscientiousness and openness to new experience did not slow down as much as they got older.
The study’s authors conclude:
“This study provides robust evidence that walking speed in adulthood reflects, in part, the individual’s personality.”
The results come from over 15,000 people between 25 and 100 years old.
They were given personality tests and their walking style was assessed from their usual gait.
Fast walking was most strongly linked to two personality traits, the authors write:
“Extraversion and conscientiousness were the most consistent personality correlates of walking speed.
Active and enthusiastic individuals and those with self-discipline and organization walked faster at follow-up and declined less in gait speed over time in the HRS.”
People with neurotic personalities, though, tended to walk more slowly.
Much research has already linked walking slowly to all sorts of negative outcomes, the study’s authors explain:
“…slower gait is predictive of a range of deleterious outcomes, including poor mental health, higher risk of incident functional
limitations and disability, impaired cognition and incident dementia, and ultimately higher mortality risk.”
So, stop dawdling there on the sidewalk!
The study was published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science (Stephan et al., 2017).
There are two types of extroverts, each with distinct brain anatomies.
There are two types of extroverts, each with distinct brain anatomies.
There are two different types of extroverts — ‘agentic’ and ‘affiliative’ — each with distinct brain structures, research finds.
Agentic extroverts are ‘go-getters’: the kind of outgoing people who are persistent, assertive and focused on achievement.
The other kind of extroverts have a softer side.
Affiliative extroverts tend to be more affectionate, friendly and sociable.
Both types of extroverts share distinct brain anatomy as well as displaying distinct differences, the new research finds.
Dr Tara White, the study’s first author, said that extroverts in general are keen to share:
“These are people just sharing with you how they tend to experience the world and what’s important to them.
The fact that that’s validated in the brain is really exciting. There’s a deep reality there.
This is the first glimpse of a benchmark of what the healthy adult brain looks like with these traits.”
For the study, researchers scanned the brains of 83 people to look for similarities and differences in key areas of the brain.
They found that both types of extroverts had more gray matter in the medial orbitofrontal cortex.
This area of the brain has been linked to making decisions based on rewards.
Agentic extroverts, though, had larger volumes in some other areas as well.
These were related to learning and memory for reward, cognitive control of behaviours and planning and execution.
The study can’t tell us whether these areas are the cause of the personality differences or the result of them, or perhaps some combination of the two.
The study’s authors concluded:
“[The] findings provide a developmental benchmark from which to better understand the etiology of problems in agentic extroversion and affiliative extroversion, such as can occur in normal aging and neurodegenerative disease.”
The study is published in the journal Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience (Grodin & White, 2015).
The trait is linked to feeling pure and in touch with yourself.
The trait is linked to feeling pure and in touch with yourself.
Believing in free will makes you feel more authentic and pure, research finds.
Free will is the belief that we have the power to make our own choices and we are not ruled by fate.
Feeling closer to your true self has a number of benefits, including lower depression and anxiety.
A sense of free also helps boost people’s self-esteem and increases their sense of meaning in life.
Dr Elizabeth Seto, the study’s first author, said:
“Whether you agree that we have free will or that we are overpowered by social influence or other forms of determinism, the belief in free will has truly important consequences.”
For the study, almost 300 people were split into two groups.
One group wrote about experiences that reflected free will, while the other wrote about experiences that lacked it.
The results showed that a lack of free will was linked to less self-awareness and even self-alienation.
People who wrote about free will, though, felt more in touch with themselves.
Dr Seto said:
“Our findings suggest that part of being who you are is experiencing a sense of agency and feeling like you are in control over the actions and outcomes in your life.
If people are able to experience these feelings, they can become closer to their true or core self.”
In a subsequence study, people whose sense of free will was boosted, reported feeling more authentic about making a donation to charity.
Dr Seto said:
“When we experience or have low belief in free will and feel ‘out of touch’ with who we are, we may behave without a sense of morality.
This is particularly important if we have a goal to improve the quality of life for individuals and the society at large.”
The study was published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science (Seto & Hicks, 2016).
Blood pressure can be treated with medication and/or a series of relatively simple lifestyle changes, including exercise and diet.
Blood pressure can be treated with medication and/or a series of relatively simple lifestyle changes, including exercise and diet.
High blood pressure can make people more neurotic, a study finds.
Neuroticism is one of the five major aspects of personality — it is characterised by heightened levels of anxiety and worry.
Treatment of this common condition, therefore, could help to reduce common neurotic tendencies, such as worry, hostility and depression — not to mention its more usual benefit of heart health.
Blood pressure can be treated with medication and/or a series of relatively simple lifestyle changes, including exercise and diet.
While the link between neuroticism and high blood pressure has already been identified, it was not clear which causes which.
The study’s authors write:
“Individuals with neuroticism can be sensitive to the criticism of others, are often self-critical, and easily develop anxiety, anger, worry, hostility, self-consciousness, and depression.
Neuroticism is viewed as a key causative factor for anxiety and mood disorders.
Individuals with neuroticism more frequently experience high mental stress, which can lead to elevated [blood pressure] and cardiovascular diseases.
Appropriate surveillance and control of blood pressure can be beneficial for the reduction of neuroticism, neuroticism-inducing mood disorders, and cardiovascular diseases.”
The genetic study examined millions of samples of blood pressure and psychological states from 8 different studies including many hundreds of thousands of people.
The results showed that diastolic blood pressure caused high levels of neuroticism.
Diastolic blood pressure is the second number in the measurement and it reflects the blood pressure in your arteries when your heart rests between beats.
However, there was no link between blood pressure and depressive symptoms, anxiety or happiness.
It is not known exactly why blood pressure has this effect on personality, but clearly heart and brain are linked.
Other studies on the link between personality and blood pressure have shown that:
→ Read on: how to spot the common signs of high blood pressure
The study was published in the journal General Psychiatry (Cai et al., 2022).
Join the free PsyBlog mailing list. No spam, ever.
