Personality - Page 17 of 33

The 8 Best Personality Studies Of 2023

Exploring the personality traits of criminals, psychopaths, alexithymics, the anxious and the heroic.

These 8 psychology studies explore the traits of criminals, psychopaths, alexithymics, the anxious and the heroic.

Our own personalities are so familiar that we often do not notice how they influence what we think and do.

It is when interacting with someone whose traits are quite different that our own are thrown into contrast.

What makes criminals, psychopaths and the aggressive the way they are?

What about the successful, the worried, the heroically selfless and even people who feel nothing at all?

All these personality traits and more are explored in these 8 studies from 2023 on the psychology of personality.

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1.

The Personality Trait That Makes Some Criminals So Dangerous (M)

Why some violent criminals are more likely than others to offend again.

The Personality Trait Linked To Childhood Maltreatment (M)

One-in-four children worldwide is maltreated.

Posting More Selfies Is A Sign Of This Personality Trait (M)

Women’s natural assertiveness is revealed online.

These Parental Personality Traits Are Linked To Children’s Success (M)

There is little evidence that children ‘turn into’ their parents, but parental personalities are central.

How To Turn Negative Personality Traits To Advantage (M)

One way to deal with less attractive personality traits.

The Personality Trait Linked To Mood Swings (M)

Like most psychological concepts this personality trait exists on a continuum.

The Type Of Personality Traits Linked To Being Prejudiced (M)

These antagonistic personality traits are linked to prejudiced view against gay and trans people.

The Personality Trait That Marks Out Selfless Heroes (M)

Kidney donors may incur considerable expense and undergo painful surgery even without knowing the organ’s recipient. Why do they do it?

4 Personality Traits That Predict The Happiest Marriages

These personality traits are linked to a genetic variation that can be detected from a saliva sample.

People who are emotionally stable, empathetic and sociable have the happiest marriages, research finds.

Low levels of anxious attachment are also important to relationship satisfaction.

In contrast, people high in anxious attachment are ‘needy’ and worry that their partners do not care for them.

High levels of attachment anxiety are also linked to a fear of abandonment.

So, low levels of anxious attachment are preferable in a partner.

All these personality traits are linked to a genetic variation that can be detected from a saliva sample, new research has found.

The genetic variation affects a neurotransmitter called oxytocin.

Oxytocin — sometimes known as the ‘love hormone’ — is important in social bonding.

Researchers found that when one partner in a marriage had this genetic variation linked to oxytocin, both reported greater marital satisfaction and feelings of security.

The conclusions come from a study of 178 married couples aged 37 to 90.

All were asked about their marital satisfaction and had their genotype analysed from a saliva sample.

The results revealed that those with a genetic variation known as the ‘GG genotype’ had higher marital satisfaction.

Dr Joan Monin, the study’s first author, said:

“This study shows that how we feel in our close relationships is influenced by more than just our shared experiences with our partners over time.
In marriage, people are also influenced by their own and their partner’s genetic predispositions.”

The study was published in the journal PLOS ONE (Monin et al., 2019).

The Major Personality Trait Linked To Depression Risk

The conclusion comes from 21,000 Swedish twins who completed personality tests.

Negative emotionality is the strongest risk factor for depression among personality traits, research finds.

Negative emotionality is essentially being highly neurotic and involves finding it hard to deal with stress and experiencing a lot of negative emotions and mood swings.

People who are neurotic are more likely to experience negative emotions like fear, jealousy, guilt, worry and envy.

Some neurotic people can be quite shy and self-conscious.

The good news is that a depressive personality can be changed, contrary to what many people think.

The study’s authors write:

“…personality is at least somewhat malleable, especially in youth, but may forecast the onset of depression years in advance, which makes traits a potentially attractive means of identifying individuals at risk and informing selection of interventions.”

In addition, other aspects of personality can protect against the disadvantages of negative emotionality.

Being high in conscientiousness and an extravert together has a protective effect on people who are highly neurotic.

The conclusion comes from two studies — one looked at around 21,000 Swedish twins who completed personality tests.

They were followed up over 25 years later and asked about any experience of depression.

The results revealed that negative emotionality was key and that genetic factors were important in the development of depression.

Professor Kenneth S. Kendler, who led the study, said:

“The personality trait of neuroticism – perhaps better understood as “negative emotionality” is a strong risk factor of major depression.
Our study shows that this occurs largely because levels of neuroticism are an index of the genetic liability to depression.”

The second study reviewed many other studies on the link between personality and depression.

It also found that neuroticism or negative emotionality is strongly linked to depression.

The authors conclude that:

“Current evidence suggests that depression is linked to traits such as neuroticism/negative emotionality, extraversion/positive emotionality, and conscientiousness.
Moreover, personality characteristics appear to contribute to the onset and course of depression through a variety of pathways.”

Although links are sometimes found between depression and being introverted, as well as being low on conscientiousness, it is neuroticism that has the greatest link to depression.

The studies were was published in the journals Annual Review of Clinical Psychology and Archives of General Psychiatry (Klein et al., 2011; Kendler et al., 2006).

4 Signs That You Are An Extravert

The considerable advantages of being an extravert — especially in the work environment.

Extraverts typically seek out new experiences, prefer to take charge and are outgoing and talkative.

Introverts, meanwhile tend to be emotionally reserved, quiet and harder to get to know.

A review of the research finds that extraverts tend to enjoy a variety of advantages in the workplace.

Extraverts tend to have better social skills, they feel more positive emotions and are more motivated.

Positive emotions are important as happier people tend to work harder and are seen as better leaders.

Better social skills are linked to persuasion, which is also a key leadership skill.

On top of these advantages, extraverts tend to perform better at work.

This benefit probably springs from their personalities, said Dr Michael Wilmot, the study’s first author:

“If you’re motivated to achieve a goal at work, if you’re feeling positive and you’re good at dealing with people, you’re probably going to perform better on the job.
These advantages appear to have a cumulative effect over the span of one’s career.”

However, introverts should not be dismayed, as they have different skills which are sought after in certain occupations.

In addition, most people are ‘ambiverts’, with a mix of extraverted and introverted traits.

Dr Wilmot said:

“You might be more introverted, but if you’re intelligent, work hard and bring other things to the table, you’re probably going to do well.
At the same time, if you’re more extroverted, but lack the cognitive ability or work ethic, you’re probably not going to be as successful.”

The results come from a review of 91 separate studies conducted around the world on the link between extraversion and work-related factors.

The studies looked at things like work-life balance, motivation, performance and emotional well-being.

The results showed that extraversion was beneficial for 90 percent of the outcomes they examined.

The study was published in the Journal of Applied Psychology (Wilmot et al., 2019).

The Incredible Ways Time Will Probably Change Your Personality

Many of us will change much more than we imagine over the coming decades.

As they get older, many people become more emotionally stable, more agreeable and more conscientious, research finds.

Emotional stability is linked to fewer mental health problems, agreeableness is linked to being considerate and kind while conscientious people are more reliable.

The stereotype of the grumpy senior is totally misplaced, where personality is concerned.

The conclusions come from a study of how personality changes over 50 years.

The results showed that while personality is reasonably stable over a lifetime, it can also change.

Dr Rodica Damian, the study’s first author, said:

“The rankings (of personality traits) remain fairly consistent. People who are more conscientious than others their age at 16 are likely to be more conscientious than others at 66.
But, on average, everyone becomes more conscientious, more emotionally stable, and more agreeable.”

The study included data from 1,795 people who were followed for 50 years from the age of 16 to 66.

Somewhere approaching half of the participants saw changes in their personality over the five decades.

Some people changed more than others, while a few saw negative shifts in their personality.

The researchers conclude:

“Our findings suggest that personality has a stable component across the lifespan, both at the trait level and at the profile level, and that personality is also malleable and people mature as they age.”

Not all psychologists are convinced, though, that personality is even as stable as that.

One study of personality and aging tracked people over 63 years to see if their personality had changed.

The surprise result — well, it’s a surprise to me at any rate — is that there was no relationship whatsoever between people’s personality at age 14 and at age 77.

It was as if the second set of tests — administered 63 years later — had been given to a totally different person.

Perhaps, then, many of us will change much more than we imagine over the coming decades.

→ Read on: How to change your personality

The study was published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (Damian et al., 2018).

The Personality Traits Linked To Long Life

People who live to almost 100 have these personality traits.

Being optimistic, outgoing and enjoying laughter are linked to longevity, research finds.

People who live to almost 100-years old are more likely to be emotionally expressive and positive.

Long-lived people tend to have stable emotions and to have high levels of conscientiousness.

People with stable emotions are non-neurotic and are at a lower risk of developing anxiety and depression.

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

People who are conscientious are more careful, efficient and self-disciplined — and they aim for achievement.

Professor Nir Barzilai, study co-author, said:

“When I started working with centenarians, I thought we’d find that they survived so long in part because they were mean and ornery.
But when we assessed the personalities of these 243 centenarians, we found qualities that clearly reflect a positive attitude towards life.
Most were outgoing, optimistic and easygoing.
They considered laughter an important part of life and had a large social network.
They expressed emotions openly rather than bottling them up.”

The study included 243 people aged over 95-years-old who were given personality tests.

The results showed that centenarians had high scores on two scales:

Positive Attitude Towards Life: includes being outgoing and optimistic
Emotional Expression: not bottling up emotions but letting them out.

Professor Barzilai said:

“Some evidence indicates that personality can change between the ages of 70 and 100, so we don’t know whether our centenarians have maintained their personality traits across their entire lifespans.
Nevertheless, our findings suggest that centenarians share particular personality traits and that genetically-based aspects of personality may play an important role in achieving both good health and exceptional longevity.”

The study was published in the journal Aging (Kato et al., 2012).

The Personality Trait Linked To Heart Disease

The study looked at three different types of hostility: emotional, behavioural and cognitive.

Being hostile and cynical increases the risk of heart problems, research finds.

Cynical people tend to be distrustful of the nature and motives of others and believe they are motivated only by self-interest.

Cynicism is also linked to pessimism and being contemptuous.

While hostility has long been linked to heart problems, this is one of the first studies to link it to being cynical.

The study, which included 196 people, looked at three different types of hostility: emotional, behavioural and cognitive.

Ms Alexandra T. Tyra, the study’s first author, explained:

“Cynical hostility is more cognitive, consisting of negative beliefs, thoughts and attitudes about other people’s motives, intentions and trustworthiness.
It can be considered suspiciousness, lack of trust or cynical beliefs about others.
These findings reveal that a greater tendency to engage in cynical hostility—which appears to be extremely relevant in today’s political and health climate—can be harmful not only for our short-term stress responses but also our long-term health.”

Meanwhile, behavioural hostility manifests as verbal or physical aggression and emotional hostility as chronic anger.

Under healthy circumstances, people get used to stressors and adapt to them.

Ms Tyra explained:

“Essentially, when you’re exposed to the same thing multiple times, the novelty of that situation wears off, and you don’t have as big of a response as you did the first time.
This is a healthy response. But our study demonstrates that a higher tendency for cynical hostility may prevent or inhibit this decrease in response over time.
In other words, the cardiovascular system responds similarly to a second stressor as it did to the first.
This is unhealthy because it places increased strain on our cardiovascular system over time.”

The people in the study were given personality tests along with a test of their stress response.

The results showed that neither emotional nor behavioural hostility were linked to a higher stress response.

Ms Tyra said:

“This does not imply that emotional and behavioral hostility are not bad for you, just that they may affect your health or well-being in other ways.”

However, people with greater cynical hostility had a high and sustained stress response.

Ms Tyra said:

“I would hope that this research raises awareness about the potential health implications of cynicism.
Perhaps the next time someone thinks a negative thought about the motives, intentions or trustworthiness of their best friend, a co-worker or even a politician, they will think twice about actively engaging with that thought.”

The study was published in the journal Psychophysiology (Tyra et al., 2020).

The Personality Trait Linked To Good Mental Health

Personality, though, changes how people interpret and deal with the things that happen to them.

People who are extraverted are less likely to suffer mental health problems, personality research finds.

Extraverts are typically outgoing, talkative and energetic and they tend to have more positive emotions.

However, people who are aggressive and neurotic — a tendency to worry and be emotionally unstable — are at higher risk of mental health problems.

Neuroticism is characterised by negative thinking in a range of areas.

Neurotic people are more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety, as well as drink and drug problems.

Neuroticism, like other aspects of personality, is highly heritable — in other words, it is in a person’s genes.

However, neuroticism can be reduced by psychotherapy.

Neurotic people can learn to think differently, use their neuroticism creatively and perhaps reduce their neuroticism by falling in love.

The conclusions come from almost 600 participants in Switzerland.

They were regularly interviewed from the age of around 19 in 1979, until they were in their fifties in 2008.

The researchers asked them about their families, mental health, personality, any problems with drugs and major life events like relationship break-ups, job losses and so on.

People who are aggressive, neurotic and introverted are particularly at risk, the study’s authors write:

“…persons scoring high on aggressiveness and neuroticism and low on extraversion had an approximately 6 times increased risk for internalising disorder [like depression and anxiety] compared to persons scoring low on aggressiveness and neuroticism and high on extraversion.”

Of course, personality is only one factor that affects whether a person might experience a mental health problem.

Some people’s lives are much more difficult than others.

The researchers found that people who experienced job losses and relationship break-ups were more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety.

Personality, though, changes how people interpret and deal with the things that happen to them.

The study’s authors conclude:

“Our findings stress the fundamental role of personality, mainly neuroticism, for the occurrence, persistence and severity of psychopathology.”

The study was published in the journal European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience (Hengartner et al., 2017).

Is Your Partner A Cheater? These 3 Personality Traits Might Explain It

Infidelity often has a highly corrosive effect on relationships.

Narcissism is one of the strongest predictors that someone will cheat in their relationship, research finds.

Narcissists are likely to be vain, egocentric and over-confident — they like to show off their bodies, talk about themselves and put other people down.

Two other personality factors that predict people’s infidelity are unstable emotions and psychopathy.

People who are unstable are unreliable, careless, badly organised and find it hard to resist temptation.

Psychopaths, meanwhile, are irresponsible, spontaneous and manipulative.

The authors write:

“One of the strongest predictors is Narcissism.
Women high on Narcissism predict that they will flirt with, kiss, and date other men, as well as have one night stands, brief affairs, and serious affairs with other men.”

The results come from a study of 107 married couples who reported on their relationships and any infidelity.

Naturally, people who were dissatisfied with their relationship were more likely to have affairs.

Similarly, couples who had many complaints about their partners were also more likely to have an affair.

Complaints that predicted adultery included alcohol abuse, eyeing up other people, jealousy, condescension and being too possessive.

After narcissism, the authors explain that…

“…two equally strong predictors of mild and serious infidelity are low Conscientiousness and high Psychoticism.
These variables are correlated, and share the common component of impulsivity and inability to delay gratification.
And like Narcissism, Conscientiousness and Psychoticism are stronger predictors of women’s anticipated infidelities than men’s anticipated infidelities.
These findings suggest that a personality style marked by impulsivity, low dependability, and low reliability in general carries over…”

Infidelity often has a highly corrosive effect on relationships, the authors write:

“Infidelity may be the most destructive source of conflict inflicted on a marriage.
Despite its destructive impact, infidelities are estimated conservatively to occur in about half of all marriages.”

The study was published in the Journal of Research in Personality (Buss & Shackleford, 1997).

The Personality Trait Linked To Poor Mental Health

Around one-in-five people is thought to have this personality type.

People with a type D personality have three times the risk of developing psychological problems, research finds.

A type D personality refers to a person who is distressed and experiences more negative emotions, social inhibition and pessimism.

The personality type is linked to anxiety, depression and general poor mental health.

People with type D personalities tend to agree with statements like:

“I am a closed kind of person.”
“I often feel unhappy.”
“I am often down in the dumps.”

Type D people are fearful of rejection if they express their negative emotions.

Around one-in-five people is thought to have a type D personality.

Ms Viola Spek, the study’s first author, said:

“Type D patients tend to experience increased levels of anxiety, irritation and depressed mood across situations and time, while not sharing these emotions with others because of fear of disapproval.
We found that Type D personality predicts mortality and morbidity in these patients, independent of traditional medical risk factors.”

The conclusions come from a study of 6,121 patients with heart problems.

The results showed that those with type D personalities were at three times the risk of cardiovascular problems like heart attacks and heart failure.

A further analysis of 49 separate studies found that type D personalities are at higher risk of psychological problems.

Dr Johan Denollet, study co-author, said:

“Type D personality and depression are distinct manifestations of psychological distress, with independent cardiovascular effects.
Our findings support the simultaneous use of depression and Type D measures to flag high-risk patients.”

Personality types

It was two cardiologists who originally came up with the idea of type A and type B personalities.

They found that type A personalities, who are competitive, hostile and aggressive, are at a higher risk of heart problems than people with a type B personality.

Type Bs are typically easy-going, relaxed and patient.

Studies have been equivocal on whether this dichotomy is useful.

This categorisation of personality types has now been superceded by the Five Factor Model, which classifies personality on five dimensions:

openness to experience,
conscientiousness,
agreeableness,
neuroticism,
and extraversion.

However, type D personalities may provide a useful categorisation beyond the Five Factor Model.

A previous study found that heart failure patients who also had a type D personality were six times more likely to be in a worse state of health.

The study was published in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes (Denollet et al., 2010).

Category: Personality