Human beings are mostly primed by evolution to be optimistic, but it is not always the best policy.
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, research finds.
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.
It is 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.
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 pursuit 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.”
The study was published in the journal Learning and Individual Differences (Moutafi et al., 2006).
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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Why some violent criminals are more likely than others to offend again.
One-in-four children worldwide is maltreated.
Women’s natural assertiveness is revealed online.
There is little evidence that children ‘turn into’ their parents, but parental personalities are central.
One way to deal with less attractive personality traits.
Like most psychological concepts this personality trait exists on a continuum.
These antagonistic personality traits are linked to prejudiced view against gay and trans people.
Kidney donors may incur considerable expense and undergo painful surgery even without knowing the organ’s recipient. Why do they do it?
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These personality traits are linked to a genetic variation that can be detected from a saliva sample.
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).
There are two psychological traits that help people resists the connection between stress and biological aging.
There are two psychological traits that help people resists the connection between stress and biological aging.
Stress makes people age faster, a study confirms.
Even among relatively young and healthy people, those who had experienced more stress displayed biological markers of greater aging than their actual years.
Avoiding stress, therefore, can potentially help you live longer.
There are also two psychological traits that help people resists the connection between stress and biological aging.
Both resilience and self-control help people defy the aging effects of stress on their bodies.
Self-control refers to the ability to manage our actions and emotions — indeed, higher self-control is linked to looking younger.
Psychological resilience is the ability to overcome challenges and return to a stable frame of mind relatively quickly.
Both of these factors are potentially powerful as they allow people to avoid some of the ravages of stress on their body.
Prolonged stress has been shown to increase the risk of:
Stress also stops people thinking clearly and regulating their emotions efficiently.
Dr Zachary Harvanek, the study’s first author, said:
“These results support the popular notion that stress makes us age faster, but they also suggest a promising way to possibly minimize these adverse consequences of stress through strengthening emotion regulation and self-control.”
The study included 444 people who had their biological age measured and compared to their actual, chronological age.
Biological age is revealed by natural chemical changes that occur to DNA, which are known as ‘epigenetic clocks’.
The results showed that these epigenetic clocks had run slower in people who had experienced less prolonged stress.
However, psychological resilience and self-control made a longer and healthier life more likely, even in the face of stress.
Professor Rajita Sinha, study co-author, said:
“We all like to feel like we have some agency over our fate.
So it is a cool thing to reinforce in people’s minds that we should make an investment in our psychological health.”
The study was published in the journal Translational Psychiatry (Harvanek et al., 2021).
The conclusion comes from 21,000 Swedish twins who completed personality tests.
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).
Certain personality traits influence the body’s immune system response.
Certain personality traits influence the body’s immune system response.
People with more stable emotions have stronger immune systems, research finds.
People who are emotionally stable usually find it easier to control their urges and are mostly unselfconscious.
Emotional stability is linked to being better at dealing with stress and minor frustrations.
Neuroticism lies at the opposite end of the spectrum from emotional stability.
People who are neurotic typically experience more negative thinking and tend to have worse mental health.
The study included 84 people whose response to a vaccine for hepatitis B was tested.
The results showed that people who were more neurotic — meaning easily stressed, nervous and moody — tended to have weaker immune system responses.
Those who were more emotional stable had a stronger immune response.
Dr Anna L. Marsland,, the study’s first author, said:
“The present findings support a link between trait negative affect and an objective health measure — antibody response to vaccination — raising the possibility that individuals high in trait negative affect or neuroticism may have less protective immune responses.”
In a second part of the study, people were given a stressful task to test their immune function.
The results showed that stress tended to lower people’s immune system response — as previous studies have found.
Along with emotional stability, extraversion has also been linked to a stronger immune system, by a genetic analysis.
Extraverts are typically outgoing, talkative and energetic, meaning they tend to interact with more people.
They are, therefore, exposed to more infections.
A stronger immune response may help to protect extraverts against infectious diseases.
Introverts, meanwhile, tend to have a weaker immune response, as do cautious people.
The study included 121 people who were given personality questionnaires, along with genetic tests and general health screening.
The results showed that extraverts had the highest expression of pro-inflammatory genes.
The effect of these genes is to help fight off infections.
Introverts and cautious conscientious people tended to have a lower inflammatory response.
The study was published in the journal Health Psychology (Marsland et al., 2001).
The considerable advantages of being an extravert — especially in the work environment.
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).
These traits are all linked to having higher intelligence.
These traits are all linked to having higher intelligence.
Having an active fantasy life, appreciating beauty, being emotionally sensitive and wide-ranging curiosity are linked to high IQ, research finds.
All of these are components of the major personality trait of ‘openness to experience’.
People who are open to experience are more interested in things that are complex, new and unconventional.
They are sensitive to their feelings, intellectually curious and seekers of variety.
Curiosity has an especially strong link to high IQ.
This may be because higher intelligence drives a ‘cognitive hunger’.
This encourages people to seek out new experiences to satiate the hunger.
The conclusions come from a study of 17,415 people from the UK.
They were given intelligence and personality tests and followed for 40 years.
The results showed the remarkable strength of the link between openness to experience and IQ.
The study’s authors explain their results:
“…childhood intelligence is indeed positively associated with adult trait Openness, even when it was assessed almost four decades earlier when participants were at 11 years.
Intelligence may influence the development of personality in that intelligent people develop habits to satisfy their curiosity and ‘‘cognitive hunger’’ which are an essential ingredient of Openness.”
The study’s authors think that it is high IQ that drives openness to experience:
“Parents of higher socioeconomic status may foster children’s trait Openness by providing better resources such as choosing good schools and cultural environment (theaters, museums, traveling abroad, etc.); intelligent children tend to use more mental activities (such as abstract ideas, learning new vocabularies, or math formulas) than those who are less intelligent; school settings (quality of teaching, good facilities) may enhance pupils to engage more in school learning.
All these three factors may influence educational and
occupational achievement, which in turn, may increase
the scores on Openness.”
The study was published in the Journal of Individual Differences (Furnham & Cheng, 2016).
Many of us will change much more than we imagine over the coming decades.
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).
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