Category: Personality

How tidy or messy desks reflect on your personality.

A tidy desk and office makes people think you have stable emotions, an agreeable personality and a conscientious nature, new research finds.

A cluttered desk, though, is linked to being neurotic, disagreeable and disorganised.

Essentially, people make a direct link from an untidy office to negative personality traits.

All is not lost, though, for messy people.

Messy desks have been linked to breaking rules and higher creativity in previous research.

The latest conclusions come from a study in which 160 people sat in three offices of varying levels of tidiness.

They were then asked to make judgements about the occupant’s personality.

Professor Terrence Horgan, who led the study, explained the results:

“When there are cues related to less cleanliness, order, organization and more clutter in an owner’s primary territory, perceivers’ ascribe lower conscientiousness to the owner, whether that owner is a worker in the real world (office), a job-seeker (apartment), a student (bedroom) or a researcher at a university (lab office).”

Ms Sarah Dyszlewski, study co-author, said:

“Once trait information about a target becomes activated in perceivers’ minds, either consciously or unconsciously, that information can subsequently affect how they process information about, the types of questions they ask of, and how they behave toward the target, possibly bringing out the very trait information that they expected to see from the target in the first place.”

The study was published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences (Horgan et al., 2019).

Many of the stereotypes about rich people’s personalities are true, research finds.

Rich people are more extraverted, conscientious, emotionally stable and narcissistic than others, new research reveals.

Confirming the stereotype, rich people are also more self-centred and less agreeable.

The results come from a study of 130 German millionaires who all had financial assets of at least one million euros (not including property).

They were compared to a large survey of the general public.

All were quizzed about their personality and wealth.

Dr Marius Leckelt, the study’s first author, said:

“Despite the influence of high net-worth people on society, evidence about their personality is scarce.

What research there has been has tended to concentrate on how social or antisocial they are.

We wanted to discover whether they differ from the wider population more generally and, if so, how.”

Along with their findings about the personalities of millionaires, the researchers also asked a group of people how they viewed the rich.

The results showed that people overestimated how different the rich were to themselves.

However, they did identify broadly the same trends of greater conscientiousness, emotional stability and self-centredness.

Many of the wealthy Germans in the study had their own businesses, the study’s authors write:

“…more than 60% of our millionaire sample indicated that one of their main sources of wealth came from running their own company, suggesting that entrepreneurial behaviour may play an especially important role for these high‐net‐worth individuals.”

This may well stem from the ‘entrepreneurial personality’, which is something rich people shared:

“The ‘entrepreneurial personality profile’ has been described by a combination of high Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and Openness as well as lower Agreeableness and Neuroticism.

This constellation is thought to address typical affordances of being an entrepreneur such as acquiring new customers, managing finances, developing innovative products, negotiating with suppliers, and coping with enduring phases of uncertainty and risk.”

The study was published in the British Journal of Psychology (Leckelt et al., 2018).

People with this trait are 50% more likely to be declared bankrupt.

Being kind and trusting is linked to financial hardship, especially for the poor, new research finds.

In general, people who are more agreeable are at greater risk of bankruptcy and lower credit ratings.

The reason is that people who are agreeable tend to care less about money.

For those who have an adequate income, caring little about money is not as big a problem.

With greater financial resources to fall back on, richer people can afford to give money a low priority.

For those at the lower end of society, though, being nice and trusting can be financially problematic.

Dr Sandra Matz, the study’s first author, said:

“We were interested in understanding whether having a nice and warm personality, what academics in personality research describe as agreeableness, was related to negative financial outcomes.

Previous research suggested that agreeableness was associated with lower credit scores and income.

We wanted to see if that association held true for other financial indicators and, if so, better understand why nice guys seem to finish last.”

The study analysed data from over 3 million people.

It used bank account data, a national survey, two online panels and publicly available data.

Dr Joe Gladstone, study co-author, explained the results:

“Not every agreeable person is at equal risk of experiencing financial hardship.

The relationship was much stronger for lower-income individuals, who don’t have the financial means to compensate for the detrimental impact of their agreeable personality.”

The results also revealed that agreeableness in childhood predicted financial problems 25 years later.

Dr Matz said:

“Our results help us to understand one potential factor underlying financial hardship, which can have serious implications for people’s well-being.

Being kind and trusting has financial costs, especially for those who do not have the means to compensate for their personalities.”

The study was published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (Matz & Gladstone, 2018).

The disorder affects between 1 and 6% of the population.

People with Borderline Personality Disorder experience very stormy emotions, commit self-destructive acts and are sometimes aggressive.

Often considered the most severe personality disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder is linked to a long history of instability in personal relationships.

The personality disorder causes very strong mood swings as a result of brain abnormalities in two key regions, according to a host of neuroscience studies.

Dr Lars Schulze, the study’s first author, said:

“Our results highlight brain abnormalities in the amygdala and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.

The amygdala is known to process emotional arousal and is hyperactive in BPD.

The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which has a key role in the regulation of emotions, is less active during the processing of negative emotional stimuli in BPD.”

The researchers pooled the results of 19 different studies including hundreds of people, to compare those with the personality disorder to health controls.

Professor John Krystal, Editor of Biological Psychiatry, explained the brain abnormalities they found:

“In order to understand these findings, it might be useful to imagine that the brain was a like a car.

The gas pedal for emotion might be the amygdala and the emotional brake might be the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.

The current findings seem to suggest that, in borderline personality disorder, the brain steps on the gas yet does not as effectively brake emotion.”

The study was published in the journal Biological Psychiatry (Schulze et al., 2016).

In 30 years this trait has increased by up to one-third.

Perfectionism in mind, body and career is on the rise in the young, new research finds.

The current crop of college students is more obsessed with being perfect than they were 30 years ago.

Making comparisons on social media could be one important driver for the rise in perfectionist tendencies.

The change could be having a dramatic negative effect on their mental health.

Dr Thomas Curran, the study’s first author, said:

“Meritocracy places a strong need for young people to strive, perform and achieve in modern life.

Young people are responding by reporting increasingly unrealistic educational and professional expectations for themselves.

As a result, perfectionism is rising among millennials.”

The study included 41,641 people from the US, Canada and Britain.

All were asked about three types of perfectionism:

1. Self-oriented: the desire from within to be perfect.
2. Socially prescribed: trying to live up to perfectionist standards imposed by others.
3. Other-oriented: applying unrealistic standards of perfectionism to others.

Between 1989 and 2016, the type that had increased the most was socially prescribed — that which is imposed by society (up by 33%).

Other-oriented had increased 16% and self-oriented by 10%.

Dr Curran said:

“These findings suggest that recent generations of college students have higher expectations of themselves and others than previous generations.

Today’s young people are competing with each other in order to meet societal pressures to succeed and they feel that perfectionism is necessary in order to feel safe, socially connected and of worth.”

Competition among young people may be harming them, the researchers think.

There is competition over grade point averages, careers and how they look.

In the face of these pressures it can be hard to maintain good mental health.

This may help to explain why levels of depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts are higher among young people than a decade ago.

The study was published in the journal Psychological Bulletin (Curran & Hill, 2017).

The psychological traits linked to achieving old age.

Psychologists studying a group of Italians aged 90 to 101 have found they share certain psychological traits.

These include being stubborn, domineering and needing a sense of control.

This might suggest you need a determined attitude to make it through to 100-years-old.

Professor Dilip V. Jeste, who led the study, said:

“The main themes that emerged from our study, and appear to be the unique features associated with better mental health of this rural population, were positivity, work ethic, stubbornness and a strong bond with family, religion and land.”

The 29 Italians the psychologists interviewed live in nine villages in the Cilento region of Southern Italy.

They were all asked a wide range of questions.

Dr Anna Scelzo, the study’s first author, said:

“The group’s love of their land is a common theme and gives them a purpose in life.

Most of them are still working in their homes and on the land.

They think, ‘This is my life and I’m not going to give it up'”.

The study found that although the nonagenarian’s physical health had deteriorated, they were in better mental health than family members four decades younger.

Here are some direct quotes from the study interviewees:

• “I lost my beloved wife only a month ago and I am very sad for this. We were married for 70 years. I was close to her during all of her illness and I have felt very empty after her loss. But thanks to my sons, I am now recovering and feeling much better. I have four children, ten grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. I have fought all my life and I am always ready for changes. I think changes bring life and give chances to grow.”
• “I am always thinking for the best. There is always a solution in life. This is what my father has taught me: to always face difficulties and hope for the best.”
• “I am always active. I do not know what stress is. Life is what it is and must be faced … always.”
• “If I have to say, I feel younger now than when I was young.”

Dr Scelzo summarised the psychological traits linked to achieving old age:

“We also found that this group tended to be domineering, stubborn and needed a sense of control, which can be a desirable trait as they are true to their convictions and care less about what others think.

This tendency to control the environment suggests notable grit that is balanced by a need to adapt to changing circumstances.”

The study was published in the journal International Psychogeriatrics (Scelzo et al., 2017).

This is the closest PsyBlog gets to toilet humour.

Do you hang your toilet roll with the end of the paper hanging ‘over’ or with the end hanging ‘under’?

According to a survey by Dr Gilda Carle, ‘over’ people are more assertive.

Assertive people are more likely to be in leadership roles and to have a take-charge attitude, says Dr Carle.

Those hanging the roll ‘under’ are more likely to be submissive.

Submissive people tend to be more agreeable, flexible and empathetic, says Dr Carle.

To create the toilet paper personality test, Dr Carle surveyed around 2,000 people of all ages, asking them whether they rolled the paper over or under.

Some people, Dr Carle has found, actually switched the toilet roll in other people’s houses (around one in five).

Naturally it was those ‘over’ people imposing their dominant personality on submissive ‘unders’.

The rich roll over

Rolling under might also be linked to lower earnings, another survey has found.

73% of those earning under $20,000 rolled under, while 60% of those earning over $50,000 roll over.

(Who knew there were so many surveys on toilet roll alignment?)

Note: this survey was not published in a reputable peer-reviewed journal!

There are three things that naturally happen to people’s personality with age.

People get nicer as they get older, in contrast to the stereotype of the grumpy senior.

The finding may be a surprise to those that believe people never change.

They do — even if only a little.

The three main changes to personality that occur, on average, with age are that people get:

• more conscientious,
• more agreeable,
• and less neurotic (moody).

The study examined the brain scans of 500 volunteers.

The researchers found that typical changes in brain structure that occur with age were linked to changes in personality.

Dr Roberta Riccelli, the study’s first author, said:

“Our work supports the notion that personality is, to some degree, associated with brain maturation, a developmental process that is strongly influenced by genetic factors.”

These changes in personality suggest a genetic influence, explained Professor Nicola Toschi, a study co-author:

“Of course, we are continually shaped by our experiences and environment, but the fact that we see clear differences in brain structure which are linked with differences in personality traits suggests that there will almost certainly be an element of genetics involved.

This is also in keeping with the notion that differences in personality traits can be detected early on during development, for example in toddlers or infants.”

Dr Luca Passamonti, a study co-author, said:

“Linking how brain structure is related to basic personality traits is a crucial step to improving our understanding of the link between the brain morphology and particular mood, cognitive, or behavioural disorders.

We also need to have a better understanding of the relation between brain structure and function in healthy people to figure out what is different in people with neuropsychiatric disorders.”

The study was published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (Riccelli et al., 2016).

Shiny brain image from Shutterstock