Category: Personality

People prefer to interact with others who move in the same way as they do.

The way people move could provide a unique insight into their personality, a new study finds.

In the future it may allow health professionals to diagnose and treat mental health problems.

The study suggests that each person has an ‘individual motor signature’ which defines how they move.

This includes things like the weight of their movement and speed.

In the study people played a mirror game in which they had to copy each other’s movements.

They found that people who moved in similar ways also displayed better collective behaviour.

The researchers think this means that people who move the same way will be able to interact more effectively as well.

Professor Krasimira Tsaneva-Atanasova, one of the study’s authors, said:

“Although human movement has been well studied, what is far less well understood is the differences each of us displays when we move — whether it is faster, or lighter, or smoother for example.

This study shows that people who move in a certain way, will also react in similar ways when they are performing joint tasks.

Essentially, our movements give an insight into our inherent personality traits.

What we demonstrate is that people typically want to react and interact with people who are similar to themselves.

But what our study also shows is that movement gives an indication of a person’s behavioural characteristics.

This could therefore be used in the future to help diagnose patients with certain conditions by studying how they move and react to others.”

The study was published in the Journal of The Royal Society Interface (Słowiński et al., 2016).

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Eye colour could reveal an aspect of your personality, study finds.

Lighter eyes have been linked to more egocentric, competitive, skeptical individuals, research finds.

Darker eyes, though, are linked to sympathy, altruism and a higher altruistic behaviour.

The study, which was conducted in Australia, only held for those with Northern European ancestry, though, the study’s authors explain:

“A competitive person is characterised by a tendency to be antagonistic, egocentric, and sceptical of others’ intentions rather than cooperative…

…light-eyed people, whatever their sex, would be more competitive psychologically than dark eyed people if they are of north European descent.”

The authors provide an evolutionary explanation for the difference:

“…the rare-color advantage of light eyed females, is likely to increase the chance of being noticed by a male.

Moreover, competitive personality traits (such as wanting to beat others and being sceptical of others’ intentions) secure the long-term commitment necessary for self and off-spring survival.

Whilst some may argue that it is unlikely that a male would choose a disagreeable female we argue that mating is not the sole choice of males and that the disagreeable traits of competitive women are directed primarily at other female competition rather than towards males.”

The study was published in the journal Current Biology (Gardiner & Jackson, 2010).

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Link explained by similar set of genes coding for both eye colour and a tendency towards alcoholism.

People with blue eyes have a higher chance of becoming alcoholics, a new study finds.

In fact, light-coloured eyes in general — whether green, grey or brown — are more strongly linked to alcoholism.

In comparison, people with dark brown eyes have a lower chance of becoming alcoholics.

The connection is likely down to a similar set of genes coding for both eye colour and a tendency towards alcoholism.

Dr Dawei Li, one of the study’s authors, said:

“This suggests an intriguing possibility — that eye color can be useful in the clinic for alcohol dependence diagnosis.”

The study was published in the American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics (Sulovari et al., 2015).

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The worst type of perfectionists are toxic to other people.

The worst type of perfectionists are those who expect others to match their own impossibly high standards.

‘Other-focused’ perfectionists tend to be antisocial, narcissistic and have an aggressive sense of humour, a new study finds.

The results come from research which compared the characteristics of three different types of perfectionists:

1. Self-oriented perfectionists strive for perfection for themselves and set their own high standards.
2. Socially prescribed perfectionists strive for perfection because it is important to other people.
3. ‘Other-focused’ perfectionists, though, expect others to be perfect and are extremely critical if they do not meet these high standards.

Both self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionists are highly critical of themselves, but not particularly of other people.

Of the three types, the self-oriented perfectionist gets on best with others.

They tend to care about others’ expectations and needs and prefer the type of humour that enhances relationships.

Socially prescribed perfectionists, however, tend to be low on self-esteem and feel inferior.

They tend to be unemotional and antisocial and mostly focus their humour on belittling themselves.

The other-focused perfectionists, though, have traits of psychopathy, narcissism and Machiavellianism, the survey of 229 people found.

Other-focused perfectionists feel they are better than other people and they are quite antisocial.

Their sense of humour is aggressive and tends to make other people feel worse about themselves.

Professor Joachim Stoeber, the study’s author, said:

“Other-oriented perfectionism is a ‘dark’ form of perfectionism positively associated with narcissistic, antisocial and uncaring personality characteristics.”

The study was published in the Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment. (Stoeber, 2015).

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Survey of 1,000 coffee drinkers reveals which type are “people-pleasers” and which are the most laid-back.

Black coffee drinkers are old-school purists who are patient and efficient but can be a little quiet and moody, finds a survey.

While latte drinkers were generous with their time but didn’t always take the best care of their health.

These are amongst the findings from a recent survey of 1,000 coffee drinkers conducted by clinical psychologist Dr. Ramani Durvasula.

The survey looked at different facets of personality along with the types of coffee which people expressed a preference for.

Here are the highlights:

• Frozen/blended coffee drinkers were trendsetters who liked to try new things. While they tended to be spontaneous and imaginative, they could also be reckless and fail to make healthy choices.
• Latte drinkers were people-pleasers and comfort seekers who would go out of their way to help others. On the other hand they didn’t always take care of themselves and could get over-extended.
• Decaf/specifically ordered coffee drinkers tended to be more obsessive and perfectionist. They made healthy choices but also tended to be worriers overly-focused on order and control.
• Black coffee drinkers liked to keep things simple but tended to be resistant to changes.
• Instant coffee drinkers were the most laid-back, but also tended to be poor planners and prone to procrastination.

As with any associational study, these are only patterns in the data which emerged over the large group of people surveyed.

Despite these associations, you could easily be a black coffee drinker who is highly imaginative and open to change.

Or you might be a latte drinker who is badly stuck in his ways but closely watches his health.

That said, our personalities do come out in the choices we make about hot beverages, just as they do in most of the other choices we make in life.

So, next time you’re at the counter about to order, why not try something new?

Image credit: Matthew Wicks