Research Feed

A curated collection of research papers and articles exploring the Big Five personality traits.

RESEARCH
Personality and prosocial behavior: A theoretical framework and meta-analysis
Thielmann et al. · Psychological Bulletin · January 2020

This meta-analysis establishes a theoretical framework linking personality traits to prosocial behavior through situational affordances. By analyzing 770 studies involving economic games like the Prisoner’s Dilemma and Dictator Game, the researchers identified four key situational factors (exploi...

RESEARCH
Vaccine hesitancy: the next challenge in the fight against COVID-19.
Dror et al. · Eur J Epidemio · January 2020

This study analyzed vaccine hesitancy in Israel, revealing that personal proximity to the virus was the strongest driver of acceptance. Healthcare workers on the front lines and high-risk individuals were much more likely to support inoculation. On the other hand, parents and medical staff who di...

RESEARCH
Assessing the Structure of the Five FactorModel of Personality (IPIP-NEO-120) in the Public Domain
Kajonius & Johnson · Europe's Journal of Psychology · June 2019

This study validates the IPIP-NEO-120 as a structurally robust tool for assessing the Big Five personality traits. Analyzing a massive sample of over 320,000 individuals, researchers used Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to confirm that the 30 facets fit well into their five broad domains. Whil...

RESEARCH
How Replicable Are Links Between Personality Traits and Consequential Life Outcomes? The Life Outcomes of personality Replication Project
Soto · Psychological Science · April 2019

The LOOPR Project confirms the high reliability of personality research, successfully replicating 87% of known trait-outcome associations. While findings generally hold, replication effect sizes were typically 77% as strong as original reports, suggesting previous overestimations. These results v...

RESEARCH
Openness Extraversion Neuroticism
Five-factor model personality traits and verbal fluency in 10 cohorts
Sutin et al. · Psychology and Aging · January 2019

This meta-analysis of 90,000 participants identifies Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, and Conscientiousness as key predictors of verbal fluency. These traits consistently correlate with word retrieval across all age groups, independent of education. Notably, the protective effects of these pe...

RESEARCH
Openness Neuroticism
Nightmare frequency and nightmare distress: Socio-demographic and personality factors
Schredl & Goeritz · Sleep science (Sao Paulo, Brazil) · January 2019

Research identifies that the clinical impact of nightmares is driven not only by how often they occur but by the dreamer's underlying emotional framework. While nightmare frequency is a baseline factor, Neuroticism (or heightened emotional reactivity) is a significant contributor to the distress ...

RESEARCH
The Evolution of Performance Management: Searching for Value
Pulakos et al. · Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior · January 2019

The evolution of performance management (PM) has shifted from a focus on rating accuracy to a focus on driving actual results. While early strategies emphasized cognitive processes to ensure 'true' performance ratings, traditional structured systems—incorporating cascading goals and competency mo...

RESEARCH
Openness Conscientiousness Extraversion Agreeableness Neuroticism
Personality and parenting
Prinzie et al. · Handbook of parenting: Being and becoming a parent · January 2019

This chapter offers a comprehensive introduction to the theoretical frameworks and empirical evidence linking personality to parenting. It begins by establishing the core concepts within personality psychology and parenting research, then transitions into a detailed review of how specific traits ...

RESEARCH
Self–other agreement in personality reports: A meta-analytic comparison of self- and informant-report means
Kim et al. · Psychological Science · January 2019

This meta-analysis of 33,033 individuals challenges the assumption that self-reports are inherently skewed by self-enhancement. Results show that self-ratings align closely with those of well-acquainted informants (average δ=−.038), suggesting people generally view themselves realistically. Discr...

RESEARCH
A robust data-driven approach identifies four personality types across four large data sets
Gerlach et al. · Nature Human Behaviour, · September 2018

This study utilizes massive data sets of over 1.5 million participants to address the long-standing debate over whether humans can be categorized into distinct 'personality types.' While the Five Factor Model is the standard for describing individual traits, previous attempts to find consistent t...

RESEARCH
Openness
Musical Preferences Predict Personality: Evidence From Active Listening and Facebook Likes
Nave et al. · Psychological Science · March 2018

Research involving over 44,000 participants confirms that personality traits are reliably communicated through musical preferences, extending beyond simple self-reports to behavioral actions. Both reactions to unfamiliar music and 'Likes' for specific artists on social media successfully predicte...

RESEARCH
Conscientiousness Extraversion Neuroticism
Personality and sleep quality: Evidence from four prospective studies
Stephan et al. · Health Psychology · January 2018

This large-scale longitudinal study involving over 22,000 adults demonstrates a powerful, bidirectional relationship between personality and sleep quality. Lower Neuroticism and higher Extraversion were the strongest predictors of better sleep, often outweighing demographic factors. Conversely, l...

RESEARCH
Exploring the associations between personality and subjective well-being
Lucas · Handbook of well-being · January 2018

This handbook explores the multidimensional science of Subjective Well-Being (SWB), which encompasses positive emotions, life satisfaction, and optimism. By synthesizing philosophical history with empirical research, the text examines how biological, cultural, and policy-driven factors influence ...

RESEARCH
Family Relationships and Well-Being
Thomas et al. · Innovation in Aging · November 2017

This research emphasizes that family ties (specifically marital, intergenerational, and sibling relationships) serve as primary pillars of psychological well-being throughout adulthood. The study highlights that the quality of these connections often matters more than their mere existence, noting...

RESEARCH
Big Five Personality Factors and Facets as Predictors of Openness to Diversity
Han, S. & Pistole, M.C. · The Journal of Psychology · September 2017

Research on 514 participants indicates that Openness to Experience and Agreeableness are the strongest predictors of a 'universal-diverse orientation,' or the appreciation of human commonalities and differences. While factors like low Neuroticism and high Conscientiousness also play roles, specif...

RESEARCH
Handbook of Personality Assessment
Weiner, I. & Greene, R. · Handbook of Personality Assessment · January 2017

This handbook offers a comprehensive and practical guide to major personality assessment tools, combining theoretical foundations with real-world application. Covering widely used instruments, it details their development, administration, scoring, and interpretation, along with psychometric prope...

RESEARCH
Humanism
Grudin · Britannica.com · January 2017

Humanism represents a profound shift in European thought, marking the transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. By centering human experience rather than strictly divine or supernatural matters, it revived interest in the classical Greek and Roman philosophies that prioritized logic, rh...

RESEARCH
Costs of Crime: Experts Report Challenges Estimating Costs and Suggest Improvements to Better Inform Policy Decisions
Government Acountability Office · Government Accountability Office · January 2017

To gather diverse perspectives, the GAO collaborated with the National Academies to survey experts across multiple disciplines, including criminology, economics, public health, and statistics. This interdisciplinary approach was paired with a comprehensive literature review of 27 major studies pu...

RESEARCH
Five Factor Model and Personality Disorder
Widiger et. al. · The Oxford Handbook of the Five Factor Model · March 2016

This chapter explores how the Five Factor Model (FFM) relates to personality disorders, arguing that it reflects general personality structure rather than only normal traits. It reviews evidence showing that the FFM captures both adaptive and maladaptive functioning, explains similarities and dif...

RESEARCH
Testing a hierarchical model of neuroticism and its cognitive facets: Latent structure and prospective prediction of first onsets of anxiety and unipolar mood disorders during 3 years in late adolescence
Zinbarg · Clinical Psychological Science · February 2016

This longitudinal study examined how neuroticism and related vulnerability traits predict the onset of mood, anxiety, and substance use disorders. Results suggest a general neuroticism factor contributes to risk across disorders, but is most strongly linked to mood and anxiety conditions, particu...