Research Feed

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, particularly when they co-occur. The findings also indicate some disorder-specific vulnerability effects, highlighting both shared and distinct pathways from personality to psychopathology over time.

This study introduces a new model to measure how much our personalities stay the same versus how much they change over time. The findings reveal that while 83% of our core personality traits remain stable throughout life, areas like self-esteem and life satisfaction are much more likely to shift. Interestingly, the research also confirms that our individual differences become even more stable as we grow older.

This meta-analysis examined links between Big Five personality traits and physical activity across over 60 studies. Extraversion, conscientiousness, and openness showed small positive associations with activity, while neuroticism showed a small negative link; agreeableness was not related. Effects varied across study designs and samples. Overall, findings suggest personality has modest but meaningful connections to physical activity, highlighting the need for stronger measures and longitudinal research.

This research examines the volunteer process across three distinct stages: antecedents (what motivates a person to serve), experiences (the actual period of service), and consequences (the outcomes for all involved). By analyzing volunteerism through multiple lenses, the study addresses the impacts on the individual, the service recipients, the host organizations, and the broader community. These findings highlight how specific motivations and environmental factors influence long-term commitment and the overall social utility of volunteer work.

This study of 3,827 students across 19 countries reveals that high Neuroticism correlates with negative attitudes toward action and positive attitudes toward inaction. Anxiety primarily drives this bias against taking action, while collectivist beliefs further strengthen the negative link between emotional instability and proactive attitudes. These findings suggest that addressing cognitive biases toward passivity, particularly in anxious or collectivist contexts, is essential for mitigating the negative lifestyle consequences associated with Neuroticism.

This chapter conceptualizes Subjective Well-Being (SWB) as a multidimensional construct, addressing modern definitional controversies and comprehensive models. It examines how personality processes underlie SWB and explores whether baseline happiness levels can actually change over time. Beyond individual experience, the review highlights the practical application of SWB data in public policy, using happiness metrics to inform societal decisions and promote broad human flourishing through empirical research.

While personality traits and personal values both predict behavior, they remain distinct psychological constructs. A meta-analysis of 60 studies linking the Five-Factor Model to Schwartz’s Value Theory reveals consistent but moderate correlations, confirming they are not interchangeable. The research highlights a key distinction: cognitively based traits (like Openness) align strongly with values, whereas emotionally based traits (like Neuroticism) show much weaker links. These findings suggest that while our traits describe how we typically behave, our values represent what we consider important, necessitating an integrated approach to fully understand human motivation.

This systematic review finds that employment is generally associated with better health outcomes, especially in reducing depression and improving overall mental well-being. However, evidence on its impact on specific physical health conditions and mortality remains limited. The authors highlight the need for further research to better understand how employment influences these areas and to address existing gaps in the literature.

This meta-analysis demonstrates that maternal personality and psychopathology are deeply interconnected determinants of parenting. Mothers with high Agreeableness, Extraversion, and Conscientiousness, alongside low Neuroticism and psychopathology, consistently exhibited more adaptive warmth and control. Path analyses suggest these traits do not act in isolation; rather, shared variance among these psychological characteristics explains their collective impact on parenting behavior, highlighting the need for more integrated family interventions.

Norm scores allow for the comparison of an individual's results against a population through the lens of a normal distribution. This statistical framework assumes most people score near the mean, with fewer individuals at the extremes. By using the mean (M) and standard deviation (SD), individual results are converted into various standardized scales—such as IQ (M=100,SD=15), T-scores (M=50,SD=10), or z-scores (M=0,SD=1). While these scales measure distance from the average, percentile ranks indicate the percentage of the population that scored the same or lower, providing a clear view of relative standing.

The 120-item version of the IPIP-NEO maintains the strong reliability and validity of the original 300-item inventory while significantly reducing participant burden. Tested across multiple massive datasets totaling over 900,000 individuals, this shorter form demonstrated psychometric properties that compare favorably to the long-form NEO PI-R constructs. This refinement provides researchers with a more efficient tool for measuring the Big Five facets without sacrificing the depth of the assessment.

The site includes over 3,000 items and over 250 scales that have been constructed from the items. New items and scales are developed on an irregular basis. The items and scales are in the public domain. This work offers a robust scientific foundation for understanding the stable patterns of human personality and their significant real-world implications across different environments.

This study uses the Big Five Aspect Scales to distinguish between 'Intellect' and 'Openness' as midlevel traits within the broader Openness/Intellect domain. Researchers found that Intellect correlates strongly with general, verbal, and nonverbal intelligence. In contrast, Openness is primarily linked only to verbal intelligence. These distinctions clarify how cognitive ability integrates with personality, suggesting different underlying mechanisms for how we process abstract information versus sensory and aesthetic experiences.

This study provides a rare quantitative look at the psychological profile of stand-up comedians compared to college students. The data revealed that comedians scored significantly higher in verbal intelligence and humor production ability, and they utilized all four styles of humor more frequently than the student group. Within the comedian sample, specific personality traits influenced how they used humor: Openness, Agreeableness, and Extraversion were linked to 'affiliative humor' (humor used to bond with others). Notably, professional success in the comedy industry was predicted by a high use of affiliative humor and a low use of self-defeating humor, suggesting that while the 'sad clown' trope exists, the most successful comedians often employ more socially connective and less self-disparaging comedic styles.

This large-scale longitudinal study demonstrates that personality is not fixed but evolves across the entire lifespan, with the most significant shifts occurring during young adulthood and old age. While rank-order stability typically peaks between ages 40 and 60 (meaning individuals stay most consistent relative to their peers during midlife) this stability declines in later years. Crucially, the research shows that personality changes are driven by both selection effects (personality predicting life events) and socialization effects (personality changing in response to events). This confirms that our traits are shaped by social demands and major life experiences rather than just intrinsic biological maturation.

Research across multiple studies identifies a genre-free, five-factor model of musical preferences known as MUSIC: Mellow (relaxing), Unpretentious (sincere/rootsy), Sophisticated (complex/classical), Intense (forceful), and Contemporary (rhythmic). This latent structure suggests that our musical tastes are driven more by emotional and affective responses than by traditional genre labels. These preferences are further shaped by a combination of social context and specific auditory characteristics.

This research demonstrates that the stability and validity of personality facets are highly generalizable across different ages and cultures. Crucially, the study finds that retest reliability (how consistent scores remain over time) is a much better predictor of actual validity than internal consistency (how well items within a test correlate). While researchers often use internal consistency as a shortcut, these findings suggest it cannot substitute for retest reliability when determining if a scale accurately measures personality.

This research reviews how the Big Five personality traits influence individual political attitudes and behaviors. By analyzing stable psychological characteristics, scholars can better predict how different people interact with their political environments. The authors replicated previous studies to ensure that earlier findings were not simply the result of sampling errors or specific historical contexts. While the link between personality and politics is robust, the field still faces challenges in refining theoretical models, improving measurement tools, and resolving inconsistencies between various research findings.