Research Feed

This multimodal AI system predicts Big Five personality traits from text, speech, and facial expressions using the myPersonality dataset (86,220 participants). GPT-3 achieved 89.1% accuracy, with Openness (91%) and Extraversion (90%) most reliably classified. Agreeableness proved hardest to detect via speech, while lexical features dominated trait prediction overall, outperforming audio and visual cues.

A 2026 multilevel meta-analysis (k=34 studies) found agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and openness positively associated with healthy eating and fruit/vegetable consumption; neuroticism was negatively associated. Agreeableness and conscientiousness also predicted lower sodium intake. Effect sizes were small but reliable, with openness-diet associations stronger in samples over age 30.

This study developed an efficient AI system for predicting Big Five personality traits from long-form life narrative interviews (the kind of detailed life stories people tell about key events and relationships). Rather than relying on questionnaires, which can be biased, the model reads how people naturally describe their lives. It accurately detected trait-relevant language: Openness in creativity and adventure, Neuroticism in health struggles and regret, Agreeableness in warmth and mentorship, suggesting personality leaves consistent, readable fingerprints in the stories we tell about ourselves.

Using a cross-sectional sample of 3+ million participants across 68 countries, this study examined how age moderates gender differences in Big Five personality traits. Women scored higher than men on Neuroticism, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness; men scored higher on Openness. The gender gap widened with age for all traits except Neuroticism, which narrowed. Cultural factors (particularly individualism, education, and later marriage ages) explained cross-national variation in these age-moderated gender differences.

Using NHATS data from 2,672 older adults, this longitudinal cohort study examined Big Five traits and social isolation risk over nine years. Higher extraversion and agreeableness predicted lower odds of baseline isolation, with extraversion remaining protective at three-year follow-up even after full adjustment. No trait significantly predicted isolation at six or nine years, suggesting personality's influence diminishes over longer time horizons.

A theoretical analysis argues the human Big Five personality model is inappropriate for describing great ape personality, as structural overlap between human and ape trait dimensions is below 50% for chimpanzees and as low as 25% for other great apes. The author proposes studying simpler, cross-species facets (like sociability, curiosity, and fearfulness) instead.

This study proposes a Character Model of Scientists (CMS) comprising four dimensions: personality traits, cognitive preferences, values, and habitual behaviors, each containing four elements drawn from a literature review of 24 studies. Big Five connections are explicit: scientists score higher in openness, with conscientiousness and agreeableness (cooperation) also represented. The model links to established Big Five theory, noting personality dimensions are harder to develop through training than values or behaviors.

Using latent profile analysis across 3,600+ men from 103 countries, this study challenges the prototype of the extraverted, confrontational ally. "Well-Adjusted" men (high on all Big Five traits, low neuroticism) rated both committed and relationship-building allyship strategies as best-fitting. Character strengths (especially bravery, kindness, and social intelligence) explained additional variance beyond Big Five traits, suggesting allyship training should leverage diverse personalities and strengths.

Using PLS-SEM with 530 Chinese participants, this study models how Big Five traits shape adoption of AI-powered financial robo-advisors via perceived intelligence and anthropomorphism. Conscientiousness, extraversion, and agreeableness positively influenced both AI perceptions and adoption directly; neuroticism negatively affected perceptions, impacting adoption indirectly through anthropomorphism. Surprisingly, openness had no significant effect, suggesting financial decision-making contexts prioritize reliability over novelty-seeking tendencies.

This cross-sectional study of 291 Chinese dental students examined how Big Five traits relate to empathy, with resilience as a mediator. Extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness positively predicted empathic concern and perspective-taking, while neuroticism was associated with personal distress. Resilience fully mediated links between empathy and agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness, and partially mediated its relationships with extraversion and neuroticism, suggesting resilience-building as a lever for empathy training.

Using Big Five personality traits and Latent Profile Analysis, this study segments South Korean robotic café customers into two profiles: "Mindful Consumers" (higher neuroticism, lower openness) and "Future-Forward Consumers" (higher openness, extraversion, agreeableness). The latter reported stronger emotional engagement and word-of-mouth intentions, especially in fully automated settings. The study demonstrates how trait configurations can predict real-world consumer behavior and inform differentiated service design strategies.

This correlational study of 80 Filipino public school employees examined how Big Five traits relate to workplace relationship quality. Employees scored high on agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and extraversion, with moderate neuroticism. All four high-scoring traits positively and significantly correlated with communication, trust, job performance, and perceived leadership style. Neuroticism showed no significant relationship with any of these factors, suggesting it is a poor predictor of workplace relationship quality.

This opinion piece argues that personality traits function as compressed social information, allowing humans to efficiently evaluate cooperative partners. The Big Five personality framework is reframed not merely as a psychometric taxonomy, but as a cognitive shortcut that condenses complex behavioral observations into low-dimensional, easily communicable representations. The author highlights Agreeableness as especially central to cooperative partner selection, signaling reliability through both stable cost structures and heightened sensitivity to social norms.

This meta-analysis of over 65,000 participants confirms that Big Five traits significantly shape our nocturnal experiences. Neuroticism is the primary predictor of nightmare frequency and emotional distress, while Openness correlates with high dream recall, vividness, and lucid dreaming. Extraversion mainly influences the social sharing of dreams. These findings support 'continuity models,' suggesting that our waking affective vulnerabilities and cognitive styles directly extend into our dream lives.

Hilbig and Moshagen identify four problems with Big Five Agreeableness (B5A): it fails to adequately predict prosocial and ethical behavior despite emphasizing both in its definitions; the HEXACO model's Honesty-Humility dimension covers these gaps more effectively; the dark factor of personality (D), a single broad trait, also outperforms B5A on these outcomes; and different B5A scales measure inconsistent constructs, meaning researchers using different tools are effectively measuring different things while calling it the same trait.

Using German panel data and a job search and bargaining model, this study finds that Big Five personality traits shape wages and employment through multiple channels. Higher conscientiousness and emotional stability raise earnings and shorten unemployment for both sexes, while agreeableness reduces wages and bargaining power. Women's tendency toward higher agreeableness and lower emotional stability accounts for roughly as much of the gender wage gap as differences in work experience do.

This large-scale meta-analysis of over 150,000 participants explores how the Big Five traits influence dietary habits. Researchers found that lower Neuroticism and higher levels of Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, and Agreeableness consistently predict a healthier diet. These traits affect everything from fruit intake to emotional eating patterns. Interestingly, the positive link between Agreeableness and healthy eating becomes even stronger as people get older.

This massive study of over 350,000 people across six continents reveals that preferences for Western music follow universal patterns that transcend cultural boundaries. By analyzing both genre favorability and direct audio reactions, researchers identified five consistent latent factors of musical preference that remain stable across different countries. These preferences are closely linked to the Big Five personality traits regardless of location; for instance, Extraversion consistently predicts a liking for upbeat Contemporary styles, while Openness correlates with a preference for complex Sophisticated music. Because these correlations (along with those involving gender and ethnicity) are so invariant, the findings suggest a deep, universal connection between human psychology and musical taste.

This study suggests that individuals lower in agreeableness are more likely to resist or fail to comply with behavioral health mandates, such as those issued during public health crises. The findings indicate that tailoring health communication strategies to personality differences could improve compliance. More broadly, the results demonstrate the value of applying established psychological theories to understand and address behavior in real-world emergency contexts.

Based on representative data from Ireland and the United Kingdom, this study found that approximately 31-35% of the population displayed COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy or resistance. While these groups varied in sociodemographic backgrounds, they shared consistent psychological profiles across both nations. Notably, vaccine-resistant individuals were significantly less likely to use traditional or authoritative information sources and reported high levels of mistrust in those sources. These findings suggest that public health messaging must account for specific media consumption habits and deep-seated institutional skepticism when addressing hesitant populations.