Research Feed

Among 127 creative adolescents and adults, hierarchical regression found that openness to experience and conscientiousness were the strongest Big Five predictors of creative self-beliefs, with openness showing the largest effect (β = 0.46). Extraversion also predicted creative self-beliefs once age was controlled. Self-compassion correlated positively with creative self-beliefs but lost predictive significance once personality traits (particularly neuroticism) were included, indicating substantial shared variance.

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 CHI 2026 paper tests whether Big Five (OCEAN) traits can be embedded in AI coding agents. Researchers created three profiles (a no-personality Baseline, a Cautious Guardian (thorough, risk-focused), and a Decision Builder (confident, exploratory)) and had 14 developers use all three on refactoring tasks. Personalities were reliably detectable without hurting task completion, but preferences diverged sharply, suggesting adaptive personality customization may outperform any single universal style.

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 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.

This study highlights that core personality traits are powerful predictors of baseline fitness and the specific exercise intensities individuals enjoy. Notably, participants scoring high in Neuroticism experienced the most significant stress-reduction benefits from aerobic training, suggesting a targeted emotional utility for exercise. Across the spectrum, Openness, Conscientiousness, and Extraversion further dictate these behavioral patterns, providing a scientific basis for how stable traits influence physical health. By understanding these links, interventions can be better tailored to leverage an individual's personality for improved well-being and long-term fitness adherence.

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.

Using Last.fm listening data from 541 users, this study examined how Big Five traits relate to naturally occurring music preferences, analyzing genre tags, emotion tags, and their co-occurrence. Extraversion correlated with high-energy genres like hip-hop, rap, and techno, as well as nostalgic hip-hop and jazz. Openness linked to jazz subgenres. Neuroticism predicted preference for mellow, atmospheric genres like shoegaze and dream-pop, co-occurring with low-arousal emotions like sadness and tenderness, while negatively correlating with high-arousal trance and world music.

This systematic review of 58,812 participants demonstrates that Big Five personality traits significantly influence sleep. High Neuroticism consistently correlates with poor sleep quality and disturbances, while Conscientiousness is a strong predictor of 'morningness' and better sleep hygiene. These findings suggest that personality-driven behaviors shape our nocturnal routines, highlighting the potential for personalized clinical interventions that account for individual psychological profiles to improve long-term sleep health.

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 comprehensive meta-analysis of over 160,000 participants explores the deep connections between personality and intelligence. The findings identify Openness and Neuroticism as the strongest predictors of cognitive ability, with Openness specifically linked to 'crystallized' intelligence, or acquired knowledge. By looking at specific facets, the researchers found that intellectual engagement and unconventionality correlate positively with intelligence, while traits like sociability and orderliness actually show slight negative correlations.

Most research on how individual differences affect COVID-19 guideline adherence has been cross-sectional, capturing only a single point in time. This leaves a significant gap in understanding prospective associations; how specific personality traits or behaviors actually predict future actions. Specifically, we lack longitudinal data that can forecast mask-wearing habits, the onset of symptoms, or the likelihood of an individual seeking viral testing over time.

This state-level analysis reveals that the American response to COVID-19 was driven by a complex interplay of politics and personality. Even when controlling for partisan allegiances, Openness emerged as a key predictor of mask-wearing, while Conscientiousness predicted less stringent state restrictions. Using commonality regression, researchers found that the shared variance between these personality traits and political affiliation accounted for roughly 35% of the differences in state policies and mask compliance. This suggests that the 'political' divide observed by the public was deeply rooted in underlying psychological clusters that vary geographically across the United States.

Applying a Lewinian interactionist framework, this study examined how both government policy and personality traits influenced sheltering-in-place behavior across 54 countries. Researchers found that while strict government policies effectively increased compliance, individual personality traits remained significant predictors of behavior. Specifically, high levels of Openness, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism were linked to staying home, while Extraversion was associated with lower compliance. Notably, the influence of Openness and Neuroticism weakened as government restrictions became more stringent, suggesting that while personality drives behavior in flexible environments, strong external policies can partially override these internal tendencies.

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 personality profiles are strongest in older adults and those with less education, highlighting their significant role in maintaining cognitive resilience against age-related decline.

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 these dreams cause. This supports the neurocognitive model of dreaming, suggesting that those with higher emotional sensitivity process nightmare content with greater intensity. Additionally, nightmares that directly mirror real-life events are linked to higher distress levels. These findings suggest that addressing a nightmare disorder requires looking beyond the frequency of the episodes to treat the individual's emotional response and the specific waking-life connections involved.