Personality - PsyBlog

How To Develop Grit: The Determination To Succeed

Grit is the determination to put in the months or even years of effort to succeed at a goal.

Grit is more about passion than personality.

It is not just about being born or brought up with a ‘gritty’ personality.

Everyone can find the determination in themselves to succeed if they have passion for their goal.

Developing a passion for a goal is linked to a kind of adaptive perfectionism.

Adaptive perfectionism means perfectionism with some level of obsession, but not so much that it is ultimately destructive.

Setting oneself attainable goals is one of the keys to avoiding destructive perfectionism.

The conclusions come from a study of 251 students who completed a series of questions about grit.

People with high levels of grit tend to agree with statements like:

Setbacks don’t discourage me. I don’t give up easily.
I have overcome setbacks to conquer an important challenge.

Ms Danielle Cormier, the study’s first author, said:

“We wanted to know whether people bring grit to every aspect of their life, or if they are gritty athletes or gritty students, or even a gritty parent or a gritty hobbyist.”

It emerged that people were more gritty in specific areas of their life, rather than being gritty overall.

In other words, some students were passionate about their academic studies and they did better at those.

Others were more passionate about sports, so they did better at those.

Ms Cormier said:

“It seems grit is best conceptualized as a domain-specific trait, and not in general, which is how the field has been measuring grit since it was conceptualized.”

A growth mindset is key to success, Ms Cormier said:

“Instead of thinking talents are fixed, like believing your intelligence is just the way it is, a growth mindset allows you to believe that intelligence, or other character traits and talents, can be grown.
In order to do that you must embrace failures and setbacks, because without any of those learning opportunities, you’re not going to get better.
Everyone has an element of grit in them, it is just finding that passion.”

The study was published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences (Cormier et al., 2019).

The Personality Trait That Is A Sign Of Poor Mental Health

This personality trait is linked to mental health problems.

Being impulsive can be a sign of poor mental health.

People who are impulsive tend to prefer a small immediate reward over a larger reward later on.

Impulsive people tend to act on their immediate thoughts and emotions without thinking about the consequences.

In other words, impulsive people want to have fun now, not later — even if waiting is more sensible.

People who are depressed, have bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or some eating disorders are more likely to be impulsive.

Psychologists can measure this type of impulsivity with a test of ‘delay discounting’.

Delay discounting is the idea that people tend to discount a reward more, the longer the delay until they receive it.

So, psychologically, $5 right now is worth more than $10 in three weeks time.

Or, as the proverb has it: a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

People who can delay their gratification find it easier to wait for their rewards.

However, people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder find it particularly hard to delay gratification.

The conclusions come from a review of 43 separate studies.

Dr Michael Amlung, the study’s first author, said:

“The revelation that delay discounting is one of these ‘trans-diagnostic’ processes will have a significant effect on the future of psychiatric diagnosis and treatment.”

Among people with mental health problems, though, anorexia was the exception.

People with anorexia tend to make excessively self-controlling decisions.

This makes sense given that anorexia is a disorder characterised by a very high level of self-control over eating behaviours.

Professor Randi McCabe, study co-author, said:

“Examining factors that cut across psychiatric disorders, such as delay discounting, helps to illuminate commonalities and distinguishing characteristics amongst disorders that then guide further research on treatment and prevention.”

The study was published in JAMA Psychiatry (Amlung et al., 2019).

This Personality Trait Is Linked To A Stronger Immune System

People were asked how they generally coped with stress and were given a blood test for markers of bodily inflammation.

People who express their emotions more freely tend to have a stronger immune system.

In contrast, avoiding expressing the emotions is linked to more inflammation in the body, suggesting the immune system is not working as well.

Other studies have shown that loneliness, poor sleep and stress can also damage the functioning of the immune system.

The current research was conducted in the context of bereavement, explained Dr Christopher Fagundes, study co-author:

“There has been work focused on the link between emotion regulation and health after romantic breakups, which shows that distracting oneself from thoughts of the loss may be helpful.
However, the death of a spouse is a very different experience because neither person initiated the separation or can attempt to repair the relationship.”

The study included almost 100 people who had all recently lost a spouse.

They were asked how they generally coped psychologically with stress and were given a blood test for markers of bodily inflammation.

Dr Fagundes said:

“Bodily inflammation is linked to a host of negative health conditions, including serious cardiovascular issues like stroke and heart attack.”

The results showed that people who habitually bottle up their emotions tend to have greater signs of bodily inflammation, suggesting their immune systems are not functioning as well.

Dr Fagundes said:

“These findings really highlight the importance of acknowledging one’s emotions after the death of a spouse rather than bottling them up.”

The research shows the importance of expressing emotions both for mental health and the immune system.

Dr Richard Lopez, the study’s first author, said:

“The research also suggests that not all coping strategies are created equal, and that some strategies can backfire and have harmful effects, especially in populations experiencing particularly intense emotions in the face of significant life stressors, such as losing a loved one.”

The study was published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine (Lopez et al., 2020).

The Personality Trait That Could Extend Your Life

Survey of almost 30,000 people finds one personality trait consistently linked to longer life.

Being positive has been linked to living longer by research.

People lived longer if they were more:

optimistic about the future,
closer to other people,
decisive,
and felt more useful and relaxed.

Those who scored in the top sixth for being positive were 18% less likely to die over the next four years.

Other key factors linked to living longer included getting married and having a degree.

The results come from a survey of 28,662 people.

Both people’s mental health and their medical records were examined by the survey.

The people analysed in the survey had similar levels of physical health, income and other demographic characteristics.

Income, perhaps surprisingly, did not have an effect on the chance of dying.

Dr Christopher Jacobi, the study’s author, said:

“The results indicate that better positive mental health seems to have a somewhat protective effect against mortality.
In research literature the most frequently stated ways in which positive mental health is likely to affect mortality are via direct physiological responses such as lowered blood pressure, capacity to cope with stress, less drinking and smoking, an active lifestyle, and better sleep quality.
Likewise, people with high positive mental health might not be affected as severely by potentially negative symptomatic and physiological effects of life events like divorce or unemployment.”

Previous research has also revealed that both extroverts and optimists are more likely to live longer than introverts and pessimists.

As I wrote previously:

“Optimists have healthier hearts than pessimists, a study of over 51,000 adults finds.
Optimists also had healthier body mass indexes, were more physically active and less likely to smoke.
Researchers found that the more optimistic people were, the greater their overall physical health.
The most optimistic people were 76% more likely to have health scores that were in the ideal range.”

The study was presented at the British Sociological Association’s Medical Sociology conference in Birmingham on 8 Sept 2016.

This Personality Trait Could Triple Your Dementia Risk

The trait has already been linked with worse physical health, but what is it doing to the brain?

People with high levels of cynicism are more likely to develop dementia.

It’s already been found that those who believe others are mainly motivated by selfish concerns — the definition of cynical distrust — have worse physical health; for example, cynicism has been linked to heart disease.

Now you can add dementia to the list.

In the study, conducted in Finland, 1,449 people were given tests of their cynicism that included questions like:

“I think most people would lie to get ahead.”
“It is safer to trust nobody.”
“Most people will use somewhat unfair reasons to gain profit or an advantage rather than lose it.”

The more people endorsed these statements, the stronger their cynical distrust was deemed to be.

They were also given tests of dementia and other factors that might affect their risk of developing dementia later on, like smoking and high cholesterol levels.

Eight years later, people were tested again to see if they had developed any symptoms of dementia.

Forty-six people had, and in that group, people who were high on cynical distrust were three times more likely to develop dementia than those low on that measure.

One of the study’s authors, Dr Anna-Maija Tolppanen, said:

“These results add to the evidence that people’s view on life and personality may have an impact on their health.
Understanding how a personality trait like cynicism affects risk for dementia might provide us with important insights on how to reduce risks for dementia.”

The study was published in the journal Neurology (Neuvonen et al., 2014).

These 2 Dark Triad Personality Traits Are Highly Attractive

The study showed 128 young women personality profiles of various men.

Extraverts with stable, or non-neurotic personalities are particularly attractive.

However, both of these personality traits also help explain the attraction of the ‘bad boy’ to women, who also tends to be laid-back and extraverted.

Narcissist and psychopaths are seen as both extraverted and having stable, non-neurotic personalities, the study found.

Both of these contribute to the attractiveness of men with ‘dark triad’ personalities.

The ‘dark triad’ of personality factors includes narcissism and psychopathy, along with Machiavellianism.

The study’s authors write:

“Women, particularly in respect of short-term mating, may be attracted to ‘bad boys’, possessing confidence, hard-headedness and an inclination to risk-take – all accurate descriptors of Dark Triad [DT] men; all attractive to women.”

Another explanation for the attractiveness of bad boys could be their superficial charm, the authors write:

“Women may be responding to DT men’s ability to ‘sell themselves’; a useful tactic in a co-evolutionary ‘arms race’ in which men convince women to pursue the former’s preferred sexual strategy.
This ability may derive from a ‘used-car dealer’ ability to charm and manipulate, and DT-associated traits such as assertiveness.
Men with a DT personality are undoubtedly well-placed to successfully implement such a strategy.”

The conclusions come from a study in which 128 young women were shown personality profiles of various men.

One was designed to be high in dark triad personality factors.

The results showed that women saw the ‘bad boy’ as more attractive, when appearance was held constant.

Here is the authors’ quick description of the dark triad personality traits:

“Narcissism is defined by a sense of entitlement, dominance and a grandiose self-view.
Machiavellians are interpersonally duplicitous, insincere and extraverted.
Psychopathy consists of callousness, a lack of empathy, and antisocial, erratic behaviour.”

The study was published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences (Carter et al., 2014).

The ‘Childish’ Personality Trait Linked To Happiness & Resilience In Adults (M)

This personality trait is usually linked to children, but science proves it is essential for adults too.

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2 Surprising Personality Traits Linked To Stronger Immune System

Although people high in this personality trait generally suffer from more stress and anxiety, some have a surprising health advantage.

Being neurotic can be good for your health in some circumstances.

So-called ‘healthy neurotics’ are people who combine neurotic personality traits with being conscientious.

Healthy neurotics have lower levels of markers of inflammation in their blood, suggesting their immune system is functioning better.

The self-discipline of being conscientious counteracts unhealthy neurotic behaviours like overeating and drinking too much alcohol.

Dr Nicholas A. Turiano, the study’s first author, said:

“These people are likely to weigh the consequences of their actions, and therefore their level of neuroticism coupled with conscientiousness probably stops them from engaging in risky behaviors.”

A survey of 1,054 adults found that those who were both neurotic and conscientious had lower levels of inflammation in their blood.

Interleukin 6 (IL-6) is an immune protein that is linked to chronic disease.

The neurotic and conscientious also had fewer chronic health problems and lower body-mass indexes.

The results are somewhat surprising as neurotic people tend to suffer more from stress and anxiety, which are also linked to worse health.

Dr Turiano said:

“Speculation is that healthy neurotics may be hyper-vigilant about their lifestyle and about seeking treatment when a problem arises.
It’s their conscientiousness that guides their decisions to prevent disease or quickly get treatment when they don’t feel well.”

Better physical health is not the first advantage identified for the neurotic, as I’ve written previously:

“High levels of creativity may go hand-in-hand with neuroticism.
It’s because the area of the brain which is linked to creativity also has the tendency to overthink things and worry.
Neuroticism is characterised by negative thinking in a range of areas.”

Neurotic people also seem to suffer from indecision as a result of worrying about the future.

One way to reduce this is to start learning to take action:

“Learning to value taking action is an important way of reducing the harmful effects of neuroticism.
People high in anxiety and neuroticism dislike taking action, recent research reveals.”

→ Read on about the harmful effects of neuroticism.

The study was published in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity (Turiano et al., 2012).

A Major Personality Trait Linked To High IQ

People with high fluid intelligence think quickly and see relationships between ideas.

Laid back people — who can be disorganised and careless — tend to have higher IQs, one study suggests.

These traits are part of one of the five major aspects of personality called conscientiousness — or, in this case, lack of conscientiousness.

Being low on the personality trait of conscientiousness is linked to higher fluid intelligence, the researchers found.

One of the reasons may be that a quick mind can make up for what a person lacks in discipline.

As a result, those with higher IQs can afford to be more relaxed because they do not have to work so hard to achieve the same success.

Fluid intelligence is one of two types of intelligence and refers, roughly speaking to the speed at which the brain works.

As the study’s authors explain it:

“Fluid intelligence has been defined as our ‘‘on-the-spot reasoning ability, a skill not basically dependent on our experience’’.
It involves things like quick thinking, reasoning, seeing relationships between ideas, approaching new problems, and is considered to be biologically based.”

Fluid intelligence is in contrast to concrete intelligence, which refers to something like general knowledge: the things that people have learnt over their lifetime.

The study included 201 adults of all ages who were given tests of both intelligence and personality.

The results showed that while crystallised intelligence was not linked to lacking conscientiousness, fluid intelligence was.

It may be because people with higher fluid intelligence do not have to work as hard, so they become more laid back over the years.

The study’s authors explain:

“…in a competitive environment less intelligent individuals become more Conscientious in order to cope with their disadvantage, or that more intelligent individuals do not become so conscientious, as they can rely on their fluid intelligence to accomplish most tasks.”

The study was published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences (Moutafi et al., 2004).

What Your Favourite Fictional Villain Says About Your Personality

Fiction is a way to engage with the darker aspects of your personality.

People tend to identify with fictional villains who have similar dark personality traits to their own.

Those with chaotic and tricky sides to their personality may identify with The Joker in the Batman movies.

People who are ambitious and intellectual might secretly admire Sherlock Holmes’ nemesis Professor Moriarty.

Fictional baddies give us a chance to recognise the darker sides of our personalities without the natural repulsion to real-world criminals.

Ms Rebecca Krause, the study’s first author, said:

“Our research suggests that stories and fictional worlds can offer a ‘safe haven’ for comparison to our darker selves.
When people feel safe, they are more interested in comparisons to negative characters that are similar to themselves in other respects.”

Typically, people recoil from negative parts of their personality, except when the context is fictional, said Ms Krause:

“People want to see themselves in a positive light.
Finding similarities between oneself and a bad person can be uncomfortable.”

Professor Derek Rucker, study co-author, said:

“[However], when you are no longer uncomfortable with the comparison, there seems to be something alluring and enticing about having similarities with a villain.”

The study included 1,685 people in five lab studies along with data from over 232,000 people registered with a website called CharacTour, an online, character-focused entertainment platform.

The results showed that people consistently preferred villains who share some similarities with their own personalities.

Being similar to a fictional villain does not threaten people’s self-image, the researchers think.

Professor Rucker said:

“Given the common finding that people are uncomfortable with and tend to avoid people who are similar to them and bad in some way, the fact that people actually prefer similar villains over dissimilar villains was surprising to us.
Honestly, going into the research, we both were aware of the possibility that we might find the opposite.”

The study was published in the journal Psychological Science (Krause & Rucker, 2020).