Survey of almost 30,000 people finds one personality trait consistently linked to longer 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.
The trait has already been linked with worse physical health, but what is it doing to the brain?
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 showed 128 young women personality profiles of various men.
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).
Although people high in this personality trait generally suffer from more stress and anxiety, some have a surprising health advantage.
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.”
People with high fluid intelligence think quickly and see relationships between ideas.
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).
Fiction is a way to engage with the darker aspects of 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).
Could chasing perfection be doing more harm than good to your mental health?
Could chasing perfection be doing more harm than good to your mental health?
The personality trait of perfectionism is strongly linked to developing obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Young children who have excessive self-control and perfectionist tendencies have double the chance of developing obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), psychologists have found.
For the study, children were asked to draw a perfect circle over three and a half minutes while researchers encouraged them to do better.
Those that concentrated more intensely were deemed to have perfectionist tendencies.
Scans also found that perfectionists had smaller brain volumes in an area linked to OCD, the anterior cingulate cortex.
OCD often involves recurring thoughts or obsessions, like having things in order or a fear of germs.
Dr Kirsten E. Gilbert, the study’s first author, said:
“Having a lot of self-control and striving for perfection often are considered by parents and society as good because they can eliminate mistakes, but excessive self-control and perfectionism raise a red flag.
In adolescents and adults, these characteristics are associated with OCD and other disorders, such as anorexia and social anxiety.
We’ve now been able to link this to OCD risk in children.”
It is important to catch OCD as early as possible in life so treatment can help to reduce compulsions and obsessions.
Dr Gilbert said:
“Some kids were very self-critical.
The researcher would point out flaws, but the child was critical of the effort, too.
That excessive perfectionism was the strongest predictor of OCD later on.”
The conclusions come from a study of 292 children aged just 4 and 5-years-old.
They were followed for 12 years, during which time 35 developed OCD.
Perfectionists were twice as likely to go on and develop OCD.
Dr Joan L. Luby, study co-author, said:
“In its most severe forms, OCD is a highly disabling and intractable disorder.
Therefore, this first identification of tangible risk behaviors in early childhood opens exciting new opportunities for the design of preventive interventions.”
Dr Gilbert concluded:
“One of my interests, ideally, is to create therapies geared toward prevention.
We also want to look at the role of parenting because if one of these kids has a parent who’s always saying, ‘That’s not good enough!’ you can see how this problem could spiral.”
Learn the psychology and neuroscience behind sensation seeking and how it affects decision-making and risk-taking behaviours.
Sensation seeking is a psychological trait characterised by the desire for novel and intense experiences.
Understanding sensation seeking: an in-depth analysis
Sensation seeking refers to a personality trait that drives individuals to pursue varied, complex, and intense experiences.
It often involves a willingness to take risks for the sake of excitement.
Psychologist Marvin Zuckerman pioneered the study of sensation seeking, identifying it as a key factor influencing risk-taking behaviours.
He developed the Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS), a tool widely used to measure this trait.
Sensation seeking can be adaptive, leading to thrilling achievements, or maladaptive, increasing vulnerability to danger.
Its influence depends on how it interacts with other personality traits and life circumstances.
People with high sensation-seeking tendencies often display a strong need for novelty and may seek out unusual or even dangerous experiences.
This drive can manifest in both positive and negative behaviours, affecting many areas of life, including relationships, education, and career paths.
The neuroscience behind sensation seeking
Research reveals that sensation seeking has biological underpinnings in brain function and neurotransmitters.
Dopamine levels: Sensation seekers have heightened dopamine activity, making them more responsive to rewards and novelty.
Prefrontal cortex development: This area, responsible for impulse control, may be less active in high sensation seekers.
These neurological factors contribute to a heightened preference for excitement and reduced sensitivity to potential risks.
Genetic influences also play a role.
Studies have linked certain genetic markers, such as variations in the dopamine receptor gene (DRD4), to higher sensation-seeking behaviour.
Additionally, environmental factors, including upbringing and exposure to stimulating experiences, shape how sensation seeking develops.
Sensation seeking across different cultures
Cultural norms shape how sensation seeking manifests.
In some societies, thrill-seeking activities like extreme sports are celebrated, while others may discourage risk-taking.
For instance:
Western cultures often emphasise individualism and adventure, fostering higher rates of risky recreation.
Collectivist cultures may prioritise caution and group harmony, leading to lower expression of sensation-seeking behaviours.
Understanding cultural influences helps contextualise the diversity in sensation-seeking expressions worldwide.
In globalised societies, the blending of cultural values has led to new patterns of sensation seeking.
For example, younger generations exposed to international media may adopt more adventurous behaviours compared to older generations.
Gender differences in sensation seeking behaviours
Gender plays a significant role in how sensation seeking presents.
Men generally score higher on sensation-seeking scales, particularly in areas involving physical risk.
Women may exhibit different forms of sensation seeking, such as social or aesthetic experiences.
These differences are influenced by both biological and social factors, including hormonal activity and cultural expectations.
Research suggests that testosterone levels may contribute to heightened sensation-seeking tendencies in men.
Socialisation processes, where boys are encouraged to take risks and girls are steered toward caution, further reinforce these patterns.
Despite general trends, individual variations exist within each gender, demonstrating that sensation seeking is a complex and multifaceted trait.
Sensation seeking throughout the lifespan: from adolescence to adulthood
Sensation seeking tends to peak during adolescence and gradually decline with age.
Adolescents are particularly drawn to novelty and excitement due to ongoing brain development and social influences.
As individuals mature, increased impulse control and changing priorities often reduce high-risk behaviours.
However, adults may still engage in sensation-seeking activities in ways aligned with personal growth and recreational interests.
In later life, some individuals experience a resurgence of sensation seeking, often driven by a desire to pursue new hobbies or travel experiences.
Understanding these shifts across the lifespan can inform strategies for healthy risk-taking at different stages of development.
The role of sensation seeking in occupational choices
Sensation seeking can influence career decisions, especially in fields that offer high levels of stimulation.
Examples of careers suited for high sensation seekers include:
Emergency responders, such as firefighters and paramedics.
Adventure tourism guides and extreme sports athletes.
Journalists covering war zones or natural disasters.
Individuals with lower sensation-seeking tendencies may prefer careers emphasising routine and predictability.
Understanding one’s sensation-seeking profile can guide more fulfilling career choices.
For employers, recognising employees’ sensation-seeking tendencies can enhance job placement and satisfaction.
Providing opportunities for stimulating tasks or controlled risk-taking can boost engagement and performance.
Sensation seeking and mental health: correlations and implications
High sensation seeking is associated with both positive and negative mental health outcomes.
Benefits:
Increased creativity and openness to experience.
Greater resilience in challenging environments.
Risks:
Higher susceptibility to substance abuse and addictive behaviours.
Increased likelihood of engaging in dangerous activities without fully considering consequences.
Mental health professionals can use sensation-seeking assessments to tailor interventions, promoting safe ways to satisfy this trait.
Interventions for managing risky behaviours include cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) and harm reduction strategies.
Encouraging alternative forms of excitement, such as artistic pursuits or athletic challenges, helps redirect sensation-seeking drives into constructive outlets.
Strategies for managing high sensation seeking tendencies
For individuals with intense sensation-seeking drives, adopting strategies to balance excitement and safety is crucial.
Tips include:
Engaging in structured thrill-seeking activities, such as rock climbing or skydiving under professional supervision.
Practising mindfulness to improve impulse control.
Setting clear boundaries to minimise unnecessary risks.
Parents and educators can also play a role by providing stimulating yet controlled environments for children with high sensation-seeking tendencies.
Community programmes offering adventure-based learning or supervised recreational activities create positive outlets for sensation seekers.
These programmes encourage teamwork, safety awareness, and personal growth.
Sensation seeking in the digital age: impact of technology and social media
The rise of digital platforms offers new avenues for sensation seekers to explore.
Social media, video games, and online communities provide instant access to novel experiences.
However, the digital realm also poses risks:
Excessive engagement with online challenges or viral trends may encourage unsafe behaviours.
Virtual environments can create addictive patterns due to constant novelty.
Balancing digital engagement with real-world experiences helps maintain healthy levels of sensation seeking.
Parents can help by setting guidelines for technology use and promoting outdoor or creative activities.
Educators may integrate technology-based learning with experiential approaches to foster balanced development.
Future directions in sensation seeking research
Ongoing research continues to unravel the complexities of sensation seeking.
Emerging areas of focus include:
The genetic basis of sensation-seeking traits.
Links between sensation seeking and entrepreneurial success.
Cross-cultural studies examining how globalisation affects risk-taking behaviours.
Future insights will enhance our understanding of how sensation seeking shapes human experience and drives innovation.
Technological advancements, such as brain imaging and wearable sensors, offer promising tools for studying sensation seeking in real-time environments.
These innovations may lead to personalised approaches for managing high sensation-seeking tendencies.
Sensation seeking is a dynamic and multifaceted trait influencing diverse aspects of life.
By recognising its impact on behaviour, health, and career choices, individuals can better harness its potential.
With thoughtful strategies, sensation seekers can enjoy thrilling experiences while mitigating associated risks, leading to a balanced and fulfilling life.
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