Category: Personality

The Personality Change That Is A Dementia Warning Sign

The results showed that people whose personality changed in this way were more likely to develop dementia.

The results showed that people whose personality changed in this way were more likely to develop dementia.

Apathy is an early warning sign of dementia in people with cerebrovascular disease, research finds.

Apathy may result from damage to the brain’s white matter, which is primarily used for communication between regions of the brain.

Cerebrovascular disease occurs in around one-in-three older people and is the most common cause of vascular dementia.

Vascular dementia is the next most common type of dementia after Alzheimer’s disease, accounting for up to 10 percent of cases.

Older people who show a new lack of interest, enthusiasm or concern are at greater risk of developing dementia, the study found.

Previously it was thought that depression was a warning sign of dementia, but this study does not support that conclusion.

Mr Jonathan Tay, the study’s first author, said:

“There has been a lot of conflicting research on the association between late-life depression and dementia.

Our study suggests that may partially be due to common clinical depression scales not distinguishing between depression and apathy.”

The study included over 450 people from the UK and the Netherlands who were tracked for several years.

The results showed that people whose apathy increased over time were more likely to develop dementia.

Mr Tay said:

“Continued monitoring of apathy may be used to assess changes in dementia risk and inform diagnosis.

Individuals identified as having high apathy, or increasing apathy over time, could be sent for more detailed clinical examinations, or be recommended for treatment.”

The researchers think that similar mechanisms underlie cognition and motivation.

Mr Tay said:

“This implies that apathy is not a risk factor for dementia per se, but rather an early symptom of white matter network damage.

Understanding these relationships better could have major implications for the diagnosis and treatment of patients in the future.”

The study was published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry (Tay et al., 2020).

Why Women Are More Fearful Of Taking Risks Than Men (M)

One reason women are less likely to take risks with their money or careers.

One reason women are less likely to take risks with their money or careers.

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This Trait Is A Sign Of Good Mental And Physical Health

People with this trait are more likely to be in both good psychological and good physical health.

People with this trait are more likely to be in both good psychological and good physical health.

People with a stronger sense of purpose in life are more likely to live healthily — both mentally and physically.

According to research, the reason may be that purpose in life banishes the natural conflict people experience when trying to make healthy choices.

Purpose in life can come from work, family, a sense of self or other broad aim or goal being pursued.

Feeling purposeful contributes to the feeling that life is meaningful:

  • People who feel life is meaningful are more likely to be in both good psychological and good physical health.
  • People who feel life isn’t meaningful are more likely to be depressed, to require therapy and even feel suicidal.

Dr Yoona Kang, the study’s first author, said:

“Purpose in life has been robustly associated with health in previous studies, but the mechanism through which life purpose may promote healthy living has been unclear.”

For the study, 220 people with sedentary lifestyles answered a survey that asked them how much they agreed with statements like:

  • “I have a sense of direction and purpose in my life”
  • “I don’t have a good sense of what it is I’m trying to accomplish in life.”

They were then shown messages urging them to get more exercise.

While reading these messages, their brains were scanned.

The results showed that people who had more purpose in life had less activity in brain regions related to processing conflicts.

In other words, a generalised purpose in life made people argue with the statement less.

Sure enough, they were also more likely to accept that doing a little more exercise was a good idea.

Dr Emily Falk, study co-author, said:

“We conduct studies both to understand how different kinds of health messaging can help transform people’s behaviors and why some people might be more susceptible than others.

This study does a nice job starting to unpack reasons why people who have a higher sense of purpose in life might be more able to take advantage of this messaging when they encounter it.”

The study was published in the journal Health Psychology (Kang et al., 2019).

The Personality Trait Associated With Low IQ Scores

One trait is linked to a worse score in intelligence tests.

One trait is linked to a worse score in intelligence tests.

People with unstable emotions tend to get lower scores on IQ tests, studies find.

This may, though, be down to nervousness while taking the test.

In fact, people who are neurotic may have higher IQs than the standard test reveals.

Neuroticism, one of the five major personality traits, encompasses unstable emotions, anxiety, self-consciousness and irritability.

People who are higher in neuroticism may also sleep poorly, the study’s authors explain:

“High scorers tend to be sensitive, emotional, worrying, moody, frequently depressed, often sleep badly and may suffer from various psychosomatic disorders.

Low scorers tend to be secure, hardy and generally relaxed even under stressful conditions.”

The conclusions come from two studies, the first of which was conducted on 646 Dutch twins.

The results showed that people higher in neuroticism got lower scores on an IQ test.

The link is down to genetics, the researchers concluded.

However, a second study gave IQ tests to 213 people and split them into two groups depending on how anxious they were.

The results of this study showed that the more nervous people were, the lower their IQ scores.

By statistically removing the effects of anxiety, though, the researchers were able to show that highly neurotic people are just as intelligent.

The authors conclude:

“Neurotics become more anxious under testing conditions, and this anxiety affects their performance on the IQ tests.

It is therefore proposed that Neuroticism is not related to intelligence per se, but to intelligence test performance, which has been proposed in the past (Eysenck, 1971).

This suggestion implies that IQ tests may underestimate the true intelligence of Neurotic individuals.”

The studies were published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences (Bartels et al., 2012; Moutafi et al., 2006).

The Most Severe Personality Disorder Weakens Empathic Brain Activity

Why people with the most severe personality disorder find it difficult to have romantic relationships and friendships.

Why people with the most severe personality disorder find it difficult to have romantic relationships and friendships.

People with borderline personality disorder have deficits in brain regions related to empathy, research finds.

The finding helps explain why people with borderline personality disorder have unstable moods.

They also often have trouble maintaining relationships with others.

Dr Brian Haas, the study’s lead authors, said:

“Our results showed that people with BPD traits had reduced activity in brain regions that support empathy.

This reduced activation may suggest that people with more BPD traits have a more difficult time understanding and/or predicting how others feel, at least compared to individuals with fewer BPD traits.”

The study involved over 80 people taking a test which measured any borderline personality traits they had.

Dr Haas explained the reasoning:

“Oftentimes, borderline personality disorder is considered a binary phenomenon.

Either you have it or you don’t.

But for our study, we conceptualized and measured it in a more continuous way such that individuals can vary along a continuum of no traits to very many BPD traits.”

In the brain scanner people were given some tasks which measured the processing of emotions, along with some control tasks.

Professor Joshua Miller, study co-author, explained the results:

“We found that for those with more BPD traits, these empathetic processes aren’t as easily activated.”

Professor Miller continued:

“Borderline personality disorder is considered one of the most severe and troubling personality disorders.

BPD can make it difficult to have successful friendships and romantic relationships.

These findings could help explain why that is.”

The study was published in the journal Personality Disorders: Theory, Research and Treatment (Haas et al., 2016).

The Personality Trait Linked To A Very Long Life

The trait can increase the odds of reaching 85-years-old by up to 70 percent.

The trait can increase the odds of reaching 85-years-old by up to 70 percent.

The personality trait of optimism is linked to a very longer life, research finds.

People who are optimistic are more likely to live an exceptionally long life.

Being optimistic — a trait that can be boosted — can increase the odds of reaching 85-years-old by up to 70 percent.

Optimistic people tend to expect positive outcomes in the future.

Critically, optimists believe they can control their lives and make improvements.

Optimists tend to lead healthier lives and are also better at regulating their emotions.

They are less likely to smoke, have better body mass indexes and are more physically active.

Dr Lewina Lee, the study’s first author, said:

“While research has identified many risk factors for diseases and premature death, we know relatively less about positive psychosocial factors that can promote healthy aging.

This study has strong public health relevance because it suggests that optimism is one such psychosocial asset that has the potential to extend the human lifespan.

Interestingly, optimism may be modifiable using relatively simple techniques or therapies.”

The study included 71,173 people whose optimism and overall health was tracked.

The group were tracked for up to three decades.

The results showed that the most optimistic people lived up to 15 percent longer, with a 50-70 percent higher chance of reaching 85-years-old than the least optimistic people.

One of the reasons optimists live longer could be a healthier lifestyle, along with dealing with stress more effectively, said Dr Laura Kubzansky, study co-author:

“Other research suggests that more optimistic people may be able to regulate emotions and behavior as well as bounce back from stressors and difficulties more effectively.”

Increase your optimism

Exercises such as visualising your ‘best possible self‘ have been shown to increase optimism.

Visualising your best possible self may sound like an exercise in fantasy but, crucially, it does have to be realistic.

Carrying out this exercise typically involves imagining your life in the future, but a future where everything that could go well, has gone well.

You have reached those realistic goals that you have set for yourself.

Then, to help cement your visualisation, you commit your best possible self to paper.

The study was published in the journal PNAS (Lee et al., 2019).

The Personality Trait That Marks Out Selfless Heroes (M)

Kidney donors may incur considerable expense and undergo painful surgery even without knowing the organ’s recipient. Why do they do it?

Kidney donors may incur considerable expense and undergo painful surgery even without knowing the organ's recipient. Why do they do it?

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