Personality - Page 19 of 33

The Personality Type Linked To Poor Mental Health

This personality type affects around one in six people in the US.

People with personality disorders are at double the risk of developing mental health problems by 35-years-old, research finds.

People with personality disorders are more likely to be socially disadvantaged, separated or divorced.

By 35, people with personality disorders are almost twice as likely to be experiencing depression and/or anxiety.

Personality disorders affect around one in six people in the US.

The three most common personality disorders in the US are:

Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder.
Paranoid personality disorder.
Antisocial personality disorder

Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) is one of the most well-known of personality disorders

Those with OCPD are typically perfectionists who are also highly fearful or anxious.

They want to control everything and find it very hard to relax.

In contrast, those with a paranoid personality disorder are extremely mistrustful of others.

They are very sensitive and are always on the lookout for things that confirm their worst fears: that everyone is out to get them.

They assume others are hostile, they bear grudges and find it hard to have an emotional connection with others.

Finally, people with an antisocial personality disorder typically have no regard for other people’s feelings or judgments.

They see themselves as free of society’s rules and standards and are similar to what we think of as a psychopath.

→ More details on how to spot personality disorders.

Dr Paul Moran, who led the Australian study of 1,520 people, said:

“At the age of 24, personality disorder was already linked with social disadvantage, substance misuse and poor mental health.
Eleven years later, the presence of personality pathology predicted the occurrence of anxiety and depression, as well as the absence of long-term relationships.
What is most striking is that these associations were not due to pre-existing mental health, substance use or social problems.
People with personality disorder appear to be a distinctly vulnerable group with regards to future mental health and relationship problems.”

The study was published in the The Lancet Psychiatry (Moran et al., 2016).

These Personality Types Are The Most Compatible

The main thing people look for in a partner.

People tend to look for the same personality type in a partner over-and-over again, research concludes.

One of the main things people look for is a similar personality to themselves.

So, extraverts prefer other extraverts, agreeable people prefer other agreeable people, and so on.

However, it is more than that, the researchers found.

There is also a lot of similarity between a person’s ex-partners.

One of the advantages of having similar partners is learning how to deal with a particular personality type.

Ms Yoobin Park, the study’s first author, said:

“In every relationship, people learn strategies for working with their partner’s personality.
If your new partner’s personality resembles your ex-partner’s personality, transferring the skills you learned might be an effective way to start a new relationship on a good footing.”

The conclusions come from a study of 332 people.

Researchers compared the personalities of their current partners with those of their past partners.

They were asked how much they agreed with statements like:

“I am usually modest and reserved.”
“I am interested in many different kinds of things.”
“I make plans and carry them out.”

The results showed that people tend to have a ‘type’, said Ms Park:

“It’s common that when a relationship ends, people attribute the breakup to their ex-partner’s personality and decide they need to date a different type of person.
Our research suggests there’s a strong tendency to nevertheless continue to date a similar personality.
The effect is more than just a tendency to date someone similar to yourself.
The degree of consistency from one relationship to the next suggests that people may indeed have a ‘type’.
And though our data do not make clear why people’s partners exhibit similar personalities, it is noteworthy that we found partner similarity above and beyond similarity to oneself.”

In some circumstances, though, sticking to the same personality type all the time can be damaging, said Ms Park:

“So, if you find you’re having the same issues in relationship after relationship, you may want to think about how gravitating toward the same personality traits in a partner is contributing to the consistency in your problems.”

The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Park & MacDonald, 2019).

City vs Countryside: How Where You Live Affects Your Happiness (M)

City vs countryside? Open vs closed-minded people? How does personality and place interact to affect life satisfaction?

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Perfectionism Is Related To Higher Depression Risk — But It Can Be Reduced

How to reduce the damage done by this depressive personality trait.

The personality trait of perfectionism is linked to higher depression risk, a review of ten different studies finds.

People who are perfectionists are worried about making mistakes and they tend to be heavily critical of themselves.

They feel pressure from society to perform to a high standard and they think others are continually judging their performance.

When perfectionists fail to meet their lofty standards, they tend to get depressed.

Practicing self-acceptance or self-compassion is one of the best ways of dealing with perfectionist tendencies.

The conclusions come from research collecting together the results of 10 separate studies including 1,758 people.

The results showed that neuroticism, or ‘negative emotionality’ is the personality trait most strongly linked to depression.

However, being a perfectionist is associated with an additional risk.

The authors explain their results:

“In our meta-analysis of 10 longitudinal studies composed of undergraduate, community member, psychiatric patient, outpatient and medical student samples, neuroticism was the strongest predictor of change in depressive symptoms.
Even so, all seven perfectionism dimensions still predicted change in depressive symptoms beyond neuroticism.”

One aspect of perfectionism is feeling societal pressure.

The authors write:

“…socially prescribed perfectionism, concern over mistakes, doubts about actions, self-criticism, and perfectionistic attitudes add incrementally to understanding change in depressive symptoms beyond neuroticism.”

Perfectionism is problematic because high standards are so hard to reach consistently.

The authors write:

“…people high in perfectionistic concerns appear to think, feel and behave in ways that have depressogenic consequences [causing depression].
Such people believe others hold lofty expectations for them, and often feel incapable of living up to the perfection they perceive others demand.
They may agonize about perceived failures and have doubts about performance abilities because they experience their social world as judgmental, pressure-filled and unyielding.”

The study was published in the European Journal of Personality (Smith et al., 2016).

The Personality Trait Linked To Lower Depression Risk

Some people’s personalities naturally have greater resistance to mental health problems.

Extraverts are less likely to suffer from depression, anxiety or any other form of mental health problem, research finds.

Extraverts tend to enjoy other people’s company, are often full of energy and tend to be talkative.

Other people give extraverts energy and they have a tendency to feel bored when alone.

The conclusions come from a study of 441 people in Finland who were given tests of personality, depression and anxiety.

The study also found that people who are neurotic are more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety.

The study’s authors write:

“…the personality dimension neuroticism is strongly associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms, and the personality dimension intraversion is moderately associated with depressive symptoms among participants in this urban general population.”

Neuroticism, the authors explain, is:

“…characterized by proneness to anxiety, emotional instability, and self-consciousness, whereas extraversion involves positive emotionality, energy, and dominance.”

People who are both neurotic and introverted are at higher risk of depression and anxiety.

However, those who have stable personalities and who are extraverted are less likely to experience depression and anxiety.

The study was published in the journal Depression and Anxiety (Jylhä et al., 2006).

2 Personality Traits That Are Vital For Success

The personality traits that help cadets graduate from the US Military Academy at West Point.

Grit and intelligence are two personality factors vital for success, research suggests.

Grit is the trait of perseverance and passion that keeps people working towards long-term goals.

While higher intelligence helps people succeed at certain activities, it may be grit that really propels people over the line.

The conclusions come from a study of over 11,258 cadets entering the US Military Academy at West Point.

Professor Angela Duckworth, the study’s first author, said:

“I was looking for a context in which people might be quitting too early.
There’s such a thing as quitting at the right time.
But there’s also such a thing as quitting on a bad day when you’re discouraged and maybe shouldn’t be making such a big decision.”

All cadets entering the Academy in nine successive years completed measures of grit, plus the researchers had access to cognitive scores and tests of physical abilities.

Professor Duckworth said:

“We accumulated all this data in part so we could answer more definitively the question of whether grit predicted success outcomes.
We now have more confidence in our original conclusions.
At the same time, we wanted to explore where, perhaps, grit wasn’t the most important factor.”

The results showed that the trait of grit was most useful to cadets during ‘Beast Barracks’, a six-week initiation during which 3 percent of cadets drop out.

Professor Duckworth said:

“The grittier you are, the less likely you are to drop out during that very discouraging time.”

In classroom activities it was intelligence that mattered most.

To graduate from West Point, though, a combination of grit and physical ability was more important than cognitive abilities.

Professor Duckworth said:

“This work shows us that grit is not the only determinant of success.
Yes, it’s very important, helping people stick with things when they’re hard, but it’s not the best predictor of every aspect of success.”

Fascinatingly, the higher cadet’s cognitive abilities, the lower their grit.

Smarter people seem to have less determination to overcome the odds, perhaps because they face fewer challenges.

The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Duckworth et al., 2019).

Liking This Drink Reveals A Risk-Taking Personality

What liking certain foods and drinks reveals about your personality.

Risk-takers and sensation-seekers prefer bitter drinks, such as bitter beer, research finds.

Pale ales, which are generally more bitter than lagers, are preferred by thrill-seekers.

Other bitter drinks, such as strong coffee along with spicy foods, are particularly attractive to sensation-seekers.

Sensation-seeking is an aspect of extraversion, suggesting those who like bitter drinks are more extraverted.

In contrast, people who avoid bitter tastes, tend to have more agreeable personalities, previous research has found.

Dr John Hayes, study co-author, said:

“Traditionally, most researchers find that people who experience bitterness more intensely avoid bitter food or drink—so with heightened bitterness, they like it less, and therefore consume it less.
But here, we find that people who seek higher sensations and are more risk-taking, they like bitter beer such as India pale ales, if they also have greater bitter taste perception.”

For the study, 109 people rated their liking of two pale ales and a lager.

The results revealed that those with sensation-seeking personalities preferred the more bitter beer.

Ms Molly Higgins, the study’s first author, said:

“Our data contradict the classic view that bitterness is merely an aversive sensation that limits intake.
We found that increased bitterness perception does not always lead to decreased liking and intake—rather, it’s a positive attribute in some products for some consumers.”

Disliking bitter foods can be bad for health, said Ms Higgins:

“Avoidance of bitter foods can impact health negatively, because bitter foods such as cruciferous vegetables, green tea and grapefruit contain healthy compounds like flavonols, which are reported to have antioxidant and anticarcinogenic properties.”

Narcissists and psychopaths?

On the other hand, having a preference for bitter tastes is linked to psychopathy, narcissism and everyday sadism, some studies have found.

A predilection for bitter foods and drinks, therefore, could indicated some psychopathic tendencies in a person’s personality.

The study was published in the Food Quality and Preference (Higgins et al., 2020).

There Are Four Personality Types, Scientists Find

The results from over 1.5 million people showed that many clustered around these four types.

There are four distinct personality types that many people fall into, according to research from 1.5 million people around the world.

They are the ‘average’, the ‘reserved’, the ‘role models’ and the ‘self-centred’.

While psychologists usually dislike the idea of personality ‘types’, Professor Luís Amaral, study co-author, said:

“Personality types only existed in self-help literature and did not have a place in scientific journals.
Now, we think this will change because of this study.”

1. Average

Most people are ‘average’, as you would expect: they are relatively extraverted but also a little neurotic.

They are also relatively closed to new experiences, preferring to stick to what they know and not that curious about the world.

2. Reserved

Reserved people tend to be emotionally stable but more introverted.

Set against this, they are also agreeable and conscientious.

This is the quiet, unobtrusive, willing and dependable type.

3. Role Models

Role models tend to have stable emotions and be high in openness to experience, agreeableness, conscientiousness and extraversion.

This means they are friendly, hard-working, outgoing and curious.

Others naturally looked up to them because of their positive personality traits.

Professor Amaral said:

“These are people who are dependable and open to new ideas.
These are good people to be in charge of things.
In fact, life is easier if you have more dealings with role models.”

People are more likely to fit into the role model category as they get older.

Women are also more likely to fall into this category.

4. Self-centred

Self-centred people are extraverted but low in openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness.

Teenage boys are particularly likely to be self-centred, Professor Amaral said:

“We know teen boys behave in self-centered ways.
If the data were correct and sifted for demographics, they would they turn out to be the biggest cluster of people.”

People tend to get less self-centred with age.

The results come from a survey of over 1.5 million people worldwide.

All were given standard tests of the five major factors of personality: neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion and openness to experience.

The results showed that many — although not all — people tend to cluster around these four types.

Change is also possible between the groups, Professor Amaral said:

“When we look at large groups of people, it’s clear there are trends, that some people may be changing some of these characteristics over time.
This could be a subject of future research.”

The study was published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour (Gerlach et al., 2018).

This Personality Type Is Most Likely To Cheat

Between 40 percent and 76 percent of people cheat on their partners over the course of their relationship.

Men with performance anxiety and who like to take risks are most likely to cheat, a study finds.

Women, though, tend to cheat if they are dissatisfied with the relationship.

The standard of a man’s relationship does not have much effect on whether he cheats.

Instead, it is a man’s personality that is especially important in whether or not he cheats.

The study supports the stereotype that men who are cheaters will continue to cheat, whatever kind of relationship they are in.

Risk-takers tend to be impulsive and can have problems controlling themselves.

Gambling, drug-taking and aggressive behaviour can all be signs of someone who is a risk-taker.

Cheating is one more way for this type of man to find excitement.

The pattern is different among women, where unhappiness in their current relationship predicts cheating.

In fact, women who are dissatisfied with their relationship were twice as likely to cheat on their partner than those who were satisfied.

The study included almost one thousand men and women in (supposedly) monogamous relationships.

The results showed that 23% of men and 19% of women admitted being unfaithful at some point.

Men’s infidelity was predicted by personality factors like risk-taking.

Professor Milhausen, who led the study, said:

“All kinds of things predict infidelity.
What this study says is that when you put all of those things together, for men, personality characteristics are so strong they bounce everything else out of the model.
For women, in the face of all other variables, it’s still the relationship that is the most important predictor.”

The study was published in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior (Mark et al., 2011).

How To Develop A More Conscientious Personality

Conscientious people are systematic and dutiful and are more likely to follow through on their plans than their less conscientious peers.

Being more conscientious is simply a matter of faking it until you make it, a study suggests.

Far from being impossible to change, people can increase their conscientiousness by starting to behave in more hard-working and organised ways until it becomes second nature.

People in the study did things like make to-do lists and tidy up their homes.

Increased conscientiousness is one of the changes to personality that people desire the most, along with increased extraversion and emotional stability.

Conscientiousness is one of the five major aspects of personality.

Conscientious people are systematic and dutiful and are more likely to follow through on their plans than their less conscientious peers.

Conscientious people are also are more careful, efficient and self-disciplined — and they aim for achievement.

Personality change, though, is often seen as something that is very hard or even impossible.

Dr Nathan Hudson, the study’s author, begs to differ:

“The idea of personality trait change – especially other people trying to change an individual’s personality – can sound scary.
But whether we recognize it or not, society is filled with interventions designed to try to change our personality traits.
For instance, elementary school is a giant intervention designed to help children become more intelligent, yes, but also kinder and more sociable, responsible and hardworking.”

For the research, Dr Hudson tested college student’s ability to change two aspects of their personality: increase their conscientiousness and increase their emotional stability.

The results showed that conscientiousness could be increased through simple practice, whether or not the students were motivated to change.

Dr Hudson said:

“Motivation is largely irrelevant to interventions targeting conscientiousness, as long as participants adhere to the intervention.”

However, emotional stability could not easily be increased when the students were not motivated.

Dr Hudson thinks it comes down to the nature of negative emotions:

“For many people, it can be difficult to ‘just stop feeling angry’ or ‘just stop being stressed.
My hunch is that indirect strategies for changing someone’s emotions, such as writing in a journal or thinking about positive things, can only really work when people want to use those techniques to change their emotions.”

Dr Hudson thinks organisations and schools could help people improve some personality traits:

“This provides promising evidence that schools, companies, or other organizations could ask people to make relatively minor changes that could help improve their lives by making them more organized and responsible over time.
In contrast, it appears that emotional stability might require a bit more investment from the people who partake in an intervention.”

→ Read on: How To Change Your Personality

The study was published in the Journal of Research in Personality (Hudson, 2021).