Secular rise in economically valuable personality traits

Abstract

Although trends in many physical characteristics and cognitive capabilities of modern humans are well-documented, less is known about how personality traits have evolved over time. We analyze data from a standardized personality test administered to 79% of Finnish men born between 1962 and 1976 (n = 419,523) and find steady increases in personality traits that predict higher income in later life. The magnitudes of these trends are similar to the simultaneous increase in cognitive abilities, at 0.2-0.6 SD during the 15-y window. When anchored to earnings, the change in personality traits amounts to a 12% increase. Both personality and cognitive ability have consistent associations with family background, but the trends are similar across groups defined by parental income, parental education, number of siblings, and rural/ urban status. Nevertheless, much of the trends in test scores can be attributed to changes in the family background composition, namely 33% for personality and 64% for cognitive ability. These composition effects are mostly due to improvements in parents' education. We conclude that there is a "Flynn effect" for personality that mirrors the original Flynn effect for cognitive ability in magnitude and practical significance but is less driven by compositional changes in family background.personality traits | cognitive ability | cohort effects | earnings | Flynn effect

Niche diversity can explain cross-cultural differences in personality structure

“…Second, we should ask more precise questions about the plasticity of the behavioral traits that compose what we usually think of as personality characteristics. There is strong evidence that personality factors are at least somewhat plastic, supported by both age-related changes [67] and those resulting from traumatic or otherwise meaningful events [68], and more broadly by the logic that, because personality traits quantify patterns of behavior, their manifestation must be influenced by the affordances provided by the physical and social environment [29,27,25,26,31,28,47,48]. However, most prior studies of personality plasticity have assumed the phenotypic reality of personality factors such as the Big Five and HEXACO traits (e.g., [46,47,48]).…”

“…In recent years, a growing number of researchers have rejected the theory that inductively derived personality dimensions correspond directly to latent psychological traits, and have adopted an alternative paradigm that views patterns of personality trait covariance as emerging dynamically from many distinct psychological mechanisms and processes [19,20,14,21,4,22,5]. This "emergentist" perspective argues that personality trait factors reflect patterns of specific behaviors, which are influenced by other aspects of an individual's phenotype as well as by the physical and social environment [23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31]. From the emergentist perspective, there is no theoretical basis for expecting universal personality trait factors; in principle, many different behavioral covariance patterns could be elicited within a local ecology.…”

Take charge: Personality as predictor of recovery from eating disorder

“…For example: engaging in a serious romantic relationship (Neyer & Lehnart, 2007), specific work experiences (Roberts, Caspi, & Moffitt, 2003), moving to a new country (Zimmermann & Neyer, 2013) and psychotherapy (Roberts et al, 2017), may result in significant and specific changes in personality. On a larger scale, researchers have also seen personality changes in populations across time and over generations attributed to overarching cultural and societal pressures (Jokela et al, 2017;Twenge et al, 2010). There are thus a multitude of factors, from the macro-level of society to the micro-level of hormones, which can influence personality development.…”

“…Personality influences both short-and long-term outcomes for the individual and also for the species as a whole. Furthermore, personality traits evolve over time in response to environmental circumstances and demands (Jokela, Pekkarinen, Sarvimaki, Tervio, & Uusitalo, 2017;Roberts, 2018;Twenge et al, 2010;Zidar et al, 2017). Personality has been linked to several important life outcomes.…”

Unraveling genetic factors involved in intelligence, educational attainment and socioeconomic standing: what are the implications for childhood mental health care professionals?

“…Third, much of the discussion regarding the relevance of genes in shaping intelligence and socioeconomic attainment leaves aside the role of environmental factors which obviously play an important role [33]. This argument is strengthened by the observation that IQ and educational levels have increased over time [34]: on average, in industrialized countries, IQ scores have risen by 0.2 SD per decade since 1950 [35]; during the same period, the percentage of 25-34 year olds with tertiary education across the OECD has increased from approximately 10 to 40% [36]. This "Flynn effect", which appears to have stalled in most countries more recently, cannot be explained by changes in the genetic composition of populations.…”