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The Power of Personality The Comparative Validity of Personality Traits, Socioeconomic Status, and Cognitive Ability for Predicting Important Life Outcomes
Abstract and Figures
The ability of personality traits to predict important life outcomes has traditionally been questioned because of the putative small effects of personality. In this article, we compare the predictive validity of personality traits with that of socioeconomic status (SES) and cognitive ability to test the relative contribution of personality traits to predictions of three critical outcomes: mortality, divorce, and occupational attainment. Only evidence from prospective longitudinal studies was considered. In addition, an attempt was made to limit the review to studies that controlled for important background factors. Results showed that the magnitude of the effects of personality traits on mortality, divorce, and occupational attainment was indistinguishable from the effects of SES and cognitive ability on these outcomes. These results demonstrate the influence of personality traits on important life outcomes, highlight the need to more routinely incorporate measures of personality into quality of life surveys, and encourage further research about the developmental origins of personality traits and the processes by which these traits influence diverse life outcomes.
© 2007 Association for Psychological Science.
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... Nonetheless, there is also research that indicates that personality is predictive of real-world significant life outcomes, which are not subject to self-report related biases 38,43,44 . For example, personality has been shown to predict objective measures of career success 43 . ...
... For example, personality has been shown to predict objective measures of career success 43 . Personality has also been reported to predict other directly measured significant life outcomes such as academic performance 45 , divorce 44 , and mortality or longevity 46,47 . ...
... Importantly, despite the limitations of the predictions, inferences of personality from digital footprints were significant, digital footprints were significant predictors of behavior in specific real world situations, and therefore, their relevance should not be underestimated. The current work joins previous research in showing that the five dimensions of the big five are indeed related to people's behavior 44 . One unique aspect of this research is that it demonstrates that using five personality dimensions as inputs to a machine learning algorithm can greatly improve the predictive performance of these dimensions. ...
Personality is predictive of many behaviors, but personality questionnaires cannot be readily administered to persons of interest. The language people use to express themselves can often predict personality and so should, in theory, provide a surrogate marker for predicting behavior. We used social media (Twitter) language from a sample of 252 NBA players to estimate their Five Factor personality scores, and then, used these scores to try and predict on-court transgressive behavior. A machine learning model was able to predict players’ tendency to commit technical fouls (predictive performance: r = .18); with the most important contributors to the model including neuroticism, extraversion, and conscientiousness. These findings show that personality can predict individual choices and behaviors in specific contexts; furthermore, by assessing the degree to which our digital footprint can be used to derive actionable predictions of behavior, the current findings could inform discussions concerning regulations of data privacy.
... Then, research discovering that personality traits have tangible consequences for individuals and society was instrumental in establishing their role as not only important psychological factors, but among the most influential variables of any domain. For example, their national economic impact has been found to exceed even that of mental health (Cuijpers et al., 2010) and their predictive validity regularly surpasses that of cognitive ability and socioeconomic status (Roberts et al., 2007). The value of personality change itself was bolstered by studies ...
Researchers and laypeople alike have traditionally viewed personality as being highly stable across the lifespan. Although years of recent research supports personality’s malleability, it is unclear how lifespan changes in personality traits compare to changes in other individual differences and how the public perceives their relative stability. Here, we investigate these perspectives using a multimethod, comparative approach across personality and other individual differences. In an online survey with a US-representative sample (n = 887), we found that laypeople believe personality traits change significantly less across the lifespan than other variables from domains like health and well-being. In contrast, using data from eight longitudinal panel studies (n = 166,971), we found that changes in personality were similar to many other commonly studied aspects of life, even surpassing lifespan changes in life satisfaction, self-esteem, subjective health, and church attendance, among others. Together, our results highlight that the durable public view that personality traits are among the most stable aspects of life is at odds with the empirical reality. Given the implications of personality change and beliefs about personality change for future outcomes and successful interventions, it is crucial to effectively disseminate evidence to foster accurate beliefs about personality change.
... When we wanted to test Hypothesis 2 and conduct propensity scores matchmaking followed by regression analysis, all five demographic variables were used as controls to account for systematic differences in personality assessments that could bias the comparison between control and experimental groups (Schmitt et al., 2008;Roberts et al., 2007 properties of the chatbot, we aimed to use Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Kline (2015) suggested a minimum of 200 participants for simple models, while Hair et al. (2010) recommend a minimum sample size of 150 for models with strong loadings and simple structure. ...
This paper explores the efficacy of AI-driven chatbots in accurately inferring personality traits compared to traditional psychometric tests within a real-world professional hiring context. The study is driven by the increasing integration of AI tools in recruitment processes, which necessitates a deeper understanding of their reliability and validity. Using a quasi-experimental design with propensity score matching, we analysed data from 159 candidates and other professionals from Serbian and Montenegrin regions who completed both traditional psychometric assessments and AI-based personality evaluations based on the Big Five Personality model. A novel one-question-per-facet approach was employed in the chatbot assessments with a goal of enabling more granular analysis of the chatbot’s psychometric properties. The findings indicate that the chatbot demonstrated good structural, substantive, and convergent validity for certain traits, particularly Extraversion and Conscientiousness, but not for Neuroticism, Agreeableness, and Openness. While robust regression confirmed that AI-inferred scores are less susceptible to social desirability bias than traditional tests, they did not significantly predict real-world outcomes, indicating issues with external validity, particularly predictive validity. The results suggest that AI-driven chatbots show promise for identifying certain personality traits and demonstrate resistance to social desirability bias. This paper contributes to the emerging field of AI and psychometrics by offering insights into the potential and limitations of AI tools in professional selection, while developing an approach for refining psychometric properties of AI-driven assessments.
... Personality is considered one of the most significant domains of psychological research, as it serves as a robust predictor of various life outcomes (Azucar et al., 2018;Roberts et al., 2007). Personality traits represent shared fundamental characteristics on which individuals differ, and these personality traits are enduring across time and contexts (Diener & Lucas, 2020). ...
The study investigated the association between personality traits, religiosity, and spouse selection in young adults. This cross-sectional research included 230 participants (men = 113, women = 117) aged 18-35 years (Mage = 22.3, SDage = 3.01), recruited in-person using a non-probability convenient sampling strategy. Participants filled out a demographic information sheet and completed English versions of the Ten Item Personality Inventory (Gosling et al., 2003), Religious Commitment Inventory-10 (Worthington et al., 2003), and Preference Criteria of Spouse Selection Inventory (Refahi et al., 2010). Data was analyzed using SPSS version 23.00 and Process Macro version 4.2. The findings revealed that process criteria of spouse selection positively correlated with religiosity, extraversion, conscientiousness, and agreeableness, but showed a negative association with neuroticism. Conversely, the content criteria of spouse selection showed negative associations with religiosity, extraversion, conscientiousness, and agreeableness, while positively correlating with neuroticism and openness to experiences. Furthermore, religiosity, extraversion, and agreeableness predicted both spouse selection criteria, with openness only predicting content criteria. Moreover, all personality traits indirectly influenced both spouse selection criteria through religiosity. This study has implications for academia and marital counseling, offering insights that could guide young adults in making informed and value-aligned marital decisions.
A central finding in the power literature is that experiencing elevated power facilitates employees’ goal‐relevant cognitions and behaviors. In this work, we suggest that the relationship between power and goal pursuit is more complex than previously assumed. Specifically, we examine how experiencing power fluctuation—alternating states of high and low power during the workday—can uniquely promote employees’ goal‐relevant behaviors beyond the effect of static power. Integrating insights from the Dynamic Equilibrium Model of Organizing (DEMO) and the Model of Proactive Motivation (MPM), our work demonstrates that power fluctuation can facilitate employees’ cognitive energy, in a way that enhances their goal‐relevant cognitions and behaviors (goal clarity, resource acquisition, personal initiative, and goal progress). Furthermore, our work considers for whom these benefits are most pronounced, showing that power fluctuation is more strongly associated with cognitive energy (and subsequent goal‐relevant outcomes) for employees higher (vs. lower) in trait mindfulness. Taken together, our findings offer new insights and challenge traditional static conceptions of power by illustrating how daily fluctuations in power can serve as a motivational force that enhances goal pursuit in the workplace.
Objective
Personality traits such as conscientiousness and emotional stability are consistently linked with better metabolic health, but there is limited evidence on the etiology of these associations and their robustness across the life‐span.
Methods
Therefore, we estimated phenotypic, genetic, and unique environmental associations of traits indexed by the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire in early‐to‐middle adulthood (mean age = 38.3 years) with BMI, waist circumference, high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol, C‐reactive protein, triglycerides, and glycated hemoglobin in older adulthood (mean age = 70.4 years) using the Minnesota Twin Registry sample ( n = 950).
Results
Traits that indexed emotional instability in midlife, such as alienation and stress reactivity, were significant predictors of several metabolic outcomes late in life (bivariate | r | ≤ 0.22), whereas negative associations with traits related to conscientiousness (e.g., control, constraint, achievement) tended to be more modest. For most traits that were phenotypically associated, we observed significant genetic correlations. Additionally, alienation and stress reactivity had weak‐to‐moderate unique environmental correlations with BMI, waist circumference, and C‐reactive protein ( r e = 0.10–0.29).
Conclusions
These results are consistent with an etiology of declining metabolic health into old age involving the propensity toward negative affective experiences decades prior, further validating the health relevance of individual differences in personality.
Traditional models of physical dependence suggest that nicotine dependence should be reflected by the extent of drug exposure (e.g., smoking rate) and by evidence of physiological adaptation (e.g., withdrawal severity). An affective model suggests that nicotine dependence should be related to an individual's tendency to experience negative affect and expectations that nicotine use would ameliorate such affect. This research investigated the ability of these 2 models to predict relapse back to smoking at 6 months postquit. Logistic regression models were developed and tested in 505 heavy smokers participating in nicotine patch clinical trials. Results supported both models, but the most potent predictor of outcome was postquit negative affect, which accounted for much of the predictive validity of traditional measures of nicotine dependence. Affective reactivity appears to be a core constituent of dependence.
This research tested 6 models of the independent and interactive effects of stable personality traits on each partner's reports of relationship satisfaction and quality. Both members of 360 couples (N = 720) completed the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire and were interviewed about their relationship. Findings show that a woman's relationship happiness is predicted by her partner's low Negative Emotionality, high Positive Emotionality, and high Constraint, whereas a man's relationship happiness is predicted only by his partner's low Negative Emotionality. Findings also show evidence of additive but not interactive effects: Each partner's personality contributed independently to relationship outcomes but not in a synergistic way. These results are discussed in relation to models that seek to integrate research on individual differences in personality traits with research on interpersonal processes in intimate relationships.
Participants in a longitudinal study of women's adult development were scored at midlife on the Occupational Creativity Scale (OCS), which draws on J. L. Holland's (1985) model of vocational environments in the assessment of participants' creative achievement. College measures of cognitive–affective style and career aspirations predicted OCS scores at age 52, and consistency of creative temperament (H. G. Gough, 1992), motivation, and overall attributes of creative personality were demonstrated with both self-report and observer data over several times of testing. However, there was change along with this enduringness: Large fluctuations in creative temperament over one period of life or another were common in individuals, and OCS scores were associated with an increase in level of effective functioning over 30 years.
This article presents a framework for studying personality in the stress process. The framework specifies that personality may affect both exposure and reactivity to stressful events and that both processes may explain how personality affects health and psychological outcomes. The framework also specifies that personality differences in reactivity may be due to differential choice of coping efforts and differential effectiveness of those efforts. In a 14-day daily diary study of 94 students, this framework was used to analyze the links among neuroticism, daily interpersonal conflicts, coping with conflicts, and distress. Results showed that high-neuroticism participants had greater exposure and reactivity to conflicts. Furthermore, high- and low-neuroticism participants differed both in their choice of coping efforts and in the effectiveness of those efforts, a possibility not considered in previous models of personality in the stress process.
A program of research is summarized that represents the author's lifelong efforts to understand the adult life course of intellectual abilities. The Seattle Longitudinal Study has assessed mental abilities in more than 5,000 adults and has followed some for as long as 35 years. Integrative findings are provided on patterns and magnitudes of age changes, cohort differences, factor structure of mental abilities, antecedents for individual differences in aging trajectories, and interventions designed to remediate cognitive aging effects.
The antecedents of marital stability (divorce or remaining married) and marital satisfaction (within the group that remains married) were investigated with a panel of 300 couples who were followed from their engagements in the 1930s until 1980. Twenty-two of the couples broke their engagements; of the 278 couples who married, 50 got divorced at some time between 1935 and 1980. Personality characteristics (measured by acquaintance ratings made in the 1930s) were important predictors of both marital stability and marital satisfaction. The three aspects of personality most strongly related to marital outcome were the neuroticism of the husband, the neuroticism of the wife, and the impulse control of the husband. In combination, the 17 major antecedent variables were moderately predictive of a criterion variable composed of both marital stability and marital satisfaction (R = .49). The three major aspects of personality accounted for more than half of the predictable variance. The remaining variance was accounted for by attitudinal, social-environment, and sexual history variables.
This longitudinal study provides an analysis of the relationship between personality traits and work experiences with a special focus on the relationship between changes in personality and work experiences in young adulthood. Longitudinal analyses uncovered 3 findings. First, measures of personality taken at age 18 predicted both objective and subjective work experiences at age 26. Second, work experiences were related to changes in personality traits from age 18 to 26. Third, the predictive and change relations between personality traits and work experiences were corresponsive: Traits that "selected" people into specific work experiences were the same traits that changed in response to those same work experiences. The relevance of the findings to theories of personality development is discussed.
In this article, the authors evaluate the possible roles of negative emotions and cognitions in the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and physical health, focusing on the outcomes of cardiovascular diseases and all-cause mortality. After reviewing the limited direct evidence, the authors examine indirect evidence showing that (a) SES relates to the targeted health outcomes, (b) SES relates to negative emotions and cognitions, and (c) negative emotions and cognitions relate to the targeted health outcomes. The authors present a general framework for understanding the roles of cognitiveemotional factors, suggesting that low-SES environments are stressful and reduce individuals' reserve capacity to manage stress, thereby increasing vulnerability to negative emotions and cognitions. The article concludes with suggestions for future research to better evaluate the proposed model.