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How to Change Conscientiousness: The Sociogenomic Trait Intervention Model

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Brent W Roberts at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Brent W Roberts
Patrick L. Hill
Patrick L. Hill
Patrick L. Hill
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Jordan P. Davis at RAND Corporation
Jordan P. Davis
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Abstract

Conscientiousness, the propensity to be organized, responsible, self-controlled, industrious, and rule-following, is related to numerous important outcomes including many forms of psychopathology. Given the increasing awareness of the importance of conscientiousness, it is becoming common to want to understand how to foster it. In this paper we first describe and update a recent model that was put forward as a theoretically informed intervention to change conscientiousness. We then consider recent life span theories focused on conscientiousness that might inform how best to use existing interventions as well as identify potential moderators of the effectiveness of intervention. Finally, we integrate these perspectives into a framework for how to foster conscientiousness that we label the Sociogenomic Trait Intervention Model (STIM).
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How to Change Conscientiousness: The Sociogenomic
Trait Intervention Model
Brent W. Roberts
University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign
and University of Tübingen
Patrick L. Hill
Washington University, St. Louis
Jordan P. Davis
University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign
Conscientiousness, the propensity to be organized, responsible, self-controlled, industrious, and rule-
following, is related to numerous important outcomes including many forms of psychopathology. Given
the increasing awareness of the importance of conscientiousness, it is becoming common to want to
understand how to foster it. In this paper we first describe and update a recent model that was put forward
as a theoretically informed intervention to change conscientiousness. We then consider recent life span
theories focused on conscientiousness that might inform how best to use existing interventions as well
as identify potential moderators of the effectiveness of intervention. Finally, we integrate these perspec-
tives into a framework for how to foster conscientiousness that we label the Sociogenomic Trait
Intervention Model (STIM).
Keywords: conscientiousness, intervention, personality traits, behavioral activation, sociogenomic
Conscientiousness is a collection of constructs describing indi-
vidual differences in the propensity to be self-controlled, respon-
sible to others, hardworking, orderly, and rule-abiding (Roberts,
Lejuez, Krueger, Richards, & Hill, 2014). It is a personality trait,
which in turn is defined as the relatively enduring, automatic
patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that are elicited in
isomorphic situations and that develop with time and age (Roberts,
2009). Conscientiousness is currently considered one of the most
consistently predictive trait domains within the Big Five with
respect to positive outcomes in most, if not all areas of life. In the
case of school, conscientiousness is the most important factor next
to cognitive abilities when examining school performance (Po-
ropat, 2009). In work, conscientiousness is considered the primary
personality factor for predicting better job performance (Dudley,
Orvis, Lebiecki, & Cortina, 2006), occupational success (Judge,
Higgins, Thoresen, & Barrick, 1999), and lifelong earnings (Duck-
worth, Weir, Tsukayama, & Kwok, 2012). Conscientiousness pre-
dicts outcomes such as relationship quality and duration (Hill,
Nickel, & Roberts, 2014;Roberts, Kuncel, Shiner, Caspi, & Gold-
berg, 2007). Conscientiousness also predicts physical health
(Hampson, Edmonds, Goldberg, Dubanoski, & Hillier, 2013;Is-
rael et al., 2014;Moffitt et al., 2011), the onset of Alzheimer’s
disease (Wilson, Schneider, Arnold, Bienias, & Bennett, 2007),
and longevity (Hill, Turiano, Hurd, Mroczek, & Roberts, 2011;
Kern & Friedman, 2008). Finally, conscientiousness is an impor-
tant factor for mental health because it predicts all major forms of
psychopathology (Kotov, Gamez, Schmidt, & Watson, 2010), and
especially externalizing disorders (Krueger, Markon, Patrick, Ben-
ning, & Kramer, 2007). Succinctly, conscientiousness is a person-
ality trait that promotes better success in school, work, relation-
ships, and physical and mental health.
Given the increasing awareness of the importance of conscien-
tiousness, it is becoming common for people to want to understand
how to foster conscientiousness. This is a question on the minds of
both parents and societies around the globe. Most parents and
social communities are invested in having their children and citi-
zens be responsible, hardworking, and appropriately self-
controlled adults. It is also a developmental fact that people tend to
be less conscientious when they are young (Roberts, Walton, &
Viechtbauer, 2006). This invites the question that we attempt to
answer in this paper. If we want to foster conscientiousness, how
should we intervene? To address this overarching question, we
first review and update a recent model that was put forward as a
theoretically informed intervention to change conscientiousness
that was based on behavioral activation (BA) theory, a form of
cognitive behavior therapy used to treat depression (Magidson,
Roberts, Collado-Rodriguez, & Lejuez, 2014). Second, to address
several oversights in our original conceptualization of the BA-
inspired model, we describe how the process of development and
the developmental context surrounding conscientiousness might
inform how and when to intervene. Third, we merge the BA-
informed model with the information from developmental research
Brent W. Roberts, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois–
Urbana-Champaign, and Department of Psychology, University of Tübin-
gen; Patrick L. Hill, Department of Psychology, Washington University,
St. Louis; Jordan P. Davis, Department of Social Work, University of
Illinois–Urbana-Champaign.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Brent W.
Roberts, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois–Urbana-
Champaign, 411 Psychology Building, 603 East Daniel Street, Champaign,
IL 61820. E-mail: bwrobrts@illinois.edu
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
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Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment © 2017 American Psychological Association
2017, Vol. 8, No. 3, 199–205 1949-2715/17/$12.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/per0000242
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