Month: August 2022

The personality trait can be changed over the years.

Conscientious people live longer and have stronger immune systems, research finds.

It is partly because people higher in conscientiousness have lower levels of a biological marker called interleukin-6, which is linked to inflammation in the body.

People who are conscientious are more careful, efficient and self-disciplined — and they aim for achievement.

In fact, an orientation towards achievement and a preference for order were the strongest predictors of a long life.

Highly conscientious people live an average of two to four years longer.

They are also less likely to smoke or drink and experience lower levels of stress.

Conscientiousness is one of the five major aspects of personality, along with agreeableness, extraversion, openness to experience and neuroticism.

Professor Howard S. Friedman, the study’s co-author, said:

“The major finding is that this conscientiousness aspect of personality is indeed reliably predictive of mortality risk across studies.

This seems to be as important as most commonly assessed medical risk factors, few of which are psychological.”

The research rounded up the findings of 20 separate studies on over 8,900 people around the world.

Being more organised and responsible was consistently linked to better health.

Professor Friedman said:

“Not only do conscientious individuals have better health habits and less risk-taking, but they also travel life pathways toward healthier psychosocial environments – such as more stable jobs and marriages – and may even have a biological predisposition toward good health.”

People can become more conscientious, said Dr Margaret L. Kern, study co-author:

“There is some evidence that people can become more conscientious, especially as they enter stable jobs or good marriages.

We think our findings can challenge people to think about their lives and what may result from the actions they do.

Even though conscientiousness cannot be changed in the short term, improvements can emerge over the long run as individuals enter responsible relationships, careers and associations.”

The study was published in the Journal of Personality (Kern & Friedman, 2008).

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Genetics is important for giving us our start in life, but effort is required to reach our full potential.

Skills above and beyond IQ are vital to success, genetic research finds.

Many ‘non-cognitive skills’ are linked to higher educational attainment, earning more money and even living longer.

Persistence, motivation and self-control are all examples of non-cognitive skills.

Similarly, personality traits like emotional stability, curiosity and being industrious and orderly are linked to success.

Inheriting these types of traits is just as important as inheriting raw brain power, if not more so, the researchers found.

The conclusions come from a large genetic analysis, Dr Daniel Belsky, study co-author, explained:

“Genetic studies of educational attainment were initiated with the goal of identifying genes that influenced cognitive abilities.

But it turns out they’ve also identified genetics that influence a range of other skills and characteristics.

What was most surprising to me about our results was that these noncognitive skills contributed just as much to the heritability of educational attainment as cognitive ability.”

The study analysed genetic and cognitive test data from almost 1.5 million people.

It found that 43 percent of the influence of genes on educational attainment comes from cognitive abilities.

The remainder — 57 percent — is from noncognitive abilities.

Professor Paige Harden, study co-author, said:

“Motivation, persistence, grit, curiosity, self-control, growth mindset—these are just a few of the things that people have suggested are important noncognitive skills.

For personality and risk behavior, we saw relationships we expected; noncognitive skills genetics were associated with less risky behavior and a personality profile we associate with maturity, and social and professional competency.

But the results for mental health were a surprise.”

Professor Harden is referring to the finding that genes linked to educational attainment were also associated with mental health problems.

These genes increased the risk of OCD, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and anorexia.

Professor Harden said:

“This is an example of what geneticists call pleiotropy.

Our result warns us against a simplistic view of genetic variants being good or bad.

The same genetic variant that predisposes someone to go further in school might also elevate their risk of developing schizophrenia or another serious mental disorder.”

While genetics is important for giving us our start in life, effort is required to reach our full potential.

Professor Harden said:

“Genetic influence must always be understood through the lens of history and social structures.

These results tell us about what is, not what could be.

Nothing about our study should discourage investments in ensuring that all children reach their maximum potential.”

The study was published in the journal Nature Genetics (Demange et al., 2021).

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