1 May 2013

PERSONALITY - 10 Fascinating Facts About Personality
















Fun and Fascinating Facts About Human Personality


By Kendra Cherry, About.com Guide


Personality makes us who we are. It influences nearly every aspect of our lives, from what we choose to do for a living to how we interact with our families to our choices of friends and romantic partners. But what factors influence our personality? Can we change our personalities, or do our overall traits remain constant throughout life?
Learn more about what researchers have learned in these ten fascinating facts about personality.

1. Birth Order Can Influence Your Personality


Birth order and personalityPhoto by Horton Group
  You've probably heard of this concept before. First born  children are often described as "bossy" or "responsible,"  while last-born children are sometimes described as  "irresponsible" and "impulsive." But how true are these  common stereotypes?
  For decades, pop psychology books touted the effects of
  birth order on personality, but hard evidence on the
  phenomenon remained elusive until recently. A few recent
  empirical studies have found that such things as birth order
  and family size may indeed have an impact on personality.
  One study even found that birth order can influence your
  choices of friends and romantic partners; first-borns tend to
  associate with other first-borns, middle-borns with other
  middle-borns and last-borns with last-borns.

2. Your Personality Is Relatively Stable throughout Life
Age and personalityPhoto by Sharon Dominick / iStockPhoto
  In long-term studies of personality, some of the most core
  parts of personality remain stable throughout life. Three
  aspects that do tend to change as we age are anxiety
  levels, friendliness and eagerness for novel experiences.
  According to researcher Paul T. Costa Jr., there is no
  evidence our overall personalities change as we grow older.
  "What changes as you go through life are your roles and the
  issues that matter most to you. People may think their
  personality has changed as they age, but it is their habits
  that change, their vigor and health, their responsibilities
  and circumstances - not their basic personality," he
  suggested in a New York Times article.

3. Personality Traits Are Linked to Certain Illnesses


Personality and illnessPhoto by Andy Nowack / iStockPhoto
  In the past, a number of different personality traits have
  been suspected of contributing to particular illnesses. For
  example, hostility and aggression were often linked to
  heart disease. The difficulty was that while some studies
  would reveal a link, other studies demonstrated no such
  connection.
  Recently, researchers have used a statistical technique
  known as meta-analysis to reevaluate previous research on
  the connection between personality and disease. What they
  discovered were some previously unnoticed connections
  between neurotic personality traits and five illnesses;
  headaches, asthma, arthritis, peptic ulcers and heart
  disease.
  Another study suggested that shyness might be linked to a
  shorter lifespan.

4. Animals Have Distinctive Personalities


Animal personalityPhoto by Karin Schopke
Does it ever seem like your beloved pet has a personality that makes him utterly unique? Animal researchers have found animals from nearly every species of animal (from spiders to birds to elephants) have their own personalities with preferences, behaviors and quirks that persist throughout life.
While some critics suggest that this represents anthropomorphism, or ascribing human traits to animals, animal personality researchers have been able to identify consistent behavioral patterns that can be empirically measured and tested.

5. Current Research Suggests that there are Five Core Personality Traits


  In the past, researchers have debated exactly how many
  personality traits exist. Early researchers such as Allport
  suggested that there were as many as 4,000 distinct
  personality traits, while others such as Raymond Cattell
  proposed that there were 16. Today, many personality
  researchers support the five-factor theory of personality,
  which describes five broad personality dimensions that
  compose human personality:
  1. Extraversion
  2. Agreeableness
  3. Conscientiousness
  4. Neuroticism
  5. Openness

6. Personality Influences Personal Preferences


Personality and PreferencesPhoto by Sanja Gjenero
It may come as no shock to learn that your personality can have a profound effect on your personal preferences, but you just might be surprised by how far reaching these effects may be. From your choice of friends to your taste in music, your unique personality can influence nearly every choice you make in your daily life.
For example, while you might pride yourself on carefully considering the issues before choosing a candidate to support, research suggests that personality may play a strong role in political preferences. One study conducted by researchers at the University of Toronto found that individuals who identified themselves as conservatives were higher in a personality trait called orderliness, while those who self-identified as liberal were higher in empathy.
Researchers suggest that these underlying personality needs to either preserve order or express empathy can have a strong influence on political preferences.

7. People Can Accurately Judge Your Personality Based on Your Facebook Profile


Facebook and PersonalityScreenshot
  When you think about people's online identities, you might
  imagine that most people try to present an idealized
  version of their real selves. After all, in most online
  situations you get to pick and choose the information you
  want to reveal. You get to select the most attractive
  photos of yourself to post and you can edit and revise your
  comments before you make them. Surprisingly, one study
  discovered that Facebook profiles are actually quite good at
  conveying your realpersonality.
  In the study, researchers looked at the online profiles of
  236 U.S. college-aged individuals. The participants also
  filled out questionnaires designed to measure personality
  traits including extroversion, agreeableness,
  conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness. Observers
  then rated the personalities of the participants based on
  the online profiles, and these observations were compared
  to the results of the personality questionnaires. The
  researchers found that observers were able to get an
  accurate read on a person's personality based on their
  Facebook profile.
  "I think that being able to express personality accurately
  contributes to the popularity of online social networks in
  two ways," explained psychologist and lead author Sam
  Gosling. "First, it allows profile owners to let others know
  who they are and, in doing so, satisfies a basic need to be
  known by others. Second, it means that profile viewers feel
  they can trust the information they glean from online social
  network profiles, building their confidence in the system as
  a whole."

8. Numerous Factors Can Contribute to Personality Disorders


Photo by omgimages / iStockPhoto
  An estimated 10 to 15% of adults in the United States
  experience symptoms of at least one personality disorder.
  Researchers have identified a number of factors that may
  contribute to the onset of different personality disorders
  such as obsessive-compulsive disorder and borderline-
  personality disorder.
  These factors include:
  • Genetics
  • Relationships with peers
  • High sensitivity
  • Verbal abuse
  • Childhood trauma

By Kendra Cherry, About.com Guide