That's what a healthy personality looks like, say the researchers



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According to a new study by scientists at the University of California, Davis, some personality traits are considered healthier than others.

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For their two-part study, recently published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, lead author Wiebke Bleidorn and her colleagues asked 137 trait psychology experts to identify what a "healthy personality" would look like by evaluating the 30 facets of the five key elements. personality traits: neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, amenity and awareness. Their assessments helped the researchers create an expert consensus profile on the psychologically healthy individual.

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The researchers then used this new healthy prototype created by an expert to analyze the data of more than 3,000 study participants and obtain a healthy personality index.

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"Although contemporary researchers have used basic trait models such as five-factor / Big Five domains to characterize personality disorders (eg, Lynam & Widiger, 2001), little attention was given to the characterization of a healthy personality from the point of view of fundamental traits, "study authors wrote.

"We believe that our findings have both practical implications for the evaluation and work of the health personality and further research, as well as deeper implications for theories of psychological adjustment and functioning. Said lead author Bleidorn in a statement.

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So what does a healthy personality look like?

According to research, individuals with high scores on the index had several of the following characteristics:

  • psychologically well adjusted
  • open to feelings
  • ability to resist temptation
  • simple
  • competent
  • high self-esteem
  • spontaneous
  • responsible
  • ambitious
  • good self-regulating skills
  • optimistic vision of the world
  • clear and stable self-vision
  • low aggression and malice
  • unlikely to exploit others
  • relatively insensitive to stress
  • self-sufficient
  • warm connection to others

Such healthy personality profiles also attributed low value to facets such as depressiveness, vulnerability, and angry hostility.

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Although additional research is needed to understand what promotes healthy personality development, the study indicates that healthy traits tend to increase with age.

"According to this study, the average young adult tends to have traits that reflect maturity and psychological health, such as emotional stability or enjoyment. Longitudinal and behavioral genetic research suggests that genes and life experiences contribute to individual differences in the maturation of the personality, "the authors wrote.

The researchers said that having a healthy personality could predict an individual's health status, the quality of his relationships, his work and academic performance, and so on.

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Potential limitations

The researchers note that, while the FFM for personality traits is widely used, "any individual instrument can be challenged in terms of accuracy to represent certain aspects of the personality."

Moreover, since the expert evaluation approach to defining a healthy personality is a "descriptive approach", it may not explain to us why different facets were considered optimal, and the story Human has proven time and again that it was quite possible the views of a large group of experts are wrong. "

Researchers also recognize that the use of Western convenience samples limit the applicability of their findings and prompt future studies to examine healthy personality profiles in different cultures for help. representative population samples.

>> Related: Do you have a healthy personality? Take the test designed by the authors of the study here.

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