People ‘fall into four personality types’
● Scientists measure character traits ranging from neuroticism to openness
By CAHAL MILMO humans as having a “reserved”, “self-centred”, “role model” or “average” type of personality.
The findings by a team at Northwestern University in Illinois are claimed to be the first to categorise personalities on a scientific basis rather than using hypothetical labels such as those found in “selfhelp literature”.
Professor William Revelle, a co-author of the study, said: “People have tried to classify personality types since Hippocrates’ time, but previous scientific literature has found that to be nonsense.
“Now, these data show there are higher densities of certain personality types.”
The researchers used the results of four large-scale online questionnaires, each
● Average: High in neuroticism and extraversion but low in openness. Females more likely than males to fall into this type.
● Reserved: Emotionally stable but not open, nor neurotic. They are not particularly extrovert but are somewhat agreeable and conscientious.
● Role model: Low in neuroticism but will score highly in all other traits. Likelihood of
featuring up to 400 questions, to plot the prevalence of five character traits. The strength of these traits – neuroticism, openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness and how extrovert a person is – allowed the scientists to use algorithms to spot four distinct “clusters” or groupings of personality.
The most admirable personality group identified by the scientists was the “role model” - described as being low on being a role model increases dramatically with age. More women than men are likely to be role models.
● Self-centred : Very high in extraversion and below average in openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness. One study author said: “These are people you don’t want to hang out with.” Dramatic decrease in selfcentred types as people age.
neuroticism and high in all other traits.
Luis Amaral, professor of chemical and biological engineering at Northwestern and leader of the study, said that older people and women were the most likely fall into the category. He said: “These are people who are dependable and open to new ideas. These are good people to be in charge of things.”
The most common type – “average” – were found to be high in neuroticism but also in extrovert behaviour; while “reserved” people were “emotionally stable” without being open or neurotic.
The least attractive group were the “self-centred” – described as being highly extrovert but below average in other traits. With a degree of predictability, the researchers said they had found teenage boys heavily represented in this group.
A key finding of the study was that these personality traits do not appear to be set in stone and people change character over time. Older people tend to be less neurotic and more conscientious and agreeable than those under 20, according to the research.
Prof Amaral said: “When we look at large groups of people, it’s clear there are trends, that some people may be changing some of these characteristics over time.”
“When we look at large groups of people, it’s clear there are trends, that some people may be changing some of these characteristics over time”
LUIS AMARAL
The researchers said their results could be of potential use to mental health workers trying to diagnose extreme personality traits and also hiring managers looking for a particular character in applicants for a post.