The link between health and personality
Are you an extrovert or
an introvert? Extraverts tend to be outgoing, talkative and have energetic
behavior whereas introverts are more reserved, quiet and are more shy. However,
according to a new study, extraversion does not just explain our personalities
and how we interact with others, but it can also influence how the brain makes
choices.
In one study,
researchers asked people whether they would prefer a smaller immediate reward
or a larger delayed reward (either $15 on the day of the study, or $25 to be
received three weeks later). Researchers then correlated the peoples' choices
and brain activity to various personality traits.
Researchers found that the medial orbitofrontal cortex, a region of the brain, was responsible for evaluating rewards and this region responded more strongly to the possibility of immediate rewards.
Colin DeYoung of the
University of Minnesota, who worked on the study says: "Understanding how
people differ from each other and how that affects various outcomes is
something that we all do on an intuitive basis, but personality psychology
attempts to bring scientific rigor to this process. Personality affects
academic and job performance, social and political attitudes, the quality and
stability of social relationships, physical health and mortality, and risk for
mental disorder."
Researchers are also
finding that health is not only a result of genetic and environmental factors,
but also of changeable personality characteristics.
In a separate study,
researchers found that children lower in conscientiousness (traits that include
being irresponsible and careless) had worse health later in life, including
obesity and higher cholesterol.
After analyzing 2,000
elementary school children that received personality assessments in the 1960s,
results of the test subjects 40 years later reveal that the children who were
rated by their teachers as less conscientious had worse health statuses as
adults.
The results of this
study could lead to childhood interventions. Sarah Hampson of the Oregon
Research Institute who took part in this research says: "Parents and
schools shape personality, and this is our opportunity to support the
development of conscientiousness — planfulness, ability to delay gratification,
self-control." She adds: "Society depends on such pro-social,
self-regulated behavior."
With progress being made
in the neuroscience field, linking brain functions to understand personality is
a positive step in understanding how the brain makes us who we are, explains DeYoung.
Researchers presented
their findings titled "Contributions of Personality to Health, Biological
and Clinical Psychology" last week in New Orleans.
Learn more at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.
