Personality Traits & Cognitive Impairment

Having specific personality traits might be connected to our risk of developing cognitive problems later on in life, new research suggests – and that in turn might point to better ways of treating issues like dementia.

A total of 1,954 volunteers without a formal diagnosis of dementia took part in the study, filling out personality questionnaires that were cross-checked against their health records and any cognitive problems as they got older. Curiously enough, organized and self-disciplined people appeared less likely to develop mild cognitive impairment, whereas neurotic people were more prone to it.

As this was a correlational study, it's not clear if there are fundamental aspects of biology underpinning the link, but the researchers have their suspicions.

"Personality traits reflect relatively enduring patterns of thinking and behaving, which may cumulatively affect engagement in healthy and unhealthy behaviors and thought patterns across the lifespan," says psychologist Tomiko Yoneda, from the University of Victoria in Canada.

"The accumulation of lifelong experiences may then contribute to susceptibility of particular diseases or disorders, such as mild cognitive impairment, or contribute to individual differences in the ability to withstand age-related neurological changes."

Personality traits are usually divided into the so-called 'Big Five', which are agreeableness, openness to experience, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and extraversion. This particular study examined the last three.

Conscientiousness covers traits including being responsible, being well organized, working hard, and being goal-oriented. Those who scored highly for conscientiousness on a scale of 0–48 were less likely to develop impairments – a 6 point increase on the scale was associated with a 22 percent lower risk.  READ MORE...

Gifted People

• Giftedness seems like a blessing but may be a burden.
• Gifted individuals have learning differences, including divergent thinking, quirky humor, and a penchant for complexity, that set them apart.
• Openness to experience is a key personality trait found in association with giftedness.
• Giftedness is not associated with less-social personality traits, dispelling the myth that gifted individuals have innate social problems.

We are fascinated by gifted people, from those with unusual and specific talents who are otherwise ordinary or even challenged, to those who appear almost as mythical beings, able to master many disciplines and get things done to an extraordinary extent.
The pros and cons of giftedness

Misunderstood gifted people face difficult struggles, often only coming into their own later in life, though, increasingly, work on “profoundly gifted” (PG) children is carving out room for them to do well earlier on in traditional educational settings. Gifted kids are often stigmatized, labeled as weird or antisocial, and are more likely to be bullied or excluded.


Because giftedness is poorly understood, educational, social, and professional settings may contribute to social problems by not providing a home for such people. Furthermore, unlike those with traditional learning differences, it is harder to see where giftedness can create challenges when there are so many positives.


According to the Davidson Institute, PG people exhibit the following tendencies: rapid comprehension, intuitive understanding of the basics, a tendency toward complexity, the need for precision, high expectations, divergent interests—and a quirky sense of h  Rumor. They usually show “asynchronous development," being remarkably ahead in some areas while being average or behind in other ways. It’s hard to know where they fit in, and educational settings typically are not designed to accommodate their differences. Especially for younger children, youthful appearance clashes with advanced ability, making it harder for certain teachers to be responsive.

Is there a gifted personality type?

While many things contribute to giftedness, including various types of intelligence, genetic factors, and upbringing, one key area of interest is personality. Do gifted people look different in terms of personality compared to "non-gifted"1 individuals? In the journal High Ability Studies, researchers Ogurlu and Özbey (2021) conduct a meta-analysis of the literature on personality and giftedness to see where the Big 5 personality traits of Extraversion, Conscientiousness, Openness to Experience, Neuroticism and Agreeableness fit in.  READ MORE...

Personality Traits of the Wealthy

"Wealth consists not in having great possessions," the Stoic philosopher Epictetus once said, "but in having few wants." Sounds wise.

But that doesn't keep people from wanting to be rich. Even though we all define wealth and success differently, most of us factor at least some degree of wealth into our success equations. (If nothing else, money creates choices.)

So how, if financial success is your goal, can you get rich? Science says the answer lies not just in what you do, but also in who you are. According to a 2018 study published in British Journal of Psychology, rich people are definitely different.

Especially where personality traits are concerned.
For example:

1. Rich people tend to be extroverted. No surprise there. Since no one achieves anything worthwhile on their own, the ability to engage with others, to build relationships, to motivate and inspire, and to genuinely connect is definitely important. (Just keep in mind introverts can also be extremely successful.)
2. Rich people tend to be more conscientious. Also not a surprise. Making smart decisions. Delaying gratification, and focusing on long-term goals. Doing what you need to do instead of only what you want to do. Even marrying well, but not in the way you might think: Research shows that people whose partners are conscientious tend to earn more promotions, make more money, and feel more satisfied with their work. (As Jim Rohn says, we tend to be the average of the people we spend the most time with.)
3. Rich people tend to be more emotionally stable. Making emotional decisions? Definitely a recipe for slowing progress toward long-term goals.
4. Rich people tend to be less neurotic. When you're quick to respond in a negative way, with anxiety, moodiness, worry, or fear -- what psychologists call "negative arousal" -- it's much harder to be successful.
5. Rich people tend to be more self-centered. While that sounds like a bad thing, there is this: As Adam Grant says, humble narcissists have very high expectations for their own success -- but they also understand that great achievements are almost always the result of collective efforts. That makes for a winning combination: Believing you can achieve big things helps you get started; knowing you need other people to make it happen helps you finish.  TO READ MORE, CLICK HERE...