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O PINIO N PSYCHO LO G Y

Science Points to the Single MostValuable Personality Trait

Eric Barker Aug. 22, 2014

Research is pointing to conscientiousnessas the one-trait-to-rule-them-all in termsof future success, both career-wise andpersonal.

Via How Children Succeed: Grit,Curiosity, and the Hidden Power ofCharacter:

“It would actually be nice if there weresome negative things that went along withconscientiousness,” Roberts told me. “Butat this point it’s emerging as one of theprimary dimensions of successfulfunctioning across the lifespan. It really goes cradle to grave in terms of how people do.”

What is it? Basically, it’s being “efficient, organized, neat, and systematic“:

Conscientiousness is the state of being thorough, careful, or vigilant; it implies a desire todo a task well. Conscientiousness is also one trait of the five-factor model of personality,and is manifested in characteristic behaviors such as being efficient, organized, neat, andsystematic. It includes such elements as self-discipline, carefulness, thoroughness, self-organization, deliberation (the tendency to think carefully before acting), and need forachievement.

Yeah, that sounds like a trait we all respect. What’s amazing is just how predictive it is ofso many things we all desire. It’s pretty crazy really:

Money and job satisfaction? – Check.

“Measured concurrently, emotionally stable and conscientious participants reportedhigher incomes and job satisfaction.“

Finding a job? – Check.

“…the personality traits Conscientiousness and Neuroticism have a strong impact on theinstantaneous probability of finding a job, where the former has a positive effect andthe latter has a negative effect.”

Long marriage? – Check.

“…our findings suggest that conscientiousness is the trait most broadly associated withmarital satisfaction in this sample of long-wed couples.”

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Healthier life? – Check.

“Among adults over age 45 (n = 2,419), Neuroticism and low Agreeableness wereassociated with metabolic syndrome, whereas high Conscientiousness was protective.Individuals who scored in the top 10% on Conscientiousness were approximately 40%less likely to have metabolic syndrome…“

Long life? – Check.

“Conscientiousness, which was the best predictor of longevity when measured inchildhood, also turned out to be the best personality predictor of long life whenmeasured in adulthood.“

And let’s not forget good grades and staying out of jail.

Via How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character:

…conscientiousness was the trait that best predicted workplace success. What intriguesRoberts about conscientiousness is that it predicts so many outcomes that go far beyondthe workplace. People high in conscientiousness get better grades in school and college;they commit fewer crimes; and they stay married longer. They live longer – and not justbecause they smoke and drink less. They have fewer strokes, lower blood pressure, and alower incidence of Alzheimer’s disease.

Can life really be that simple? Isn’t there something conscientiousness doesn’t predictthat we all respect and desire? Yes.

Creativity and independence.

So the question is, to what degree is conscientiousness universally good — and to whatdegree is our society merely structured to reward it?

Our schools love to pay creativity lip service, but those aren’t the students that getcelebrated.

Via How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character:

Teachers rewarded repressed drones, according to Bowles and Gintis; they found that thestudents with the highest GPA’s were the ones who scored lowest on measures ofcreativity and independence, and the highest on measures of punctuality, delay ofgratification, predictability, and dependability.

Teachers often say they love creative students. They don’t:

Judgments for the favorite student were negatively correlated with creativity; judgmentsfor the least favorite student were positively correlated with creativity. Studentsdisplaying creative characteristics appear to be unappealing to teachers.

The workplace isn’t any different.

Via How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character:

Bowles and Gintis then consulted similar scales for office workers, and they found thatsupervisors judged their workforce the way teachers judged their students. They gave lowratings to employees with high levels of creativity and independence and high ratings tothose workers with high levels of tact, punctuality, dependability, and delay ofgratification.

Are you a creative person? Want to be a CEO? Good luck. You’ll need it:

In sum, we show that the negative association between expressing creative ideas and

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leadership potential is robust and underscores an important but previously unidentifiedbias against selecting effective leaders.

I have no doubt that conscientiousness is a valuable trait pretty much anywhere. To beblunt, having your shit together is a respectable quality.

But we should all be concerned that our system may be too extreme in rewardingconscientiousness and punishing creativity.

Related posts:

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This piece originally appeared on Barking Up the Wrong Tree.