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👨 What Can DNA Tell You About Your Personality?

An international team of scientists analyzed data from 46 cohorts, including up to 1.14 million people, and compared genetic differences with the "Big Five" personality traits: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience. In total, researchers identified 1,260 genetic variants linked to personality traits—824 of them for the first time.

👍 It turns out that a person's overall genetic profile can partly predict the first impression they make on others. People with a lower tendency toward neuroticism and higher tendencies toward extraversion, agreeableness, and openness were more often perceived as pleasant and attractive in personality.

📌 The study also found a link with where people eventually live. Those with a genetic tendency toward openness were more likely to move to cosmopolitan areas by middle age, while more conscientious people were more likely to live in affluent suburbs.

❤️ Romantic partners are barely similar when it comes to genetic predispositions related to personality. However, their similarity in education level was much stronger.

⚡️ The researchers also found some darker correlations. Among young people considered at risk, a combination of high genetic tendency toward neuroticism and low tendency toward agreeableness was more often associated with disengagement from school, running away from home, and threatening others with weapons.

🔍 Personality was even linked to daily routines: a tendency toward openness correlated with greater nighttime activity, while conscientiousness correlated with more daytime activity. Another analysis suggested that extraversion may raise the risk of catching COVID, while conscientiousness may reduce the likelihood of smoking, having a high body mass index, and being hospitalized.

📌 The research also revealed a challenge for studies themselves: people who were genetically more open and agreeable were more likely to complete optional questionnaires, while those more prone to neuroticism were more likely to drop out of surveys or answer "I don't know." This means participants' personalities can affect who ultimately ends up in scientific samples.

❓ But the study's main finding is actually anti-deterministic. There is no single "extraversion gene," "neuroticism gene," or even a "personality gene." On average, each personality trait is influenced by about 16,000 common DNA variants, and each contributes very little.

@hiaimediaen