Summary: A novel study of over 90,000 members shows that character traits influence how people engage in working and charitable giving. Scientists found that extraverts are more likely to volunteering, while comfortable individuals are more willing to donate money.
Other traits like cognition, flexibility, and neuroticism showed much regular effect on interpersonal behavior. These results could help companies and legislators create more personal strategies to promote society engagement.
Important Information:
- Assertiveness and Working: Sociable and forceful individuals are more likely to volunteer their time.
- Agreeableness and Giving: Compassionate, attentive individuals are more likely to contribute money to charity.
- Targeted Tactics
Origin: University of Zurich
People’s determination to do voluntary work or provide to donation varies greatly.
Besides financial and social opportunities, individual differences in people’s personality may reveal why some of us are more likely to contribute to society happiness than others.
Researchers at the Department of Psychology of the University of Zurich have examined the links between the so-called Big Five personality traits ( openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism ) and people’s willingness to engage in prosocial behavior.
Their study was based on 29 global research comprising more than 90,000 members. It included various methods to identify people’s personality and covered several forms of humanitarian engagement.
Personality traits problem
The study results show that two character traits in specific are linked to humanitarian wedding. Sociability and assertiveness ( extraversion ) positively correlate with volunteering. In other words, introverts are more likely to do charity work.
However, conscientiousness correlates more closely with a willingness to give cash to charity. This behavior may be explained by the fact that comfortable people tend to be more empathetic and considerate of other people’s thoughts.
Studies on the other character traits, but, yielded mixed results. For instance, there was no apparent link between conscientiousness and humanitarian engagement. Openness and sociopathy likewise appeared to have little impact on people’s interpersonal behavior.
New strategies to promote working and donating
“Our studies confirm that individual differences in personality play a role in whether and how many people engage in interpersonal habits, ” says Wiebke Bleidorn, first publisher and doctor of psychology at the University of Zurich.
She believes that a better understanding of these links can help to motivate people to contribute to the common security based on their personal abilities and desires.
The investigation so not only provides important medical insight but likewise practical advice for companies and policymakers seeking to encourage working and charitable giving.
“This understanding can be used to produce more precise strategies aimed at promoting donating and generous giving, ” says Christopher J. Hopwood, next writer and professor of psychology.
About this character and compassion research news
Author: Melanie Nyfeler
Source: University of Zurich
Contact: Melanie Nyfeler – University of Zurich
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Start exposure.
“Personality Traits and Traditional Philanthropy: A Comprehensive Review and Meta-Analysis ” by Christopher J. Hopwood et cetera. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Abstract
Personality Traits and Traditional Philanthropy: A Comprehensive Review and Meta-Analysis
Volunteering and generous giving are main examples of conventional generosity that contribute to the health of political societies and personal well-being.
Differences in people’s willingness to engage in these behaviors hint at a part of emotional factors that facilitate or prevent these types of charitable relationship.
Theory and empirical research suggest that broad personality traits may shape volunteering and charitable giving.
However, existing evidence for links between specific traits and philanthropic engagement has been mixed, in part because of insufficient statistical power and methodological variation across studies.
In this preregistered meta-analysis, we integrated data from 29 studies to estimate the associations between the Big Five personality traits with volunteering ( N = 91,241, Median age = 34 years, 61 % female, 36 % U. S. samples ) and charitable giving ( N = 3559, Median age = 39 years, 52 % female, 40 % U. S. samples ).
We further examined potential moderators, including the types of personality and philanthropic behavior measures used, gender, age, and sample region, to begin to explain the substantial heterogeneity of effect sizes across studies.
Results indicated modest but robust correlations between the Big Five personality traits, volunteering, and charitable giving, with the largest effect sizes emerging for the links between extraversion and volunteering ( r =. 09, 95 % CI [. 05,. 12] ) and for agreeableness and charitable giving ( r =. 14, 95 % CI [. 04,. 25] ). There was little evidence for systematic moderator effects.
We describe the theoretical implications of these results for future research, discuss practical applications, and highlight gaps in this body of literature.
