As many of you know I have done plenty of work into personality and so found this study interesting.
Dusanee Kesavayuth of Kasetsart University in Bangkok, Thailand analysed data from 2,000 adults aged between 50 and 75 in the British Household Panel Survey and found some interesting correlations between personality and satisfaction after stopping work (for different reasons).
For example, in people who retired as part of mandatory retirement they found that those who scored higher on conscientiousness had higher levels of satisfaction. This may be surprising as conscientious is related to often to structure and getting stuff done and being effective in the workplace. But it seems to act as psychological buffer probably because conscientious people may be more proactive in finding new fulfilling life patterns. Also interesting is that those high on extraversion had lower satisfaction suggesting they miss the social aspects of work.
I found this research particularly interesting and also points to being more proactive and using personality to prepare people for retirement and making sure they get the most out of this.
Reference:
Dusanee Kesavayuth, Robert E. Rosenman, Vasileios Zikos.
Leaving the labor market: Exit routes, personality traits and well-being.
PLOS ONE, 2022; 17 (3): e0263670
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0263670
More Quick Hits
The “drunken monkey” hypothesis – proven
This had to be a story I covered – monkeys and alcohol sounds too good to pass up. But this is also linked to the “drunken monkey” hypothesis: that humans developed their love for alcohol in earlier primitive times accidentally, and then intentionally, eating fruit...
The Newly Discovered Bias That Makes Us Think We Are More Diverse Than We Are
A few weeks ago I reported on some newly discovered ways we are biased namely that we consider generic terms such as “people” as equivalent to “men” rather than men and women. This was specifically focused on gender bias but this latest piece recently published shows...
Self-awareness of autism leads to better quality of life
Autism has become a well-known diagnosis in recent years. Though some people seem to be against this sort of labelling, and the general increase in different label of mental conditions, a study out of the University of Portsmouth shows why this is actually a good...
Optimal sleep improves your brain, mental, and physical health - and it’s not as much as you think
I’ve reported multiple times on sleep and how it affects just about everything form cognitive performance, to brain plasticity, to physical performance, to mental health, and to metabolism. The question...
No change for a century – children’s backgrounds still predict the same educational outcomes
Educational opportunities have changed dramatically for children over the last century – schools have changed, and college and university admissions have grown. Or so we might think at least. But according to a study out of the University of York, that is not the...
Behaviour at eight helps predict midlife health behaviours
A long-term study in Finland has tracked children from the age of eight until the age of 50 and a new analysis of the data, just published, has looked at some of the correlations between socioemotional behaviour in childhood and later life achievement and health...
Psychedelics and consciousness
Psychedelics change our conscious experience of the world – that is part of their attraction. Now a new study out of John Hopkins Medicine has analysed data on attributions of consciousness to other animals and innate objects by those using psychedelics and how this...
Lower smartphone usage increases wellbeing
So much has been said about smartphone usage in modern times. This ranges from some who say that they are destroying our brain to others who see they benefit our cognition by outsourcing cognitive heavy tasks like remembering lists of phone numbers – thereby freeing...
Modesty preferred for cooperative teams
In an age where it appears that many people are vying for self-esteem especially through social media, this research is interesting. Particularly in business contexts where cooperation is king. Research has previously shown that appearing to be wealthy increases...
Poverty shrinks babies’ brains
Quick HitsDaily brief research updates from the cognitive sciences couple of studies have just been released which look at the brains of newborns and young babies. The results are worrying for any society. Brain scans of newborn babies from...