There are four major personality types

If you had to define your personalitywhat would you say ? If we asked physicist Luis Nunes Amaral of Northwestern University in Illinois, author of a study on the subject, he would certainly fall into one of the four categories he has just distinguished. With his team, the scientist peeled the data from a personality questionnaire conducted with more than 1.5 million people. This was based on five major character traits used for online personality tests: openness to experience, conscientiousness, neuroticism, agreeableness and extroversion. Respondents’ answers were sorted according to different algorithms, which made it possible to identify large groups corresponding to four personality types : the “egocentric”, the “reserved”, the “role-models” and the “means”.

The website Quartz details these profiles:

-The people “egocentric” are outgoing but less pleasant and have little professional conscience

-The “model” group would have good results in terms ofextroversion, openness, pleasantness and conscientiousness, as well as in matters of neurosis. In other words, they would be “stable individuals”, summarizes the Science magazine website.

– “Reserved” people are neither extroverted nor neurotic but pleasant, and particularly conscientious.

-The “average” group scores slightly above average on personality tests for neurosis, extroversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Researchers call this group “middle” because everyone will fall into this category during their lifetime.

Different personalities at different ages

big ones trends appear according to agesays the work reported in Nature Human Behavior. Younger people tend to fall into egocentric personalities while older people would rather belong to the “model” group. Women seem to make this transition from self-centered group to role model faster than men, Science points out. And women over 60 represent the largest proportion of role models among respondents. “Models improve the functioning of society”, observes Luis Amaral on Science.

As for those who would be in the “egocentric” box, the researcher sweeps away any fatality: “It’s not a life sentence, and most people who start out as egocentric come out of it quite quickly”.

Read also

What is selfishness in a couple?

What your personality reveals about your health