Study finds agreeableness a helpful trait for general success in life

Researchers found thatagreeableness has a desirable effect on hundreds of physical, psychological and occupational metrics that impact not only job performance but general life success after following a major study of the effects of personality on job performance.

A wide range of variables, from psychological and physical health to interpersonal relationships, and from leadership effectiveness to performance in academic and organizational settings, were examined by Michael Wilmot, assistant professor of management at the University of Arkansas, and Deniz Ones, professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota.

The researchers summarized the results of 142 meta-analyses to better understand the impact of agreeableness. More than 1.9 million people participated in the results. Meta-analysis is a process that combines multiple independent findings using statistical methods to calculate an effect.

They found that agreeableness had a good effect on most variables and outcomes.

We wanted to do a quantitative summary and synthesis of what we have learned about agreeableness, one of the Big 5 personality traits, and its consequences.

In their previous study, Wilmot and Ones combined multiple meta-analyses of the five big personality traits and examined their effect on job performance. They found that personality traits and performance differed greatly in nine major occupational groups.

The researchers organized the variables into different categories to emphasize the importance of agreeableness. Performance, motivation and success were included.

Eight themes were created that captured the characteristic functioning of agreeableness across all variables and categories. The themes show how agreeableness is helpful to both individuals and organizations. The themes were related.

• Self-transcendence—Having aspirations for self-directed growth and motivation to show care and concern for others
• Contentment—Accepting life as it is, and an ability to successfully adjust to new contexts and institutions
• Relational investment—Motivation to cultivate and maintain positive relationships with others
• Teamworking—Empathetic capacity to coordinate goals with others and ability to cooperate effectively, regardless of role, to accomplish collective objectives
• Work investment—Willingness to expend effort on tasks, do quality work and show a responsiveness to the work environment
• Lower results emphasis—A generally lower emphasis on setting goals and producing individual results and a tendency to rate others' performance with greater leniency
• Social norm orientation—Greater sensitivity to and respect for behavioral compliance with social norms and rules and avoidance of rule-breaking and wrongdoing
• Social integration—Capacity for successful integration into social roles and institutions and a reduced likelihood of delinquency, antisocial behavior and turnover

The interaction among the themes became clear and the energy was best used to help or cooperate with others. In other words, working together.

More information: Michael P. Wilmot et al, Agreeableness and Its Consequences: A Quantitative Review of Meta-Analytic Findings, Personality and Social Psychology Review (2022). DOI: 10.1177/10888683211073007 Citation: Study finds agreeableness a helpful trait for general success in life (2022, March 3) retrieved 3 March 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-03-agreeableness-trait-success-life.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.