Nature study of up to 1.14 million people links 1,260 genetic variants to Big Five personality traits
A 2026 Nature study of up to 1.14 million people found 1,260 genetic variants linked to the Big Five. Its authors stress that environment also shapes personality.
A Nature study published in 2026 analysed data from up to 1.14 million people and found 1,260 genetic variants associated with the Big Five personality traits. This is reported by business psychologist Joern Kettler in a column on focus.de focus.de
focus.defocus.deOpen source ↗. The authors state explicitly that the environment also shapes personality considerably.
The Big Five model assumes that individual differences in experience and behaviour can be described by five largely independent, enduring dimensions. Extraversion covers sociability, activity and assertiveness, as well as the tendency to experience positive feelings. Agreeableness includes empathy, altruism and willingness to cooperate. Conscientiousness shows in self-discipline, determination, sense of responsibility and organisational ability. Neuroticism denotes susceptibility to negative feelings such as fear, irritability or sadness, and openness covers intellectual curiosity, imagination, creativity and interest in new ideas and experiences.
Personality changes across the lifespan
A meta-analysis showed that personality changes over the life course. Between ages 20 and 40, conscientiousness, emotional stability and social dominance increase on average, among other traits, and changes also occur later.
Researchers who examined 14,718 people in Germany found that personality does not remain fully stable in adulthood. Life events and social demands can also be associated with changes focus.de
focus.defocus.deOpen source ↗. Kettler gives taking responsibility for a team, a child or a household as examples of situations that require organising, deciding and becoming more reliable.
Interventions and behaviour
In 2017, researchers evaluated 207 studies on interventions. Within about 24 weeks on average, measurable changes in personality traits appeared, most clearly in emotional stability, followed by extraversion. Many of the interventions studied were therapeutic, so the result does not imply that any weekend seminar reprograms personality.
Kettler sums up the findings as: personality is stable, but not rigid. In his view, development starts less with the question of who one wants to be than with what one would have to do differently on a regular basis. He names planning, keeping appointments and finishing tasks as behaviour that trains conscientiousness, and new experiences as the route to greater openness.
