How has the pandemic changed people's personalities?



Human personality is not necessarily the same from birth to death, and it is known that various factors such as

age , employment insecurity , lifestyle , and economic situation affect personality. A survey conducted by a research team at Florida State University showed that ``people's personalities have changed before and after the pandemic of the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19).''

Differential personality change earlier and later in the coronavirus pandemic in a longitudinal sample of adults in the United States | PLOS ONE
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0274542

Has the pandemic changed our personalities? New research suggests we're less open, agreeable and conscientious
https://theconversation.com/has-the-pandemic-changed-our-personalities-new-research-suggests-were-less-open-agreeable-and-conscientious-191308

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about major changes in society and people's daily lives, and many researchers have studied ``the impact of the pandemic on people's mental health and behavior''. While many people suffered from mental health problems due to the pandemic, one-third of young people reported that their mental health and well-being improved during the lockdown, and during the pandemic has been shown toincrease donations to charities .

A research team at Florida State University used data from an online survey conducted by the University of Southern California called the Understanding America Study (UAS) to examine the possibility that the pandemic has affected more basic personalities. The UAS is a longitudinal online personality test of subjects, and the research team took the test from 2014 to February 2020 before the pandemic, after February 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic, and in 2021 or 2022. We used data from over 7000 people who responded. All the subjects lived in the United States, and their ages ranged widely from 18 to 109 years old.

The personality test measured the subject's personality based on the Big Five personality traits . The Big Five personality traits are five scales commonly used to describe human character and psyche: extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness. is a way of classifying



After analyzing the data, we found no significant difference in personality traits between pre-pandemic and early-pandemic 2020. However, when comparing the pre-pandemic and post-pandemic personalities in 2021-2022, it was found that extroversion, openness, cooperativeness, and conscientiousness declined significantly after the pandemic.

Originally, people's extroversion, openness, cooperativeness, and conscientiousness tended to decline, but from 2021 to 2022, the normal downward trend was exceeded, so the trauma of the pandemic caused personality changes. It has been suggested that it may have accelerated a natural process.

The research team also points out that personality changes are particularly significant in young people, with a significant decrease in cooperativeness and conscientiousness and an increase in neurotic tendencies between 2021 and 2022. This result may be partly due to anxiety about returning to society after being forced to live a different life for about two years.



During the pandemic, people

worked to improve their lifestyle habits such as diet and exercise, and began to value their leisure time, but despite this, their mental health and well-being deteriorated significantly. has been reported.

On this point, Jolanta Burke, senior lecturer at the Center for Positive Psychology Health at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland , said, ``In particular, personality has a great impact on our well-being.For example, high levels of integrity, cooperation, and openness. are more likely to experience the highest levels of happiness, ' suggesting that personality changes may have had a negative impact on people's mental health and well-being.

Burke points out that traits such as cooperativeness, openness, extroversion, and conscientiousness all affect interactions with the surroundings, and the decline in these traits may have contributed to the decline in happiness. . He argued that the results of this study, which examined personality changes during pandemics, provide important insights into the effects of pandemics on the psyche.



in Science, Posted by log1h_ik