Personality

Articles, Films and practical Guides on personality, part of Psyche’s coverage of self-knowledge and personal growth.
Photo of people around a fire holding drinks, with a warm glow lighting the scene at night.
PERSONALITY

Try everything twice

Deciding to give more experiences a second chance changed my personality for the better and made me a happier person

by Hannah Seo

Photo of a person with long hair and glasses driving a car gesturing to someone outside through an open window.
PERSONALITY

A no-nonsense New York driving instructor’s rules of the road

Directed by Charles Frank

Unfinished painting of a man with white hair in a dark coat against a brown background on a textured canvas.
PAINTING AND SCULPTURE

A painting that captures perfectionism

When you need to complete a complex task, imagine daubing paint on a canvas rather than perfecting intricate brushwork

by Richard Fisher

Photo of a person browsing colourful clothes on wooden hangers in a wardrobe, highlighting diverse patterns and textures.
DIFFICULT EMOTIONS

Vintage clothes: a balm for my perfectionism

Loose threads, tugged seams and torn hems. How wearing vintage clothes helps me accept the discomfort of imperfection

by Freya Howarth

Photo of a group of young people taking a selfie with a smartphone outdoors in a busy urban setting.
PERSONALITY
5

Is narcissism really on the rise among younger generations?

A fresh investigation of vast numbers of young people from around the world has thrown up some surprising results

by Jakob Pietschnig & Sandra Oberleiter

A person standing on a freight train car during sunset with a dog sitting nearby and graffiti on the train.
HOME

Freedom, joy and struggle – stories of Los Angeles street life

Directed by Chung Nguyen

A smiling woman with tattoos at an outdoor festival, surrounded by blurred people and trees in the background.
PERSONALITY
6

The trait that makes some people so frustrating – and alluring

Conscientiousness is constantly touted as a virtue, so what’s life like for people with the opposite trait – disinhibition?

by Janan Mostajabi

An elderly man smiling broadly with sunglasses on, reclining on a floral lounge chair beside an elderly woman outdoors.
LOVE
2

Does it matter if your romantic partner is similar to you?

From traits like extraversion to specific habits, there are many ways a couple can match. New research tests whether it helps

by Phuong Linh L Nguyen & Moin Syed

A man stands in a modern room looking at a large pink sculpture of tentacles outside the window.
PERSONALITY

What style of curiosity do you practise?

New research shows that people satisfy their curiosity in different ways. Are you a hunter, a busybody or a dancer?

by Richard Fisher

PERSONALITY

Mindie is a talented singer. She also doesn’t have legs. As a teen, it got complicated

A film by Megan Griffiths and Mindie Lind

A man lying with a serene expression surrounded by white lilies against a dark background.
AGEING
1

At 84, Jun lives to shock. His next act? A living funeral no one asked for

A film by Mari Young and Anika Kan Grevstad

People in hooded jackets standing in a park with grass and trees, a rainbow in the sky and a building in the background.
NEURODIVERSITY
5

Why we should think of neurodiversity like we do personality

It’s a mistake to frame autistic and ADHD traits as either deficits or mere differences. There’s another way to see them

by Joshua May

Photo of a bookstore entrance at night with people walking by and a person reading among book trolleys on the pavement.
THE SELF

What makes some of us crave self-insight more than others?

Some people have a powerful desire to understand themselves, but their path to self-knowledge is rarely straightforward

by Christoph Heine

Photo of an aeroplane parked at Bologna Airport with the terminal and control tower in the background.
COMMUNICATION AND LANGUAGE
8

Speaking a different language can change how you act and feel

For many multilinguals, switching between tongues can lead to shifts in personality, revealing the malleability of the self

by Antonella Gismundi

Photo of a smiling family sitting in a red convertible car parked in front of a suburban house.
GENDER
3

In more prosperous societies, are men and women more similar?

How much the sexes differ psychologically depends on how fair and wealthy a country is. But not in the way you’d think

by Kåre Hedebrant & Agneta Herlitz

Photo of climbers trekking on a snow-covered mountain ridge shrouded in mist and clouds.
DECISION-MAKING

How a ‘dominance’ mindset encourages leaders to put others at risk

To find ways to deter this recklessness, we’ve studied the mindset of financiers and others who take ‘moral hazard’ decisions

by Hemant Kakkar & Garrett L Brady