The 4 Personality Types According To Gerlach, Farb, Revelle And Nunes Amaral

Throughout the history of psychology,  several authors have developed different theories of personality. They included the different existing types. Recently, a group of researchers from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois (USA) performed a comprehensive data analysis. The results challenge all established paradigms in psychology. This study was led by Martin Gerlach.

Social psychologists are looking to see if there are personality types. Traits are another matter:  “ they can be measured consistently across ages and cultures,”  said Amaral, co-author of the study, professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the School of Engineering. McCormick of Northwestern University.

The researchers studied data from more than 1.5 million people. They have found  that there are at least four distinct groups of personality types. Mean. Reserved. Egocentric. And model to follow. These four personality types are based on five basic traits: neurosis, extroversion, frankness, friendliness and conscientiousness. The new study was published by the journal  Nature Human Behavior. 

A concept still controversial in psychology

William Revelle is professor of psychology at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in Weinberg. As the lead author of the study, he explains: “ People have tried to classify personality types since the days  of Hippocrates. But the scientific literature has discovered that this does not make sense ”. Data from this new research shows that there are higher densities of certain personality types.

However, at first, Revelle was skeptical of what the study revealed. The concept of personality types is still controversial in psychology,  mainly because the classifications that have been empirically supported differ. Previous trials based on small research groups yielded results that were not always applicable.

Personality types: a new perspective

The new research combined a computational perspective and data from four questionnaires completed by more than 1.5 million people around the world. This data comes from John Johnson’s IPIP-NEO, the MyPersonality Project, and the BBC’s Personality Test.

The questionnaires, developed by the research community over decades, have between 44 and 300 questions. People voluntarily respond to online questionnaires, attracted by the opportunity to receive feedback on their own personality.

From this large dataset, the team of researchers identified the  five traits that are perhaps the most accepted. Neurosis, extraversion, frankness, friendliness and conscience. After the development of new algorithms, four groups or personality types have arisen:

• Medium type. Average people have a high level of neurosis and extraversion. Unlike the deductible level which is low. According to the researchers, women are more likely to be of the average type.
• Reserved type. The reserved type is emotionally stable and not very neurotic. Those who belong to this group are not particularly extroverted, but they are still pleasant.
• Model to follow. People belonging to the model to follow have a low level of neurosis. All the other traits are extremely present in this personality. The likelihood of someone being a role model increases sharply with age. According to the researchers, they are trustworthy people and open to new ideas. Good people who take charge. Women are also more likely to belong to this group.

• Self-centered people.  Self-centered people are extremely outgoing but have a low level of candor, friendliness and conscience. The number of egocentric types decreases a lot as people get older, and this applies to both men and women.

Personality changes throughout life

Researchers explain  that a person’s personality configuration changes as they get older. Older people, for example, tend to be more neurotic, while being more aware and pleasant than people under the age of twenty.

“When we look at large groups of people, it’s clear that there are trends. And that they can change over time, ”  Amaral said.

Our thoughts

Changing our personalities is something that we have all wanted and even tried to do at certain times in our lives.