A paper recently published in the journal PLOS One found that pre-pandemic personalities in young adults had much more positive characteristics compared to the change seen in their personality characteristics since 2020. A U. S. -based organization of researchersHe noted a decrease in extraversion, openness, conscientiousness, and agreeableness in his knowledge detailing the personality characteristics of 2021-22 participants compared to the pre-pandemic personality.
“More than a year of restrictions on social gatherings, mandatory or self-imposed for safety reasons, would possibly have resulted in a less outgoing sense of temperament than before the pandemic. Similarly, it would possibly have taken longer for lack of design and less immediate duty to consolidate into decreased consciousness,” the researchers wrote in their study.
“It is also possible that before the pandemic, external structures that supported schedules and routines were perceived as the individual’s point of consciousness. Without this stability and structure, it can be more complicated to organize and take responsibility. The adjustments noted in 2021-2022 would possibly be the accumulation of adjustments in life that took longer to lead to the decline in traits,” they added.
In the past, some researchers have argued that stressful and/or traumatic private events could be related to a change in a person’s lack of publicity and not to collective events such as herbal bugs or pandemics.
To further analyze whether collective events that have had a global impact on millions of other people can adjust for certain personality traits, the researchers recruited 7,109 participants who were part of the online Comprehension of America study. Participants come from all over the world. United States and were encouraged to be part of the study through the University of Southern California.
Participants were in the 18 to 109 age group. More than a fraction of them were women and about 41 per cent were men. Each of them had their personality measured at least once before the pandemic began. The researchers used a five-factor style of personality characteristics that compares neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness between 2014 and 2020 and between 2021 and 2022.
They then completed a total of 18,623 assessments, equivalent to an average of about 2. 6 for each participant. The researchers calculated a slight minimum in neuroticism, characterized by emotional abilities, anxiety, irritability, anger and depression. But at the same time, there is also a decrease in the ability of participants to show openness, kindness, extroversion and awareness.
“The effect of the pandemic on neuroticism has dissipated, while there was a significant decrease in the other 4 characteristics compared to before the pandemic. It is vital to note that significant age differences also appeared, indicating that the decline in neuroticism in 2020 was greatest among the elderly. While the decline of the other 4 characteristics in 2021 was evident in middle-aged adults and especially in younger ones,” the researchers wrote in the article.
In terms of significant declines in openness and friendliness, the researchers attributed those trends to the social upheaval caused by the pandemic, between 2021 and 2022.
“The continued uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, especially as it enters a year at the moment, as well as declining mobility, would possibly have led Americans to limit their activities and their worldview,” they concluded.
“Similarly, there might have been minimal interest in art and art reporting due to a reduced ability to interact with art due to the closure of concert halls, museums, theaters, etc. The shift to online communication and entertainment and trust in social media would likely have minimized exposure to new ideas,” the researchers added.
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