Publications and Reports

How personality influences your ability cope

It all comes down to personality

Why do some people cope differently to others when it comes to the coronavirus pandemic? Why, for example, do some people hoard when others leave things on the supermarket shelves for others? You could put it down to selfishness, but according to BehaviourWorks’ PhD candidate, Conor Wynn, people react according to their personality types.

If, for example, volatility is a large part of your make-up, empty shelves could trigger a strong desire for you to defend your rights and your share. Disagreeable people also want to compete and dominate – thus wanting to get more toilet paper than the next guy.

Then there are behaviours that we want everyone to adopt, like social distancing.

According to Conor, those low on extraversion will find it natural, whereas introverts may find it extremely hard to adapt and feel lonely and isolated. More worryingly, they may even seek out the company of others when they shouldn’t.

The article lists a range of fascinating personality traits which we can all relate to. More importantly, Conor suggests that we can all learn to listen to our personality cues and circumvent automatic reactions to make better behavioural choices. Read The Conversation article here. 

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