Huge genetic study finds strong links between DNA and personality traits

John M Lund / Getty Images Personality is something we all share, but the different ways we think and feel also make us unique.

Personality is relatively stable and influences nearly every aspect of human life, from academic performance and career choices to health behaviours and longevity .

For example, someone who is responsible might avoid taking risks or alcohol and drug use .

Our new study , published in Nature, has linked personality with more than 1,200 common genetic variants, highlighting its central role in understanding human experience.

This was only possible because 1.14 million people contributed their DNA and time to 46 research studies in 13 countries that measured personality in the same way.

How did we measure personality? Scientists summarise thousands of personality traits with five relatively independent factors called the Big Five : extraversion – being sociable, assertive, and energetic agreeableness – being compassionate, cooperative, and respectful conscientiousness – being responsible, productive, and organised neuroticism – being emotionally reactive, anxious, and depressive openness to experience – being curious, imaginative, and preferencing variety.

You might be familiar with the Myers-Briggs or Enneagram personality type systems, which are different ways to describe personality.

Scientists prefer the Big Five because they describe personality on a continuous spectrum rather than sorting people into discrete types.

How scientists study the genetics of personality Genetics were first linked to personality through studies of twins, which show that closely related people tend to be more similar in their personalities .

Today, researchers use a method called a genome-wide association study , or GWAS, to find differences in genetic markers by comparing the DNA of many people at once.

In this study, researchers from 15 countries around the world, including our team at QIMR Berghofer, conducted up to five GWASs on their own study data.

We were searching for common genetic variants linked to each personality trait.

We then merged these individual GWAS results into a combined analysis, led by the Revived Genomics of Personality Consortium from Michigan State University.

This substantially boosted our ability to find genetic markers related to personality.