In Part 1 of this mini-series, we discussed cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and the cybernetic cycle, and how they can help us understand and overcome the difficulties we face when we’re trying to change any of our behaviour patterns.
Now, it’s time to explore the role that personality neuropsychology plays.
Personality
Personality refers to stable patterns of emotion, motivation, cognition (thought), and behaviour that are characteristic of an individual.
Humans have been developing typologies of personality since at least the time of Hippocrates, who is credited with developing the ‘Four Humours’ classification (melancholic, sanguine, choleric and phlegmatic) that William Shakespeare heavily drew upon in crafting his distinctive and memorable characters.
A plethora of competing systems exist, from DISC to the Myers Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI) to astrology, but the most scientifically validated taxonomy of personality traits is the ‘Big 5’, often known by its acronym, OCEAN:
- Openness – the tendency to be imaginative, curious, thoughtful, creative, and intellectually and aesthetically or artistically engaged.
- Conscientiousness – the tendency to be self-disciplined, hard working, orderly, and organised.
- Extraversion – the tendency to approach others, and to be assertive, talkative, and to be fun-loving and experience positive emotions.
- Agreeableness – the tendency to be cooperative and altruistic as opposed to selfish and exploitative.
- Neuroticism (now more usually described as ‘emotional instability’ or ‘negative emotionality’) – the tendency to experience unpleasant emotions and related cognitive states, including anxiety, panic, sadness, irritability, jealousy, and self-consciousness, and to have difficulty regulating emotions.
Personality traits are highly heritable, and although impacted upon by developmental factors and life events, are remarkably stable throughout a person’s lifetime.
Our personalities cause us to behave in fairly consistent ways in a range of different circumstance, but personality traits are probabilistic rather than deterministic – that is, they strongly influence the likelihood that we will behave in a certain way, without guaranteeing it. Even people you’ve known for a long time can surprise you, and sometimes you can even surprise yourself!
For example, a highly conscientious person is generally more likely to stick to a diet or exercise program than a person with low conscientiousness.
However, even an extremely low-conscientious person may suddenly develop stick-with-it-ness if they hit on a behaviour change plan which totally floats their boat. For example, one of my clients had never stuck with any exercise program in her life for longer than 3 days, until she discovered and fell in love with pole dancing!
On the other hand, a highly conscientious person may occasionally flake out if a competing goal with a more compelling cost-benefit analysis (CBA) pops up.
Our personality traits affect our openness to changing our current habits, sources of motivation to change, the kinds of goals that will be most motivating to us, the determination with which we pursue those goals, how we gather and interpret feedback about progress toward our goals, our tendency to relapse and the obstacles most likely to trip us up, and even how satisfied we feel when we achieve our goals.
Remember the cybernetic cycle from Part 1? Here it is again, for you to refer to as you read about the influence of personality on that cycle.
Openness
Openness is linked to curiosity, imagination, creativity, and innovation. If you’re highly open, you’ll find cognitive exploration – learning new information and trying out new approaches to problem-solving – extremely rewarding. You’ll probably enjoy sampling different cuisines, and trying out new cooking styles and forms of exercise (perhaps even pole dancing!).
You’re more likely to use creative and innovative strategies to pursue your goals. You’re also likely to interpret the outcome of your actions in more complex and nuanced ways (stages 2 and 4 of the cybernetic cycle, respectively).
For example, a highly open person is not only more likely to try out a plant-based diet, but also to notice that doing so changes the way they feel about themselves, animals and the environment.
Matching behaviour change strategies to openness
Highly open people benefit from behaviour change programs that employ self-directed learning, encourage them to set their own goals and explore multiple ways to achieve them, and incorporate reflection on their learning experiences. These people don’t find rigid diets or set-in-stone exercise programs particularly appealing; they want to be able to come up with their own plan based on the information they gather through their research efforts.
On the other hand, people who are low in openness benefit from having a food coach or personal trainer to help them select goals and the actions they need to pursue to achieve them. They will be more successful with a structured program which does not overwhelm them with information (particularly if it contradicts their current beliefs) or require them to make too many decisions.
Conscientiousness
Conscientiousness is linked to the ability to prioritise non-immediate goals, follow rules and resist the distraction of short-term goals (stages 1-3 of the cybernetic cycle).
After intelligence, conscientiousness is the best predictor of health and longevity because highly conscientious individuals are less likely to engage in risky behaviours and more likely to employ preventive measure.
Matching behaviour change strategies to conscientiousness
Highly conscientious people don’t need much help with setting goals and choosing and executing strategies, because they’re good at working hard and delaying gratification.
However, they may come unstuck at the goal comparison stage of the cybernetic cycle (Step 5) since they are likely to define success in extremely narrow terms, resulting in a perception that they’ve ‘failed’ if they don’t meet these self-imposed high standards.
For example, a highly conscientious person who jumps on the scales after a week of 100% healthy eating and daily exercise, and finds that their weight hasn’t budged, might feel like a failure even though their actions have been impeccable.
A coach, counsellor or understanding friend can help them recognise what they have achieved and encourage them to keep moving forwards instead of giving up; after all, weight loss plateaus invariably occur even when you’re doing everything right!
People with low conscientiousness will benefit from an approach that emphasises ‘environmental engineering’: modifying their home and work environments to make healthy habits the default setting, and removing temptations and distractions that offer immediate gratification to the detriment of long term goals.
Extraversion
Extraversion, which incorporates traits such as drive, the tendency to experience positive emotions like joy, and excitement seeking, is linked to strong emotional and motivational reactivity to rewards, corresponding to stages 1 and 5 of the cybernetic cycle.
Matching behaviour change strategies to extraversion
A highly extraverted person will benefit from a step-wise behaviour change program that incorporates mini-rewards (e.g. a luxurious bath, new workout clothes, a phone call with a friend) for each sub-goal that is achieved. Extraverted people are more likely to enjoy group fitness classes, team sports, and lifestyle change programs that involve plenty of social contact.
On the other hand, a person who is low in extraversion may need more coaching to define a goal that is sufficiently motivating to activate them, and will benefit from encouragement to mindfully reflect on the positive impact of each health-promoting change that they make.
Agreeableness
Agreeableness represents the general tendency toward cooperation and altruism. People who are high in agreeableness are empathic, caring, concerned for others, and able to restrain aggression and other disruptive emotions.
Agreeableness influences the types of goal that are activated, the strategies selected to pursue them, interpretations of differences in the social world as a result of goal-directed actions, and assessments of error or goal mismatch (stages 1, 2, 4 and 5 of the cybernetic process).
Matching behaviour change strategies to agreeableness
Highly agreeable people will be activated best by prosocial goals and cooperative strategies. If they are successful in their intended goal, but friends or loved ones are disapproving of or distressed by their behaviour change, they are likely to assess this as a goal mismatch and revert to old behaviour patterns. Hence, enrolling family members into their behaviour change process will help them stick at it.
Conversely, people with low agreeableness are more likely to enjoy winner-take-all competitions and bets. For example, two low-agreeable people who want to get fit can contract with each other such that the first person who skips a buddy workout has to pay the other $100 or donate $100 to a charity or political party of the winner’s choosing, which the loser despises.
Neuroticism/negative emotionality
Neuroticism, or negative emotionality, is linked to emotional responses to punishment (any stimulus that signals that a goal is unattainable) and threats (cues that signal a decrease in the probability of attaining a goal), corresponding to stage 5 of the cybernetic cycle.
Matching behaviour change strategies to neuroticism
A person who is high in negative emotionality will be exquisitely sensitive to such stimuli as failure to achieve a goal weight by a predetermined date.
Conflicting goal motivations, such as the fear that changing their eating or drinking habits may court social rejection, may cause them to slide into passive avoidance (manifesting as anxiety or depression), and prevent them from even engaging in stage 1 of the cybernetic cycle – goal activation.
Such people benefit from group programs that include stress management as a core element and provide social support for behaviour change, and from a strong focus on process orientation rather than outcome-oriented goals. For example, rather than tracking their weight, they’re better off monitoring their daily actions such as making healthy food choices and being physically active.
People with low neuroticism are very emotionally stable. They should be encouraged to set ‘stretch goals’ because they’re resilient in the face of failure to achieve them, and can easily ‘re-tool’ to set new goals.
Assessing personality
So how can you find out more about your own personality, and that of other people, in order to put this information to good use?
There are many free online Big 5 personality assessment instruments. The Big 5 Project is my favourite, and I ask all my clients to do this quiz before their initial consultation so that I can use the information gleaned from it to help understand them better so I can be help them set and achieve their health goals.
No assessment tool is perfect, of course, and most people can make a pretty accurate guess at where they lie on each of the Big 5 factors just by reviewing their own life experience and asking those close to them to give their honest assessment.
The bottom line
Understanding cybernetics and personality can help us set goals that inspire effort and will provide satisfying and reinforcing rewards; develop a plan of action that gives us the best chance of attaining those goals; and navigate obstacles along the path.
Gaining a working understanding of personality and its influence on the cybernetic cycle helps us to understand our own and other people’s cost-benefit analyses (both conscious and non-conscious), and tip them in a direction that favours healthier diet and lifestyle choices.
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