How does personality influence the level of income?

There are certain personality traits that influence the likelihood of earning more money.

The high level of stress in modern societies causes high mental burnout, but in theory we might expect certain personality types to protect us more from these effects and help us move up the ladder to the best jobs. Personality traits, after all, are closely related to the way we experience our working life.

A few days ago, the paper "Is personality related to permanent earnings?" was published. ("Is personality related to income level?") in the online Journal of Economic Psychology by Terhi Maczulskij and Jutta Viinikainen was published a few days ago. In this report, they explain how personality traits can have a direct influence on our salary and career trajectory. and career trajectory.

Personality and income level

In the world of economics, the personality of individuals has been used on numerous occasions to determine the success or failure of each worker, depending on their psychological characteristics such as empathy, affection or emotional stability. In order to determine the personality-salary correlation, several variables are cross-referenced.

As a starting point, data from the CentER Saving Survey of the Center for Economic Research at the University of Tilburg (The Netherlands), a panel of data that provides information on personality, is taken as a starting point. In addition to personality, however, differences between the male and female genders are also taken into account. From the analysis of these data, curiosities have been found; for example, that men have a tendency to consider empathy negatively for salary success, while women value it positively.

The vast majority of studies conducted on the effect of personality on future employment conclude, broadly speaking, with the same precepts: the effect of personality can have a major impact on career success in terms of the money earned, with this influence being more important than the influence of the personality of the person.This influence is greater than that of the cultural level acquired in our environment.

Neuroticism, which is a low level of emotional control, and emotional stability (planning, prudence, confidence) are by far the most explanatory factors in the relationship with professional success, as measured by promotion, valuation and salaries. A work carried out in the United States with 5000 individuals, showed in 2014 that self-control in adolescence was a good predictor of success or failure at work.

Personality, an exclusive factor?

Returning to the topic described in the introduction, by the hand of Terhi Maczulskij and Jutta Viinikainen (2018), these researchers include a new element to determine and concretize the study of personality. They draw on previous studies and cross-reference the data with studies with homozygous twins (with the same DNA) or dizygous twins (with different DNA). They proceeded to a study of almost 5000 twin individuals, 53% of them being female.

In absolute terms, the results were revealing. Comparing monozygotic twins with dizygotic twins, the former have many more similarities between them in terms of salary, personality and demographics, while the latter show more disparity in these demographics, while the latter show more disparity in these terms.

This research also shows that the level of neuroticism of each person is a determining factor.. According to the results, this was the personnel trait with the greatest effect on the chances of earning more or less, whatever the culture and education of the individuals, although it is especially relevant for women. Specifically, the lower the level of neuroticism, the greater the chance of earning a lot of money. The authors affirm that personality is a key element in job success, but that it is not exclusive either, since Biological factors also have an impact on our personality itself.

In short, it could be said that everything is connected. Personality is influenced by biological effects; the cultural environment causes a particular development in personality and, ultimately, our cognitive level represents clear evidence of how we move in the labor market. The more educated, assertive, happy and self-controlled we are, the richer and more fulfilled we feel.