Premium
A look into the relationship between personality traits and basic values: A longitudinal investigation
Author(s) -
Vecchione Michele,
Alessandri Guido,
Roccas Sonia,
Caprara Gian Vittorio
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.082
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1467-6494
pISSN - 0022-3506
DOI - 10.1111/jopy.12399
Subject(s) - psychology , big five personality traits , openness to experience , agreeableness , trait , personality , developmental psychology , reciprocal , social psychology , extraversion and introversion , linguistics , philosophy , computer science , programming language
Objective The present study examines the longitudinal association between basic personal values and the Big Five personality traits. Method A sample of 546 young adults (57% females) with a mean age of 21.68 years ( SD = 1.60) completed the Portrait Values Questionnaire and the Big Five Questionnaire at three time points, each separated by an interval of 4 years. Cross‐lagged models were used to investigate the possible reciprocal relations between traits and values, after the stability of the variables was taken into account. Results We found that values did not affect trait development. Traits, by contrast, have some effects on how values change. Specifically, high levels of Agreeableness predict an increase over time in the importance assigned to benevolence values. Similarly, high levels of Openness predict a later increase in the importance assigned to self‐direction values. The same effect was not found for the other traits. Additionally, except for in the case of Emotional Stability, traits showed synchronous (i.e., within wave) correlations with values, suggesting that part of this relationship is due to common antecedents. Conclusions Mechanisms underlying the associations between traits and values are discussed.