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Social status and personality traits

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  • Bucciol, Alessandro
  • Cavasso, Barbara
  • Zarri, Luca

Abstract

We provide direct evidence on the relationship between social status and personality traits. Using survey data from the 2006–2012 waves of the US Health and Retirement Study, we show that self-perceived social status is associated with all the “Big Five” personality traits, after controlling for observable characteristics that arguably reflect one’s actual status. We also construct an objective status measure that in turn is associated with personality traits. Objectively measured status is positively but not highly correlated with its subjective counterpart. When incorporated in a regression specification, it still leaves room for significant correlations between personality traits and status perception: traits such as openness, conscientiousness and extraversion predict a higher self-positioning on the social ladder, while agreeableness and neuroticism predict a lower one.

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  • Bucciol, Alessandro & Cavasso, Barbara & Zarri, Luca, 2015. "Social status and personality traits," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 245-260.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joepsy:v:51:y:2015:i:c:p:245-260
    DOI: 10.1016/j.joep.2015.10.002
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    Cited by:

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    2. Piovesan, Marco & Willadsen, Helene, 2021. "Risk preferences and personality traits in children and adolescents," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 186(C), pages 523-532.
    3. He, Pan & Veronesi, Marcella, 2017. "Personality traits and renewable energy technology adoption: A policy case study from China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 472-479.
    4. Bucciol, Alessandro & Zarri, Luca, 2017. "Do personality traits influence investors’ portfolios?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 1-12.
    5. Bucciol, Alessandro & Burro, Giovanni, 2022. "Is there a happiness premium for working in the public sector? Evidence from Italy," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    6. Alessandro Bucciol & Simona Cicognani & Luca Zarri, 2017. "The Status-Enhancing Power of Sociability," Working Paper series 17-15, Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis.
    7. Alessandro Bucciol & Simona Cicognani & Luca Zarri, 2017. "The Social Status-Enhancing Power of Social Ties," Working Papers 04/2017, University of Verona, Department of Economics.
    8. Alessandro Bucciol & Chiara Coriele & Luca Zarri, 2020. "The Shared Non-cognitive Roots of Health and Socioeconomic Status: Evidence from the US," Working Papers 14/2020, University of Verona, Department of Economics.
    9. Zakharov, Alexei & Bondarenko, Oxana, 2021. "Social status and social learning," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    10. Bondarenko, O. & Zakharov, A., 2018. "Measurement of Social Status in Experimental Games," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, vol. 38(2), pages 12-47.
    11. Sule Alan & Elif Bodur & Elif Kubilay & Ipek Mumcu, 2021. "Social Status in Student Networks and Implications for Perceived Social Climate in Schools," CESifo Working Paper Series 9095, CESifo.
    12. Marek Kośny & Maria Piotrowska, 2019. "Economic Resourcefulness: Definition and Modeling," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 144(1), pages 425-449, July.
    13. Jianmei Ye & Dawei Huang & Yuelin Li & Lei Liu & Mengwei Shi, 2022. "Subjective Social Status of High School Freshmen in the Transitional Period: the Impact of Extraversion," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(2), pages 971-983, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Subjective social status; Objectively measured social status; Personality traits;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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