‘Psychologists are disturbed. Economists are cynical. Natural scientists are withdrawn.’
According to a new Danish study, the associations we make between degree subject and personality aren’t just prejudicial stereotypes. In fact, they’re pretty accurate.
Researchers at the University of Aarhus analysed more than 13,000 students studying 12 different degrees to look for correlations between the so-called Big Five personality traits and the subject the individual chose to do.
For instance, lawyers, economics students scored particularly low on agreeableness and openness. Arts and humanities students scored high for openness and neuroticism.
Personality Traits and Degree Subjects
Neuroticism Arts and humanities scored consistently high on neuroticism compared to all other groups. Medium effect sizes were often found in comparisons with engineering, law, and sciences. Psychology also scored higher than most other groups, sometimes rivalling arts and humanities, and medium effect sizes were found in comparisons with Economics. Economics and business scored consistently lower than other groups.
Extraversion Economics, law, political sciences and medicine scored higher than arts, Humanities, and Sciences, and the differences often represented medium effect sizes.
Openness Humanities, arts, psychology, and political Sciences scored higher than other academic majors, and effect sizes were often moderate or even large in comparisons with economics, engineering, law, and sciences.
Agreeableness Law, business, and economics scored consistently lower than other groups, and a few medium effect sizes were found in comparisons with medicine, psychology, sciences, arts and humanities.
Conscientiousness Arts and humanities scored consistently lower than other academic majors, and medium effect sizes were found in comparisons with sciences, law, economics, engineering, medicine, and psychology.
The connection between degree subject and personality was so clear that study author Anna Vedel said she was surprised by the result.
‘The effect sizes show that the differences found are not trivial, far from,’ she said.
‘On the more humorous side they do confirm our more or less prejudicial stereotypes of the disturbed psychologist, the withdrawn natural scientist, the cynical economist.’
Dr Vedel said that the findings, which were published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, could help those uncertain about what to study find what they were best suited to.
It could also, Dr Vedel argued, help teachers and lecturers to plan their classes.