Personality Traits and Participation in Political Processes

TLDR

The study uses two recent surveys to analyze how Big Five personality traits relate to political participation. It examines participation across local and national domains, varying conflict levels, instrumental benefits, and duty perceptions to assess how these factors influence the link between personality and political activity. Results indicate that personality traits predict self‑reported and actual turnout, overreporting, and other modes of participation, with effects comparable to education and income, and that these relationships differ according to the characteristics of each participatory act.

Abstract

Using data from two recent surveys, we analyze the relationship between Big Five personality traits and political participation. We examine forms of participation that differ in domain (local politics vs. national campaigns) as well as in the amount of conflict involved, whether they are likely to yield instrumental benefits, and whether they are likely to be viewed as a duty—characteristics that may affect the relationships between dispositional personality traits and political activity. We find relationships between personality traits and: (1) both self-reported and actual turnout (measured using administrative records), (2) overreporting of turnout, and (3) a variety of other modes of participation. The effect of personality on political participation is often comparable to the effects of factors that are central in earlier models of turnout, such as education and income. Consistent with our theoretical expectations, these relationships vary depending on personality-relevant characteristics of each participatory act.