Overview
- The Revived Genomics of Personality Consortium, which published its results on Wednesday, September 2, 2026, combined data from 46 cohorts and up to 1.14 million people to identify 1,260 genetic variants tied to the Big Five traits.
- Common variants account for a modest portion of trait differences—roughly between about 5% and 16% depending on the trait and analysis—while each individual variant has a vanishingly small effect.
- Analyses that compared siblings and other relatives found little evidence that shared family environment explained the genetic associations, strengthening the claim that the links reflect direct genetic signals.
- Researchers report that polygenic profiles for personality correlate with many real-world outcomes, including smoking, COVID-19 infection risk early in the pandemic, activity timing, income and time spent in hospital, and they have used genetic causal tests to probe some of these links.
- Key limits remain: most samples are of Western ancestry, common-variant GWAS leaves gaps compared with twin heritability estimates, and teams plan longitudinal and causal follow-up work such as studies with the Estonian Biobank to clarify mechanisms and practical implications.