Exploring Harmony from the Bright and Dark Shades of Personality

In our recent study, we explored how different personality traits—from positive qualities to darker characteristics—affect this sense of harmony. By examining three well-known personality models, we aimed to understand which traits help or hinder our ability to live a harmonious life.

What Did We Do?

We used data from nearly 3,700 participants to study how personality traits correlate with harmony in life. We focused on three personality models:

1. The Big Five Model: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism.
2. The Dark Triad: Socially aversive traits like Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and Psychopathy.
3. The Biopsychosocial Model: A model that divides personality into Temperament (i.e., automatic emotional responses: Harm Avoidance, Novelty Seeking, Reward Dependence, and Persistence) and Character (i.e., what we make of ourselves intentional, our goals, and values: Self-Directedness, Cooperativeness, and Self-Transcendence).

Participants self-reported their personality and how balanced and at peace they feel in life (Harmony in Life Scale).

What Did We Discover?

Our findings were revealing:

• Positive Traits Foster Harmony: Traits like Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Self-Directedness, and Self-Transcendence (feeling connected to something greater than oneself) strongly predicted harmony in life. People with these traits were more likely to feel balanced and fulfilled.
• Dark Traits Disrupt Harmony: Dark Triad traits generally had a negative impact on harmony. However, Narcissism showed a slight positive correlation, likely due to its connection to self-confidence. Machiavellianism and Psychopathy, however, were associated with lower levels of harmony.
• The Biopsychosocial Model Explained Harmony Best: This model, which considers both Temperament and Character, provided the most comprehensive understanding of harmony in life. The character (Self-Directedness, Cooperativeness, and Self-Transcendence) were crucial for maintaining balance through the challenges of life.

Why Does This Matter?

Harmony in life isn’t just a feel-good goal—it’s essential for long-term well-being. Our findings suggest that fostering certain character traits, like self-acceptance, kindness, and resilience, may lead to greater harmony. Conversely, socially aversive traits can disturb this balance, impacting our relationships and mental health.

How Can We Find Harmony?

Building harmony is a process that goes beyond positive thinking. Here are a few steps inspired by our past findings:

• Cultivate Self-Directedness: Setting goals that align with your values can help create a coherent and meaningful life.
• Practice Self-Transcendence: Connecting with nature, community, or spirituality can foster a sense of purpose and balance.
• Strengthen Positive Traits: Traits like Cooperativeness and resilience can be nurtured through mindfulness, empathy exercises, helping others, and self-reflection.

By understanding how our personality affects our sense of balance, we can take active steps to live more harmoniously, both with ourselves and the world around us.

The Podcast

Listening to the podcast on about the article! Podcast generated with NotebookLM, reviewed by Danilo Garcia.

The Paper

Garcia, D. (2024). The Big, the Dark, and the Biopsychosocial Shades of Harmony: Personality Traits and Harmony in Life. Behavioral Science, 14, 873. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs14100873