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Cited by 764Personality Traits and PsychologyMental Health Research TopicsPsychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction

Personality in its natural habitat: manifestations and implicit folk theories of personality in daily life

Mehl, Matthias R., Gosling, Samuel D., Pennebaker, James W.·2006·Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
DOI 10.1037/0022-3514.90.5.862
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Abstract

To examine the expression of personality in its natural habitat, the authors tracked 96 participants over 2 days using the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR), which samples snippets of ambient sounds in participants' immediate environments. Participants' Big Five scores were correlated with EAR-derived information on their daily social interactions, locations, activities, moods, and language use; these quotidian manifestations were generally consistent with the trait definitions and (except for Openness) often gender specific. To identify implicit folk theories about daily manifestations of personality, the authors correlated the EAR-derived information with impressions of participants based on their EAR sounds; judges' implicit folk theories were generally accurate (especially for Extraversion) and also partially gender specific. The findings point to the importance of naturalistic observation studies on how personality is expressed and perceived in the natural stream of everyday behavior.

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  • Extraversion and openness to experience were associated with an increased use of function words and increased verbal fluency.

    “Furthermore, extraversion and openness to experience were associated with an increased use of function words (functors) and increased verbal fluency (Mehl et al., 2006).”

    From The Role of Personality in Language Learning (2026) · cites this paper as Mehl et al., 2006

  • Extraversion correlates with an increase in verbal fluency.

    “extraversion correlates with an increase in verbal fluency (Mehl et al., 2006)”

    From The Role of Personality in Language Learning (2026) · cites this paper as Mehl et al., 2006

  • Mehl et al. found neurotic and agreeable people tend to use more first-person singulars, people low in openness talk more about social processes, extraverts use longer words.

    “They found similar results to Pennebaker & King and that neurotic and agreeable people tend to use more first-person singulars, people low in openness talk more about social processes, extraverts use longer words.”

    From Personality, Gender, and Age in the Language of Social Media: The Open-Vocabulary Approach (2013) · cites this paper as [22]

  • Individual differences in personality have previously been linked to differences in linguistic style in laboratory and experience-sampling settings.

    “Individual differences in personality have previously been linked to differences in linguistic style in laboratory and experience-sampling settings (Fast & Funder, 2008; Hirsh & Peterson, 2009; Mehl et al., 2006; Pennebaker & King 1999).”

    From Personality in 100,000 Words: A large-scale analysis of personality and word use among bloggers (2010) · cites this paper as Mehl et al., 2006

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Authors
Mehl, M. R., Gosling, S. D., & Pennebaker, J. W.
Affiliations
  • University of Arizona (US)
  • The University of Texas at Austin (US)
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Publisher
American Psychological Association (APA)
Published
2006
Volume
90
Issue
5
Pages
862-877
ISSN
  • 0022-3514 (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-1315
DOI
10.1037/0022-3514.90.5.862
OpenAlex
W2122725421
Cited by
764
References
83
Citations by year
2026: 43 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 40 · 2023: 27 · 2022: 46 · 2021: 40 · 2020: 87 · 2019: 48 · 2018: 62 · 2017: 52 · 2016: 45 · 2015: 40 · 2014: 42 · 2013: 31 · 2012: 38
FWCI
18.80
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institute of Mental Health (MH64527-01A1; MH 52391)
  • National Science Foundation (0422924)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Mental Health Research Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
Keywords
personality expression, Big Five personality traits, naturalistic observation, daily behavior, Electronically Activated Recorder, impression formation, gender differences, extraversion, openness, social interaction, mood, language use
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Behavior, Female, Humans, Human Activities, Linguistics, Male, Personality, Sex Factors, Social Environment, Social Perception, Tape Recording, Texas

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