At Work, How Does Personality Type Impact Mindfulness Training – and Vice Versa?

29.5.2017

Mindfulness training is an excellent tool for managing work-related stress, but is everyone able to access it easily? This article looks at the research into the effects of personality types on the outcome of mindfulness training and what can be done to ensure that all participants can access mindfulness regardless of their personality types.

The ‘Big Five’ personality traits

The widely accepted ‘big five’ model of personality traits considers that in terms of their personality traits most people fit into one of the following categories: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Sometimes this is abbreviated to OCEAN. There is considerable discussion as to the flexibility of these traits and whether we can change from one to the other, but they provide a useful model in understanding individual differences in personality.

Why mindfulness training is positive for everyone

Although every workplace will host a wide variety of personality types, one thing that most people have in common at work today is a certain degree of stress. Helping to manage stress better is not the only reason to embark on mindfulness training, there are many other benefits as well – increased empathy, creativity, problem solving skills, focus, adaptability and many more have been shown as some of the outcomes of regular practice. But stress is such a negative and insidious force at work that mindfulness training, appropriately conducted, can transform a workplace and bring about a more productive, creative and harmonious work environment.

What personality type might find it challenging?

Although we believe that most people will benefit from mindfulness training, some personality types find it harder than others. A study carried out in 2013 looked at the inflexibility of personality in relationship to mindfulness with a view to understand why some people find mindfulness more difficult than others. In a sample of 429 participants, the researchers found that neuroticism was negatively correlated with mindfulness. In other words, people of that personality type find mindfulness practice more challenging than do others. Their research found that neuroticism is the most inflexible personality trait, and they took this to mean that neurotic people find it harder to change. On the other hand, conscientiousness was positively correlated with mindfulness and negatively associated with inflexibility. In other words, conscientious people take more easily to mindfulness and are more flexible in their personality, adapting to new situations more easily.

Another study, carried out in 2017, also found that neuroticism has a negative correlation with mindfulness.

Does this mean that certain personality types can’t practice mindfulness?

Every personality type can benefit from mindfulness practice, but for some it’s more difficult, and for some of these the benefits on offer may be even greater. People with neurotic personality types are more likely to be unstable emotionally and have worries, fears and anxious thoughts. They’re more susceptible to depression and feelings of anger. Mindfulness training is great at helping people who struggle with these problems. But inflexibility and an inclination to not take to mindfulness as easily as other personality types suggests that mindfulness training may be more difficult for them.

That said, there’s a lot to be gained through persistence. Researchers, who looked more closely at this area, found that mindfulness moderates the link between neuroticism and well-being. They found that the negative emotional reactions in people with neurotic personalities were partly accounted for by low levels of mindfulness - and getting lost in negative ongoing ruminations. That can be taken as suggesting that if mindfulness could be increased, these reactions might be decreased. The challenge, as ever, is getting people to understand that – even though the practices can be challenging – the more dedicated one is to daily practice, the better the results will be.

To learn about mindfulness training in the workplace contact rachel@mindfulnessworks or call (+44) 01223 750660