Don't know what to study? Let your personality guide you

28 January 2016 - 02:41 By Adam Boult, ©The Daily Telegraph

University degree courses tend to attract students with specific personality traits, according to new research. For example, people who opt to study business or law tend to be "less agreeable" but also "less neurotic" than those studying for other degrees.Psychologist Anna Vedel of Aarhus University in Denmark reviewed 12 studies, collating research from 13389 students, to see if certain personality traits tended to gravitate towards particular subjects."Two studies measured the students' personality just after enrolment," Vedel said. "They found personality group differences corresponded perfectly with other studies. This supports the interpretation that differences are pre-existing and not a result of socialisation."The review is titled "Big Five personality group differences across academic majors" - neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness.Vedel says her findings may help guide students on what to study...

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