Overview
- The Revived Genomics of Personality Consortium published its results on Wednesday, September 2, 2026, reporting about 1,260 common genetic variants associated with the Big Five traits from a meta‑analysis of 46 cohorts.
- The pooled analyses used data from roughly 611,000 to 1.14 million people depending on the trait and increased known variant counts for traits such as conscientiousness and neuroticism by manyfold.
- Common variants identified in the study explain a modest fraction of trait variation — broadly in the single digits to low teens percent range — and genetic scores cannot reliably predict any single person’s personality.
- Family‑based comparisons showed little evidence that shared upbringing drives the genetic associations, and the paper used causal tools such as Mendelian randomization to link personality genetics to health, behavior and socioeconomic outcomes.
- Researchers cautioned that measurement differences across cohorts, limited ancestry diversity and remaining 'missing heritability' constrain interpretation but said the dataset provides a robust platform for follow‑up mechanistic and cross‑ancestry studies.