In 2018 I published a paper in the Irish Journal of Applied Social Studies on a measurement scale derived from the work of researchers Charles Carver and Teri White termed the BIS/BAS scale. Carver and White developed this framework from the work of psychologist Jeffrey Gray who was one of the founders of behavioural neuroscience. It was the first time I had used a model from the field of neuroscience to study how adults who were unemployed motivated themselves. At the time I was working with unemployed adults who were undertaking training courses to increase their employability. I wanted to understand more about how best to support my clients in their efforts to return to the workforce.  

Since the publication of this paper, I have taken an interest in trying to understand the biology of how we make decisions in our careers. Personality neuroscience uses magnetic resonance imagining (MRI), electroencephalography (EEG), and pharmacology to measure differences in how the brain is structured, and how it functions. A large body of research shows that our personalities develop as a consequence of genetic factors along with life experiences. To what extent it is nature versus nurture is still up for debate.

Our brains develop in a certain manner as we move through childhood and adolescence which results in certain attributes that collate to make up our individual personalities. Understanding the specifics of this process is what personality neuroscience is striving to do. Prior to personality neuroscience the field of personality psychology discovered that there are five primary components to personality as follows: -

• Openness to experience which relates to an individual’s level of creativity; artists, entrepreneurs, writers, and actors are all typically high in openness to experiences
• Conscientiousness which describes the tendency for an individual to be productive, to work hard, and to be busy.
• Extroversion versus introversion, some people love to be in the company of others, they find the experience energising, while others enjoy solitude.
• Agreeableness versus disagreeableness, people high in agreeableness tend to be high on empathy and prefer to get on well with other people. While disagreeable people like to debate and challenge others. Agreeable people can make good therapists while disagreeable people may do well as lawyers.
• Neuroticism describes a tendency to feel anxious or conversely to be of a calm disposition. Some people are naturally very calm and can therefore function well in high stress jobs that require quick thinking. While others may experience high levels of anxiety and would be better suited to stable jobs that are less stressful.

The important thing to note about the big five personality traits is that they operate on a spectrum, we all land somewhere on the continuum with each of the above traits. You can test your own big five personality traits via a survey that can be taken for free on the internet.  As a career counsellor working with adult students, I find the big five personality survey useful as it helps me advise them on potential future career options. The big five personality traits have been replicated reliably across different populations by different teams of researchers since the middle of the 20^th century. The big five survey is arguably the most reliable psychological measurement after an IQ test.

Returning to personality neuroscience, one of its primary goals is to understand where in the brain these five traits reside. Understanding the physical mechanisms of personality is crucial as psychology can typically only identify phenomena via a mix of qualitative and quantitative research methods such as surveys, observation, and interviews. I regularly use the theories which have emanated from the field of psychological research to help the students and clients I work with. I know these theories are sound as a consequence of the established forms of research. However, it remains the case that these methods don’t tell us specifically what is happening in the brains of the participants in these studies. Furthermore, while these methods of research are sound, they are not perfect. For example, we need to assume that a person responding to a survey is doing so honestly, and there is also the problem of subjective interpretation of findings.

Personality neuroscience can provide us with another method for ensuring the reliability of traditional research strategies. While personality neuroscience is still in its infancy, there has been a few reliable findings that can provide early examples of how this field could be applied to the discipline of career counselling. These findings have come from the efforts of researchers such as Dr. Colin DeYoung at the university of Minnesota. For example, the big five trait of extroversion appears to the associated with the dopaminergic system in the brain. Some people appear to experience higher levels of dopamine which makes them more sensitive to reward seeking. A rough translation into career theory indicates that people who enjoy reward seeking will potentially make good salespeople.

Another trait that has some support for its existence in the field of neuroscience is neuroticism. This is a very important trait to understand as it is the source of nearly all psychopathologies. In simple terms, it is the source of negative emotions such as sadness, anxiety, self-consciousness, and hopelessness. From a career counselling perspective these are all emotions that need to be taken seriously if a person is going to navigate their career successfully. Studies indicate that the amygdala and some adjacent structures in the brain appear to play a role in functioning of neuroticism.

Personality neuroscience has enormous potential for career counselling, if we can understand how an individual interprets the world, we can develop career counselling strategies to help them select a career that will align with their personality. Career counselling is still a highly subjective discipline, we need strategies to reduce this subjectivity and personality neuroscience has the potential to do just that so watch this space!