Scientists Figured Out the Personality Traits of Influencers, and It Could Explain a Lot

More and more young people are gunning to become influencers — but certain personality types appear more likely to pursue it as a career than others, which could explain a lot about the chaotic and outrageous industry.

It's a worthwhile line of inquiry. Back in 2019, a Lego-sponsored survey found that among 3,000 kids in the US, UK, and China, a full third said they wanted to be influencers, while only 11 percent indicated an interest in becoming an astronaut.

What does that immensely powerful trend mean for society? In a new study published in the journal Telematics and Informatics, researchers from Poland's University of Wrocław and Oxford found that young people who are extraverted, self-involved, and — quelle surprise — dramatic were more likely to aspire to being an influencer than their more introverted and calmer counterparts.

After recruiting nearly 800 participants aged 16 and 17 — roughly half of whom were Polish, with the other half based in the United Kingdom — the researchers posed a battery of questions to their teen subjects about their career goals and their dream jobs.

The participants were also given questionnaires that measured how strongly they exhibit the "Big Five" personality traits — openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism — as well as how histrionic, or dramatic, they are.

As the researchers found, those with heightened extraversion, narcissism, and histrionics — a tendency to be dramatic and expressive about it, basically — were more likely to be interested in the influencer life. Those traits correlate to a desire to be seen and validated by others in much the same way as with theater kids — suggesting, perhaps, that the student thespians of today may be the influencers of tomorrow.

Though there's been some research into how audiences perceive the personalities of content creators, this study appears to be the first that looks into the traits the drive people to become influencers — or wannabe influencer, at least, since the career is anything but a slam dunk for most who attempt it.

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