The Autonomic Nervous System and Big Five Personality

Abstract

Background: Covid-19 brings change to human life. Human should adapt with this condition. People with certain personality trait may respond differently to the same situation. The autonomic nervous system (ANS) is important for regulation of human body function. It plays an important role in the physiological responses that arise in response to events around humans. Objective: to identify relationship between ANS function and personality. Methodology: We studied autonomic nervous system function and personality of 64 subjects older than 18 years old. Subjects with ANS dysregulation that had been diagnosed by physician were excluded. The Schellong test and The Big Five Personality questionnaire were used to identify ANS function and personality respectively. Relationship between variables was identified using Spearman test. Results: Autonomic nervous system function of the subject were normal (79.7%), type-1 (14.1%), type-2a (3.1%) and type-3 (3.1%). Subjects which have high openness personality were 36%, high conscientiousness were 70%, high extraversion personality were 50%, high agreeableness personality were 91%, and low neuroticism were 92%. There was no relationship between ANS function and openness (p=0.49), extraversion (p=0.34), agreeableness (p=0.77), and neuroticism (p=0.90). There was a relationship between ANS function and conscientiousness (p=0.049). Conclusion: There was a relationship between ANS function and conscientiousness but not with other types of OCEAN personality.