Robert Roger McCrae (born April 28, 1949) is a personality psychologist. He earned his Ph.D in 1976, and worked at the

National Institute of Aging The National Institute on Aging (NIA) is a division of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), located in Bethesda, Maryland. The NIA itself is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. The NIA leads a broad scientific effort to understand the ...

. He is associated with the Five Factor Theory of personality. He has spent his career studying the stability of personality across age and culture. Along with Paul Costa, he is a co-author of the

Revised NEO Personality Inventory The Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R) is a personality inventory that assesses an individual on five dimensions of personality, the so-called Big Five personality traits. These traits are openness to experience, conscientiousness, ext ...

. He has served on the editorial boards of many scholarly journals, including the '' Journal of Personality and Social Psychology'', the ''

Journal of Research in Personality The ''Journal of Research in Personality'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering the field of personality psychology, published by Elsevier Elsevier () is a Dutch academic publishing company specializing in scientific, technical, and ...

'', the ''

Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology ''Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes papers in the field of cross-cultural psychology. The journal's editor is Deborah L. Best (Wake Forest University). It has been in publication since 197 ...

'', and the '' Journal of Individual Differences''. McCrae was born in Maryville,

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

, on April 28, 1949. He is the youngest of three children of Andrew McCrae and Eloise Elaine McCrae. The Five Factor Theory takes a biological view of personality. It states “Personality traits are construed as basic tendencies that are rooted in biology and that interact with external influences, including culture, in shaping the skills, habits, tastes, and values of the individual”.Hofstede , G., & McCrae, R. R. (2004). Personality and culture revisited: Linking traits and dimensions of culture. Cross-Cultural Research, 38(1), 52-88. doi: 10.1177/1069397103259443 McCrae believes that personality is a biological trait, first and foremost. Through his research he found that around the age of 30, neuroticism and extraversion begin to decline, while

agreeableness Agreeableness is a personality trait manifesting itself in individual behavioral characteristics that are perceived as kind, sympathetic, cooperative, warm, and considerate. In contemporary personality psychology, agreeableness is one of the fiv ...

and

conscientiousness Conscientiousness is the personality trait of being careful, or diligent. Conscientiousness implies a desire to do a task well, and to take obligations to others seriously. Conscientious people tend to be efficient and organized as opposed to ...

increase with age.

Openness to experience Openness to experience is one of the domains which are used to describe human personality in the Five Factor Model. Openness involves six facets, or dimensions: active imagination (fantasy), aesthetic sensitivity, attentiveness to inner feelings ...

, however, seems to follow a curved shape, peaking around the age of 19.McCrae, R. R., Martin, T. A., & Costa, P. T. (2005). Age trends and age norms for the neo personality inventory-3 in adolescents and adults. Assessment,12(4), 363-373. doi: 10.1177/1073191105279724 These results, however, apply to people as a whole, this does not apply specifically to each individual. The group as a whole tends to change in these ways throughout the lifetime. As he studied personality trends and stability in cultures, McCrae found that countries high in neuroticism and low in agreeableness form dimensions of uncertainty avoidance. Countries that are low in extraversion and high in conscientiousness tend to be high in power distance. Cultures high in extraversion predict a high rate of individualism. And, high levels of neuroticism and openness to experience indicate dimensions of masculinity within the culture.

References

Living people 1949 births National Institutes of Health faculty American psychologists Personality psychologists People from Maryville, Missouri {{US-psychologist-stub