BACKGROUND: Previous studies have shown that personality traits (i.e., openness to experience, conscientiousness, and agreeableness) relate to prejudicial attitudes. However, one of the aspects of prejudice is social distance; its association with personality traits was overlooked by previous studies. Therefore, this study examines the connection between the Big Five personality traits and social distance toward certain social groups. PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE: Participants from the general population were recruited through leaflets, the institutional webpage, Facebook, and through the project recruitment website and assessed via paper-and-pencil or online form. A total of 214 participants were included (of whom 68.2% were women and the mean age was 32.65, SD = 11.27, range 18-72) who completed the Bogardus Social Distance Scale and the 44-item Big Five Inventory questionnaire. RESULTS: The results showed a relationship between social distance, agreeableness, and openness to experience. Agreeableness seems to lower the social distance toward all studied groups. In comparison, openness to experience seems to lower the social distance towards groups that evoke more polarized attitudes in the majority (e.g., migrants). Furthermore, the influence of demographic characteristics (i.e., age, education level, and gender) is also significant. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that personality is significantly related to social distancing and expression of prejudicial attitudes. In particular, agreeableness and openness to experience have different effects on social distance and attitudes towards different groups. Further implications are discussed.

Faculty of Arts Charles University Prague Czech Republic

Faculty of Education Charles University Prague Czech Republic

National Institute of Mental Health Klecany Czech Republic

University of New York Prague Prague Czech Republic

See more in PubMed

Adorno, T., Frenkel-Brenswik, E., Levinson, D. J., & Sanford, R. N. (1950). The authoritarian personality. Harper & Brother.

Akrami, N., Ekehammar, B., & Bergh, R. (2011). Generalized prejudice: Common and specific components. Psychological Science, 22, 57–59. 10.1177/0956797610390384 PubMed DOI

Allport, G. W. (1954). The nature of prejudice. Addison-Wesley.

Altemeyer, B. (1981). Right-wing authoritarianism. University of Manitoba Press.

Ashford, R. D., Brown, A. M., & Curtis, B. (2018). Substance use, recovery, and linguistics: The impact of word choice on explicit and implicit bias. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 189, 131–138. 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2018.05.005 PubMed DOI PMC

Axt, J. R. (2018). The best way to measure explicit racial attitudes is to ask about them. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 9, 896–906. 10.1177/1948550617728995 DOI

Ayers, J. W., Hofstetter, C. R., Schnakenberg, K., & Kolody, B. (2009). Is immigration a racial issue? Anglo attitudes on immigration policies in a border county. Social Science Quarterly, 90, 593–610. 10.1111/j.1540-6237.2009.00633.x DOI

Beck, A. T., Epstein, N., Brown, G., & Steer, R. A. (1988). An inventory for measuring clinical anxiety: Psychometric properties. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56, 893. 10.1037/0022006X.56.6.893 PubMed DOI

Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A., & Brown, G. K. (1996). Manual for the Beck Depression Inventory-II. Psychological Corporation.

Bell, C. C., & Dunbar, E. (2012). Racism and pathological bias as a co-occurring problem in diagnosis and assessment. In T. A. Widiger (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of personality disorders (pp. 694–709). Oxford Academic; 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199735013.013.0032 DOI

Bogardus, E. S. (1925). Measuring social distance. Journal of Applied Sociology, 9, 299–308.

Bogardus, E. S. (1933). A social distance scale. Sociology & Social Research, 17, 265–271.

Bogardus, E. S. (1947). Measurement of personal-group relations. Sociometry, 10, 306–311. 10.2307/2785570 DOI

Bogardus, E. S. (1958). Racial distance changes in the United States during the past 30 years. Sociology and Social Research, 43, 127–134.

Bogardus, E. S. (1968). Comparing racial distance in Ethiopia, South-Africa, and United-States. Sociology and Social Research, 52, 149–156.

Brubaker, R., Loveman, M., & Stamatov, P. (2004). Ethnicity as cognition. Theory and Society, 33, 31–64. 10.1023/B:RYSO.0000021405.18890.63 DOI

Canli, T., & Lesch, K. P. (2007). Long story short: The serotonin transporter in emotion regulation and social cognition. Nature Neuroscience, 10, 1103–1109. 10.1038/nn1964 PubMed DOI

Ceobanu, A. M., & Escandell, X. (2010). Comparative analyses of public attitudes toward immigrants and immigration using multinational survey data: a review of theories and research. Annual Review of Sociology, 36, 309–328. 10.1146/annurev.soc.012809.102651 DOI

Collins, K. A., & Clément, R. (2012). Language and prejudice: Direct and moderated effects. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 31, 376–396. 10.1177/0261927x12446611 DOI

Eagly, A. H., & Chaiken, S. (1998). Attitude structure and function. In D. T. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), The handbook of social psychology (pp. 269–322). McGraw-Hill.

Ekehammar, B., Akrami, N., & Araya, T. (2003). Gender differences in implicit prejudice. Personality and Individual Differences, 34, 1509–1523. 10.1016/S0191-8869(02)00132-0 DOI

Flynn, F. J. (2005). Having an open mind: The impact of openness to experience on interracial attitudes and impression formation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 816. 10.1037/0022-3514.88.5.816 PubMed DOI

Ford, R. (2008). Is racial prejudice declining in Britain? Is racial prejudice declining in Britain? The British Journal of Sociology, 59, 609–636. 10.1111/j.1468-4446.2008.00212.x PubMed DOI

Gallego, A., & Pardos-Prado, S. (2014). The Big Five personality traits and attitudes towards immigrants. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 40, 79–99. 10.1080/1369183X.2013.826131 DOI

Heissler, R., Doubková, N., & Preiss, M. (2022). Hodnocení skrytého a zjevného rasismu za pomoci implicitních a explicitních metod [Assessing covert and overt racism using implicit and explicit methods]. Manuscript submitted for publication

Hello, E., Scheepers, P., & Gijsberts, M. (2002). Education and ethnic prejudice in Europe: Explanations for cross-national variances in the educational effect on ethnic prejudice. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 46, 5–24. 10.1080/00313830120115589 DOI

Hoření, K. (2018). Co si myslíš o...: Předsudky v české společnosti a jak s nimi účinně pracovat ve škole [What do you think about...: Prejudices in Czech society and how to effectively work with them at school]. Ústav pro studium totalitních režimů: Sociologický ústav AV ČR, v.v.i.

Hřebíčkov, M., Jelínek, M., Blatný, M., Brom, C., Burešová, I., Graf, S., Mejzlíková, T., Vazsonyi, A. T., & Zábrodská, K. (2016). Big Five Inventory: Základní psychometrické charakteristiky české verze BFI-44 a BFI-10 [Big Five Inventory: Basic psychometric properties of the Czech version of BFI-44 and BFI-10]. Československá Psychologie, 60, 567–583.

Iyengar, S., Sood, G., & Lelkes, Y. (2012). Affect, not ideology: a social identity perspective on polarization. Public Opinion Quarterly, 76, 405–431. 10.1093/poq/nfs038 DOI

Jackson, J. W., & Poulsen, J. R. (2005). Contact experiences mediate the relationship between five-factor model personality traits and ethnic prejudice. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 35, 667–685. 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2005.tb02140.x DOI

John, O. P., & Srivastava, S. (1999). The Big Five Trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives. In L. A. Pervin & O. P. John (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (pp. 102–138). Guilford Press.

Jonason, P. K., Underhill, D., & Navarrate, C. D. (2020). Understanding prejudice in terms of approach tendencies: The Dark Triad traits, sex differences, and political personality traits. Personality and Individual Differences, 153, 109617. 10.1016/j.paid.2019.109617 DOI

Jonáš, J. (2013). Theoretical and methodological aspects in anthropological research of stereotypes. Prace Etnograficzne, 41, 297–307. 10.4467/22999558.PE.13.027.1368 DOI

Jorm, A. F., & Oh, E. (2009). Desire for social distance from people with mental disorders. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 43, 183–200. 10.1080/00048670802653349 PubMed DOI

Kamarádová, D., Praško, J., Látalová, K., Panáčková, L., Švancara, J., Ocisková, M., Grambal, A., Sigmundová, Z., Jelenová, D., Kovácsová, A., Cakirpaloglu, S., Kasalová, P., Bareš, V., & Vrbová, K. (2016). Validizace české verze Beckova inventáře úzkosti [Validation of Czech version of Beck Anxiety Inventory]. Česká a Slovenská Psychiatrie, 112, 153–158.

Karakayali, N. (2009). Social distance and affective orientations. Sociological Forum, 24, 538–562. 10.1111/j.1573-7861.2009.01119.x DOI

Kosic, A., & Phalet, K. (2006). Ethnic categorization of immigrants: The role of prejudice, perceived acculturation strategies and group size. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 30, 769–782. 10.1016/j.ijintrel.2006.06.003 DOI

Liu, M., Conrad, F. G., & Lee, S. (2017). Comparing acquiescent and extreme response styles in face-to-face and web surveys. Quality & Quantity, 51, 941–958. 10.1007/s11135-016-0320-7 DOI

Lyons, P. (2016). Are Czech prejudiced? Contemporary Czech Society. The Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague.

Park, R. E. (1924). The concept of social distance as applied to the study of racial attitudes and racial relations. Journal of Applied Sociology, 8, 339–344.

Parrillo, V. N., & Donoghue, C. (2005). Updating the Bogardus social distance studies: a new national survey. The Social Science Journal, 42, 257–271. 10.1016/j.soscij.2005.03.011 DOI

Parrillo, V. N., & Donoghue, C. (2013). The national social distance study: Ten years later. Sociological Forum, 28, 597–614. 10.1111/socf.12039 DOI

Pavlović, M., & Purić, D. (2016). Basic personality traits as correlates of implicit prejudice. Primenjena Psihologija, 9, 125–140. 10.19090/pp.2016.2.125-140 DOI

Pettigrew, T. F. (2009). Probing the complexity of intergroup prejudice. International Journal of Psychology, 44, 40–42. 10.1080/00207590802057936 PubMed DOI

Pettigrew, T. F., & Meertens, R. W. (1995). Subtle and blatant prejudice in Western Europe. European Journal of Social Psychology, 25, 57–75. 10.1002/ejsp.2420250106 DOI

Phillips, L. (2015). Homelessness: Perception of causes and solutions. Journal of Poverty, 19, 1–19. 10.1080/10875549.2014.951981 DOI

Plana, I., Lavoie, M. A., Battaglia, M., & Achim, A. M. (2014). A meta-analysis and scoping review of social cognition performance in social phobia, posttraumatic stress disorder and other anxiety disorders. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 28, 169–177. 10.1016/j.janxdis.2013.09.005 PubMed DOI

Ptáček, R., Raboch, J., Vňuková, M., Hlinka, J., & Anders, M. (2016). Becková škála deprese BDI-II–standardizace a využití v praxi [The Beck Depression Inventory BDI-II–standardization and its use in practice]. Česká a Slovenská Psychiatrie, 112, 270–274.

Radvansky, G. A., Copeland, D. E., & von Hippel, W. (2010). Stereotype activation, inhibition, and aging. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46, 51–60. 10.1016/j.jesp.2009.09.010 PubMed DOI PMC

Roccas, S., Sagiv, L., Schwartz, S. H., & Knafo, A. (2002). The Big Five personality factors and personal values. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, 789–801. 10.1177/0146167202289008 DOI

Ryšavý, D. (2003). Sociální distance vůči Romům. Případ vysokoškolských studentů [Social distance towards Roma. The case of university students]. Sociologický Časopis, 39, 55–78.

Sibley, C. G., & Duckitt, J. (2008). Personality and prejudice: a meta-analysis and theoretical review. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 12, 248–279. 10.1177/1088868308319226 PubMed DOI

Sidanius, J., & Pratto, F. (2001). Social dominance: an intergroup theory of social hierarchy and oppression. Cambridge University Press.

Sparkman, D. J., Eidelman, S., & Blanchar, J. C. (2016). Multicultural experiences reduce prejudice through personality shifts in openness to experience. European Journal of Social Psychology, 46, 840–853. 10.1002/ejsp.2189 DOI

Verberk, G., Scheepers, P., & Felling, A. (2002). Attitudes and behavioural intentions towards ethnic minorities: an empirical test of several theoretical explanations for the Dutch case. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 28, 197–219. 10.1080/13691830220124297 DOI

von Hippel, W. (2007). Aging, executive functioning, and social control. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16, 240–244. 10.1111/j.1467-8721.2007.00512.x DOI

Wark, C., & Galliher, J. F. (2007). Emory Bogardus and the origins of the social distance scale. The American Sociologist, 38, 383–395. 10.1007/s12108-007-9023-9 DOI

Weinfurt, K. P., & Moghaddam, F. M. (2001). Culture and social distance: a case study of methodological cautions. The Journal of Social Psychology, 141, 101–110. 10.1080/00224540109600526 PubMed DOI

Williams, J. E. (2015). Social distance. In G. Ritzer (Ed.), The Blackwell encyclopedia of sociology. Wiley Online Library. 10.1002/9781405165518.wbeoss145.pub2 DOI