First of all, I found it really interesting that conscientiousness would prove to be the greatest predictor of length of life. I feel like people rarely consider this an important trait, and it seems to be rarely gauged in personality tests. It does, however, make a lot of sense that this would contribute to the reason why some people live longer than others.
In taking the test in the book, I scored a 47, which would make me considered a very conscientious person. However, I did think it was interesting to note their reasonings as to why conscientiousness would lead to a longer life. The section about conscientious people being more risk averse kind of struck me because I found that I do a lot of those behaviors, even though I am considered a conscientious person. In addition, I also have been diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder, which would directly contradict the statements of the book that people with low serotonin levels are more likely to be less conscientious. However, I do find myself aligning with the third reason being that conscientious people are more likely to engage in healthy and stable relationships. I value my friends more than any other person on the planet and would consider myself to have extremely healthy and close relationships with my friends.
In looking at the chapter on sociability, I did agree that the natural thought process would be to think that those who are more social are more likely to live longer. It was surprising to me to find out that there really is no correlation between sociability and length of life. In this chapter I did find myself agreeing more with the findings in relation to my own level of sociability. I do agree that those who are more sociable are likely to find themselves more often in situations of being invited to parties and get togethers where they may engage in drinking. I definitely see logic towards the end of the chapter that it’s not necessarily more or less healthy to be sociable, and that it’s more about your level of comfort with how social and engaged with other people you are. I think that as long as you feel fulfilled and content with your relationships, you will be at low risk for health problems.