Personality traits have long been linked to personal outcomes, including career success. For example, being conscientious is more likely to advance a career than being neurotic.
However, personality is often measured through surveys, which makes collecting large-scale data difficult. These surveys are also given in high-stakes situations, like job applications, where people may tailor their responses to appear more desirable.
A 2020 study used AI to analyze facial features from over 12,000 volunteers who also completed a personality survey. The AI found consistent links between facial features and the “Big Five” personality traits: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. The exact reason for these links is unclear, but research suggests they may stem from genetics, hormone exposure, and social perception of facial features. A recent Yale study leveraged AI to examine the relationship between personality and career outcomes using large datasets.
Predicting personality
AI appears to excel at inferring personality from facial features. When people assess a stranger’s personality from a photo, their judgments tend to vary widely and correlate poorly with one another.
But this method raises ethical concerns. “This technology is exciting from a research perspective because it allows us to explore personality and career links in greater detail,” the authors say. “However, we do not advocate using it in hiring decisions.”
The researchers used AI to analyze the LinkedIn photos of 96,000 MBA graduates from top programs, combining this with two decades of data on earnings, promotions, and job changes. Their findings show that AI-generated personality assessments (dubbed the “Photo Big 5”) strongly predict career outcomes, such as the prestige of one’s MBA program and salary upon graduation.
“We can estimate personalities and test existing theories on how personality affects career success, but with a much larger and more detailed sample,” the authors explain.
They found that moving from the lowest to the highest quintile of desirable personality traits (which differ slightly for men and women) corresponds to a 7.3% improvement in school ranking for men and a 17.3% improvement for women.
Life chances
Climbing from the lowest to the highest quintile of Photo Big 5 traits is linked to an 8.4% increase in predicted starting salary for men—a larger effect than the Black-White pay gap (3.5%) or the Asian-White pay gap (1.9%) among MBA graduates. These traits remain strong predictors of earnings and promotions even after controlling for attractiveness, school rank, GPA, and test scores.
AI facial analysis also detected gender differences in how traits predict career success. Agreeableness boosts school rankings for men but lowers them for women. Conscientiousness increases initial salaries for both genders but leads to faster pay growth for men and slower growth for women.
It is unclear whether these differences reflect AI limitations or real workplace dynamics. Since the AI was trained separately for men and women—and the sample was three-fourths male—the results may be more precise for men. Prior research suggests workplace behaviors and biases play a role. For instance, conscientious women may be less likely to change jobs or negotiate raises. Even if they do, it may backfire. Studies show that women who push for raises are often viewed less favorably than men who do the same.
Next, the researchers plan to explore whether certain personality types are drawn to specific industries or if those traits drive success within them. Even within the same industry, personality remains a strong predictor of pay and promotions.
