Personality and altruism in daily life

• We examined the relationship between the Big-Five traits and altruism in daily life.
• Extraversion commonly contributed to altruism toward all three types of recipients.
• Conscientiousness contributed to altruism only toward family members.
• Agreeableness contributed to altruism only toward friends/acquaintances.
• Openness contributed to altruism only toward strangers.

Personality may be among the factors contributing to individual differences in altruism. Given that explanations of altruistic behavior differ according to the relationship between actors and recipients, the personality traits contributing to altruist behavior may differ according to the relationship between the parties involved. However, few studies on the effect of personality on altruism have examined the relationship between donor and recipient, and no study has addressed altruistic behavior in daily life. We employed the Self-Report Altruism Scale Distinguished by the Recipient, which was newly developed to evaluate altruism among Japanese undergraduates, to investigate the relationship between the Big-Five personality traits and the frequency of altruistic behaviors toward various recipients (family members, friends or acquaintances, and strangers) in daily life. With the exception of extraversion, which commonly contributed to altruistic behavior toward all three types of recipients, the particular traits that contributed to altruism differed according to recipient. Conscientiousness contributed to altruism only toward family members, agreeableness contributed to altruism only toward friends/acquaintances, and openness contributed to altruism only toward strangers.