A single high dose of the hallucinogen psilocybin, the active ingredient in so-called “magic mushrooms,” was enough to bring about a measurable personality change lasting at least a year in nearly 60 percent of the 51 participants in a new study, according to the Johns Hopkins researchers who conducted it.
A large body of evidence, including longitudinal analyses of personality change, suggests that core personality traits are predominantly stable after age 30. To our knowledge, no study has demonstrated changes in personality in healthy adults after an experimentally manipulated discrete event. Intriguingly, double-blind controlled studies have shown that the classic hallucinogen psilocybin occasions personally and spiritually significant mystical experiences that predict long-term changes in behaviors, attitudes and values. (...) Consistent with participant claims of hallucinogen-occasioned increases in aesthetic appreciation, imagination, and creativity, we found significant increases in Openness following a high-dose psilocybin session. In participants who had mystical experiences during their psilocybin session, Openness remained significantly higher than baseline more than 1 year after the session.
Openness to experience correlates with creativity, as measured by tests of divergent thinking. Openness is also associated with crystallized intelligence, but not fluid intelligence. These mental abilities may come more easily when people are dispositionally curious and open to learning. However, openness is only weakly related to general intelligence. Openness to experience is related to need for cognition, a motivational tendency to think about ideas, scrutinize information, and enjoy solving puzzles.
Openness is the only personality trait that correlates with neuropsychological tests of dorsolateral prefrontal cortical function, supporting theoretical links among openness, cognitive functioning, and IQ.
Now if we only had a drug that increases conscientiousness.
Stimulants in general. And most (other) things that increase dopamine or norepinephrine can be expected to some extent. Pramiracetam. For many anabolic steroids increase motivation as a side effect, a significant component of conscientiousness.
DeYoung and Gray (2009) wrote a review on the neuroscience of the Big Five traits in The Cambridge handbook of personality.
The two relevant paragraphs on conscientiousness:
When considering research on the biological basis of the various impulsivity-related traits, one must bear in mind that most are related to multiple Big Five dimensions. Zuckerman (2005) noted that many studies have found Impulsive Sensation-Seeking and similar traits to be associated with high levels of dopaminergic function and low levels of serotonergic function. However, he argued that dopamine is associated with the approach tendencies reflected in these traits, whereas low serotonin is related to the absence of control or restraint. Involvement of serotonin in control and restraint is consistent with findings that serotonin is associated with Conscientiousness (Manuck, Flory, McCaffery et al. 1998, Rosenberg, Templeton, Feigin et al. 2006).
Another biological factor that may be related to Conscientiousness is glucose metabolism. Glucose represents the basic energy source for the brain, and a number of studies indicate that blood-glucose is depleted by acts of self-control and that the extent of this depletion predicts failures of self-control (Gailliot, Baumeister, DeWall et al. 2007; Gailliot and Baumeister 2007). Further, a self-report measure of trait self-control, which correlates highly with Conscientiousness, similarly predicts failures of self-control (Gailliot, Schmeichel and Baumeister 2006; Tangney, Baumeister and Boone 2004). Perhaps individuals whose metabolism provides their brains with an ample and steady supply of glucose are likely to be higher in Conscientiousness. If individual differences in glucose metabolism prove to be involved in Conscientiousness, one will also want to know what brain systems are consuming glucose to fuel acts of self-control. The prefrontal cortex seems likely to be involved, given its central role in planning and voluntary control of behaviour, and given that its consumption of glucose appears relatively high (Gailliot and Baumeister 2007). An fMRI study (Brown, Manuck, Flory and Hariri 2006) showed that brain activity inventral prefrontal cortex during a response inhibition task was negatively associated with a questionnaire measure of impulsivity that is strongly negatively correlated with Conscientiousness (Whiteside and Lynam 2001).
It seems like high levels of serotonin and blood-glucose are associated with high levels of some specific facets of conscientiousness.
Maybe also this: Single Dose of ‘Magic Mushrooms’ Hallucinogen May Create Lasting Personality Change
From the abstract:
Openness to experience:
My own impression on reading that yesterday was that your average LWer doesn’t really need Openness; what we need is Conscientiousness!
EDIT: I’ve posted article based on Spent dealing with Openness: http://lesswrong.com/lw/82g/on_the_openness_personality_trait_rationality/
Now if we only had a drug that increases conscientiousness.
Stimulants in general. And most (other) things that increase dopamine or norepinephrine can be expected to some extent. Pramiracetam. For many anabolic steroids increase motivation as a side effect, a significant component of conscientiousness.
I think amphetamines can do that, at least for people with ADD.
Is anything known about a physical basis for conscientiousness?
DeYoung and Gray (2009) wrote a review on the neuroscience of the Big Five traits in The Cambridge handbook of personality.
The two relevant paragraphs on conscientiousness:
It seems like high levels of serotonin and blood-glucose are associated with high levels of some specific facets of conscientiousness.
The statistics in the linked paper are very badly done: see Does psilocybin cause changes in personality? Maybe, but not so fast.