Hello from heaven: A quantitative inquiry on perceiving the big five personality traits of the deceased

Previous research reveals that issues of existence may contribute to a protective kind of perception (Liebermann, 1999). Despite the abundant information coming from several studies of perception, the issue of death, in relation to perception, has not yet been thoroughly examined. The present research focuses on examining and attesting whether death is a new factor to consider, in terms of changing perception and to see whether the factors of Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Emotional Stability are the common personality traits to significantly change in such situations. The researchers tested a hierarchical model examining how personality ratings of the living would significantly vary from ratings of the deceased using 110 participants who rated both a living and deceased loved one. Results suggest that only ratings of Agreeableness and Extraversion did significantly increase for the deceased. The variance of closeness was also found to be significant as compared to the other extraneous factors predicted