Personality Characteristics as Predictors of Susceptibility to Social Influence: The Role of Self-Compassion, Self-Esteem, And Neuroticism

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the role of selected personality characteristics—neuroticism as a basic personality trait, and self-compassion and self-esteem as self-regulatory dispositions—in susceptibility to social influence, operationalized through conformity, compliance, and social identity. The study was conducted on a sample of 206 participants in the Republic of Macedonia. Data were collected online using six psychological instruments. Within the present study, the instruments demonstrated satisfactory to high internal consistency. Data were analyzed using correlational analyses and multiple linear regression. The results of the correlational analyses showed that self-compassion and self-esteem were negatively associated with conformity, compliance, and neuroticism, while neuroticism was positively associated with all examined forms of social influence. The regression analyses indicated differentiated roles of the personality characteristics: self-compassion emerged as a stable negative predictor of conformity and neuroticism, whereas self-esteem showed a context-dependent role, including a positive independent effect on conformity when self-compassion was controlled for. Neuroticism retained a significant independent contribution primarily in explaining compliance. These findings suggest that susceptibility to different forms of social influence is associated with specific combinations of personality characteristics. The study contributes to a deeper understanding of individual differences in social behavior and provides a basis for further research in the fields of social and personality psychology.