Environmental factors are crucial in shaping individual characteristics. One key contextual factor is economic inequality, which is increasing in most OECD countries and negatively impacting individuals and societies, including personality traits. To date, no studies examined the relationship between economic inequality and positive personality traits such as character strengths. In a large cross-cultural study (N = 980,807, 68 countries) we investigated the relationship between country-level economic inequality and the level of the 24 character strengths. Across countries, we found consistent, robust evidence that economic inequality is positively linked to 22 character strengths, even after controlling for the Human Development Index, population density, urbanization, and climate of each country. On average, inequality explained 34% of the between-country variance in character strengths. Different alternative explanations for such unexpected effects, including increased competitiveness or resilience in the face of adversity, are discussed. Our research provides novel insights into the importance of environmental factors in shaping human character.

环境因素对于塑造个体特征至关重要。一个关键的背景因素是经济不平等，这种不平等在大多数经合组织国家都在加剧，并对个人和社会产生负面影响，包括人格特质。迄今为止，还没有研究探讨经济不平等与积极人格特质（例如性格优势）之间的关系。在一项大型跨文化研究（N  = 980,807，68 个国家）中，我们调查了国家层面的经济不平等与 24 种性格优势水平之间的关系。在各个国家，我们发现了一致、有力的证据，表明经济不平等与 22 种性格优势呈正相关，即使在控制了每个国家的人类发展指数、人口密度、城市化和气候之后也是如此。平均而言，不平等可以解释 34% 的国家间性格优势差异。讨论了对这种意想不到的影响的不同替代解释，包括面对逆境时竞争力或恢复力的增强。我们的研究为环境因素在塑造人类性格中的重要性提供了新颖的见解。