Neurotic People Have More Frequent Sexual Fantasies

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TThe “big five” traits that psychologists use to describe human personalities are openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Neuroticism, the brooding black sheep of the group, captures our predisposition to negative emotions like anger, depression, and anxiety. Now, a new study published in PLOS One suggests that it might also be linked to our tendency to indulge in sexual fantasies.

A team led by Emily Cannoot of Michigan State University analyzed data from 5,225 Americans who completed two questionnaires. The first asked about their sexual fantasies, including the type and frequency of their steamy daydreams, while the second measured their big five personality traits.

Read more: “Casual Sex Could Improve American Marriages”

They found that people scoring high on neuroticism also reported experiencing sexual fantasies more frequently. On the other hand, people who scored high on Conscientiousness and Agreeableness — which measure our penchant for self-discipline and social harmony, respectively — fantasized about sex less often. Somewhat counterintuitively, extraversion and open-mindedness showed no effect on the frequency of sexual fantasies.

Zooming in on these results revealed that neurotics who scored particularly high on depression were more likely to engage in mental sexual adventures, while the chaste thoughts of conscientious and agreeable types were explained by high measures of respect and responsibility.

Surprisingly, studies on sexual fantasies and personality types are rare, which the team hopes to address in the future, including examining how our personalities and sexual fantasies develop together over time.

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Main image: momo sama / Shutterstock

• Jake Currie

  Published on February 4, 2026

  Jake Currie is a writer based in Brooklyn, New York.