How "the Big Five" Personality Traits Can Help Us
POSTED MARCH 12, 2020
In 1924, Gordon Allport began teaching his course "Personality: Its Psychological and Social Aspects" - thus initiating his pioneering work in the field of personality psychology. Allport developed this psychology of personality after rejecting both the psychoanalytic and the behavioral approaches to psychology, believing the former to be too deeply interpretive, and the latter not deep enough in explaining the data.
Psychologists have since devised numerous scales for measuring personality traits. One of today's most widely used scales is the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator, based loosely on Jung's theory of personality. Another is called "the Big Five." The "big five" are broad categories of personality traits. There is a significant body of literature supporting this five-factor model of personality, but researchers don't always agree on the exact labels for each dimension.(1) The labels most often used are: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.
How, you may ask, can the wide diversity of personalities be captured in only five traits? Gordon Allport, the personality psychology pioneer, identified 4,000 words that describe personality! But what psychologists have found is that most of the words we use to describe personality are synonyms or near-synonyms of these five distinct personality dimensions. (2)
I think the dimensions are self-explanatory but here is how Psychology Today describes them (3):
Openness to experience (or simply openness) denotes receptivity to new ideas and new experiences. People with high levels of openness are more likely to seek out a variety of experiences, be comfortable with the unfamiliar, and pay attention to their inner feelings more than those who are lower on the trait. They tend to exhibit high levels of curiosity and often enjoy being surprised.
Conscientiousness reflects the tendency to be responsible, organized, and hard-working; to be goal-directed; and to adhere to norms and rules. Its multiple facets include: self-control, industriousness, responsibility, and reliability. Considered an outgrowth of self-regulation processes, conscientiousness is related to impulse control. It influences whether people set and keep long-range goals, deliberate over choices, behave cautiously or impulsively, and take obligations to others seriously.
Extroversion, first proposed as a personality trait by Carl Jung in the 1920s, generally refers to a state of being where someone “recharges,” or draws energy, from being with other people, as opposed to from being alone, which has become known as introversion. People who identify as extroverts tend to search for novel experiences and social connections that allow them to interact with other individuals as much as possible. Someone who is highly extroverted will likely feel bored, or even anxious, when they’re made to spend too much time alone.
Agreeableness - A person with this trait can be described as cooperative, polite, kind, and friendly. In addition, people high in agreeableness are more trusting, affectionate, altruistic, as well as other general prosocial behaviors. People high in this prosocial trait are particularly empathetic, showing great concern for the welfare of others, and being the first to help those in need. An agreeable individual is a people-oriented person who usually enjoys good social skills. These people often see others through a rose-colored view, trying to find the positive side in everyone.
Neuroticism is typically defined as a tendency toward anxiety, depression, self-doubt, and other negative feelings. All personality traits, including neuroticism, exist on a spectrum—some people are just much more neurotic than others. In the context of the Big 5, neuroticism is low emotional stability....people with neurotic dispositions are more prone to mood disorders, loneliness, self-consciousness, and hypochondria, to name just a few related experiences.
Definitions are not inherently a bad thing. In fact, they are often necessary. We need to be able to draw distinctions between things in order to talk about them meaningfully. (2) The Big Five are not meant to define us or "put us in a box" but rather give insight into why we (and others) behave the way we (and they) do. Each of the traits are present in every person to a greater or lesser degree. Understanding them can help us in our relationships, in our personal development, and in our work environment.
There are several free tests available on the internet - among them, The Big Five Project* and one on Truity.com. If you take one of the tests, here is some good advice from healthline: "When looking at your results, remember that personality is incredibly complex. There are no right or wrong traits, and each trait is linked to unique strengths. These results also aren’t any kind of definitive statement about your personality. They may even change based on a range of factors, from your mood that day to whether you’ve got an important, nerve-wracking event coming up in the near future."
Some practical tips for how to use (and not use) the Big Five scores in our personal lives***:
- Extremes in any trait can be problematic. It’s useful to notice where you tend to get out of balance and take measures to counteract any traits that negatively affect you or others. (2)
- Don't use a particular personality trait as an excuse for poor behavior: “That’s just how I am! I’m low in Agreeableness, so of course I was rude to you!” (2)
- Personality trait dimensions (such as the Big Five) capture change much better than types (such as Meyers-Briggs). By measuring individual traits on a continuum, you can see whether you have changed on certain characteristics and how much. (4)
- The Big Five have been shown to correlate with life, job, and relationship satisfaction; academic and job performance, and a slew of other mental and physical health-related items**. (4)
- Understanding your own personality, you are able to ask for your own needs and connect more easily with others. (5)
- Looking at people through the lenses of the Big Five personality traits improves conversation and interactions. Through understanding others, we can optimize our interactions while building better, lasting relationships with the people in our lives. (5) Some examples from Goodnet:
- If you know someone who ranks high in conscientiousness, plan ahead rather than showing up at their house spontaneously.
-If you know someone high in openness, make suggestions for exciting new activities to try.
-Invite someone low in extroversion to a movie or quiet dinner rather than a crowded music festival or big party.
-If you know a highly neurotic person, learn their triggers and try to avoid these triggers.
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(1)"The Big Five Personality Traits" (VeryWellMind)
(2) What is the “Big Five” and How Can It Help You? (Think.Grow.Prosper)
(3) Big Five Personality Traits (Psychology Today)
(4) "Five Big Reasons to Embrace the Big Five" (Psychology Today)
(5) "How the Big 5 Personality Theory Can Help Understand Others" (Goodnet)
*Note: This test (Big Five Project) has some personal questions at the end which you can ignore and still get a result.
**The PT article has links to various papers demonstrating said correlations.
***There are also articles on how the Big Five can improve teamwork and other business-related uses.