Big Five Taxonomy of Personality

Personality traits are characteristic behaviors, thoughts, and feelings of an individual that tend to occur across diverse situations and are relatively stable over time. Given this broad definition, literally thousands of personality traits can be identified. For the better part of 100 years, personality researchers have attempted to create a standard taxonomy, or organizing structure, of personality traits. Although some disagreement remains, the Big Five taxonomy is currently the dominant perspective on the organization of personality traits. The Big Five traits can be identified using trait-descriptive terms that convey the central aspects of the traits, as follows:

• 1.
  Neuroticism. Anxious, temperamental, nervous, moody versus confident, relaxed, unexcitable
• 2.
  Extraversion. Sociable, energetic, active, assertive versus shy, reserved, withdrawn, unadventurous
• 3.
  Openness. Intellectual, innovative, artistic, complex versus unimaginative, simple, unsophisticated
• 4.
  Agreeableness. Trusting, trustful, helpful, ...