Big Five Personality Traits

Definition

The Big Five personality traits are the most basic dimensions that shape the structure of human personality and underlie the regularities in people's thinking, feeling, and behavior. The Big Five are dimensional, which means that each of them describes a continuum between two extreme poles. All people, regardless of gender, age, or culture, share the same basic personality traits, but people differ in their relative standing on each of the traits. The individual Big Five are Neuroticism (vs. Emotional Stability), Extraversion (or Surgency), Openness to Experience (also called Culture or Intellect), Agreeableness (vs. Antagonism), and Conscientiousness. As a memory aid, note that the first letters can be rearranged to spell OCEAN, a term that suggests the vast scope of this model in encompassing personality traits.

The Big Five Dimensions

Personality is structured hierarchically; at the broadest or domain level are the Big Five, and below them, at a lower level of generality, are narrower traits or facets. Thus, each of the Big Five dimensions is a combination of several distinct but closely related traits or characteristics. For example, most people who like to cooperate with others are also more honest and compassionate. Although there are individual exceptions to this rule, the associations among these characteristics in the general population are strong enough to justify combining them under the broader category of Agreeableness. When specific facets are formally included in a Big Five model, the term Five-Factor model is commonly used to describe the hierarchy.

People who score high on Neuroticism are emotionally sensitive; they become upset easily and frequently experience negative emotions. Individual facets include sadness, anger, anxiety/worry, selfconsciousness, vulnerability to stress, and a tendency to act impulsively. People who score low on Neuroticism are emotionally stable and calm. Even under stressful conditions, they remain confident and experience few negative emotions.

Highly extraverted people are warm, talkative, and generally like to be around others. They are assertive, active and full of energy, cheerful and high in positive affect, and they prefer stimulating environments. Introverted people, in contrast, like to be alone or with a few close friends. They rarely want to lead others. They are reserved and serious, value their independence, and prefer quiet environments.

People who score high on Openness to Experience are curious, imaginative, have broad interests, and easily embrace unconventional ideas and values. Other facets include sensitivity to aesthetic experiences and fantasy, as well as a rich emotional life. People who are low in Openness have a narrower set of interests and are more conventional in their outlook and behavior. They are closed to new ideas, actions, and value or belief systems. They also experience their emotions less intensely.

[Page 116]Highly agreeable people are altruistic, cooperative, compassionate, and trust the good intentions of others. The facets of modesty and straightforwardness are associated with Agreeableness as well. Disagreeable people, in contrast, tend to be characterized by antagonism, skepticism, and a competitive rather than cooperative take on life.

Finally, people who score high on Conscientiousness strive to achieve high standards and are self-disciplined, orderly, deliberate, and dutiful. Low-conscientious persons rarely plan ahead. They may be careless and disorganized in personal matters, and they often fail to establish a well-defined set of life goals.

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