Question

Review the Big Five Personality Traits. Then, write an essay of at least 750 words (please feel free to exceed this minimum target) describing yourself in terms of the Big Five Personality Traits using social traits, personal conception traits, and emotional adjustment traits. Also, describe how your personality profile (in terms of these various dimensions) seems to influence your personal behavior. BE SURE TO USE PROPER PUNCTUATION, SPELLING AND GRAMMAR.

Answer 1

In the 1970s, two groups of personality researchers independently came to the conclusion that most personality traits can be boiled down into five broad categories, now known as the Big Five. They are:

1. Openness
2. Conscientiousness
3. Extraversion
4. Agreeableness
5. Emotional stability (or Neuroticism)

I first read about these in an essay by Geoffrey Miller in the book I mentioned earlier. He explained that each of these traits acts like a scale, where everyone falls at some points along the scale between high and low. I’ve actually written about the scale of extraversion and introversion before, but I didn’t realize at the time that it was part of the Big Five lineup.

Another essay in the same book, by Helen Fisher, explored “Temperament dimensions,” which are very similar broad categories to those above, excluding extraversion. One important note to make about both of these models of describing personality traits is that they are very broad, general categories. They came from patterns that emerged from large amounts of research data, so they can’t pinpoint your exact personality. They can be used as a helpful guide, but not a hard-and-fast rule set.

Let’s explore how each trait presents itself in our personalities:

Openness: Those who score high for this trait tend to enjoy adventure and be open to new experiences

Conscientiousness: High scorers for conscientiousness are generally organized and dependable

Extraversion: Those who are high on this scale draw their energy from being around others, so they tend to be more sociable (not to be confused with outgoing!)—read more about this trait in my previous post.

Agreeableness: High scorers for this trait are often trusting, helpful and compassionate.

Emotional stability: People with high scores for this trait are usually confident and don’t tend to worry often (this may be tested as neuroticism, in which case high scorers would be prone to worrying and anxiety).

Geoffrey Miller’s essay emphasized how each of these works as a scale, or really a bell curve, with all of us falling into the range somewhere.

Thus, if you tend to score high on a trait you’re not especially keen on, you can work on this. It takes work, though. Helen also made the point that while we are capable of acting “out of character,” this is exhausting and we can’t keep it up for long. Small increments are generally best to create lasting change.

Now that we understand what the Big Five are and how they present in people, let’s take a look at why this information is useful to us.