What personality traits in the Big Five model refer to the degree to which someone is responsible dependable persistent and achievement oriented?

Conscientiousness is the personality trait of a person who shows an awareness of the impact that their own behavior has on those around them. Conscientious people are generally more goal-oriented in their motives, ambitious in their academic efforts and at work, and feel more comfortable when they are well-prepared and organized.

Big Five Personality Traits

The trait is one of the ‘Big Five’ factors psychologists use to evaluate an individual’s personality.

Research in recent decades has a number of significant differences between the personalities and life outcomes of people who are conscientiousness, and those who are considered to be unconscientious.

According to a study published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, individuals with higher levels of the trait tend to be more empathetic towards other people (Melchers et al, 2016).

A previous study, led by psychologist Howard Friedman, even found a correlation between conscientiousness and life expectancy. Participants who demonstrated higher levels of conscientious as children were observed to enjoy longer lifespans than other subjects (Friedman et al, 1993).

What is Conscientiousness?

Conscientiousness involves being mindful of those around you, from friends and family, to colleagues and even strangers. A conscientious person will be conscious of the first impression that they make on others when they are introduced to new people, for instance.

They also feel a sense of duty towards others. They are aware of the effect that their words and actions can have on people in everyday situations.

Conscientious people will therefore take care not to inadvertently offend or upset others by either their words or actions.

As a result of their careful behavior, conscientious people have been found to be less likely to be involved in driving accidents than those with less conscientious personality traits (Arthur and Graziano, 1996).

A person who is conscientious is most at ease when they feel that they are organized. They prefer their surroundings - their bedroom, desk or office - to be tidy and presentable.

Their organized tendencies also extend to other areas of life: a conscientious person will often be careful to be reliable, and to be on time for important meetings and appointments. They are keen to keep to their schedule, often maintaining a diary and making plans for the future, as well as budgeting for events well ahead of time.

Goal-Oriented Behavior

The behavior of conscientious people is often driven by their personal goals. They use their own initiative to set goals, and then concentrate their energy towards achieving them.

This can translate into higher ambitions - in academia at school, striving to achieve target grades - and in finding their desired career later in life.

In order to achieve their goals, a conscientious person will be willing to be hard-working, devoting much of their attention and energy towards a specific aspiration. They are more willing to persevere through difficult circumstances, and may assume the reputation amongst colleagues of being a ‘workaholic’.

Whilst tiring, this goal-oriented behavior can pay high rewards. For example, in a University of Iowa study of the performance of salespeople, a study found that conscientious employees achieved a higher volume of sales than their unconscientious co-workers (Barrick et al, 1993).  

Conscientiousness also leads people to care about the potential consequences of their actions. They prefer to deliberate over the options available to them rather than making impulsive decisions. A conscientious person may be slower at making choices, but he or she will be more confident that the decision that they have made was correct.

Low Conscientiousness

As with other personality factors, conscientiousness is measured on a continuum, ranging from low, moderate to high levels of the trait. People who are unconscientious tend to be more disorganized. People with low levels of conscientiousness trait also tend to engage in impulsive behavior.

Instead of thinking through an action to its conclusion, an unconscientious person may act spontaneously. For instance, where conscientious people would weigh up the benefits and costs of buying a new car, an unconscientious person who likes a car may go ahead and purchase it, but regret their action as they find themselves in debt later on.

Unconscientious people are often more relaxed about time-keeping - their unpunctuality can leave them late for work or missing important appointments. They also display less goal-oriented behavior and are less driven to succeed than their conscientious counterparts.

Origins

Conscientiousness is a ‘Big Five’ factor of personality, along with other broad factors - openness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. These factors follow the lexical approach to personality, which proposes that people naturally create terms for common traits so that they can describe and discuss them.

Since the mid-20th Century, psychologists have attempted to understand personality differences using with reference to these personality traits.

In 1936, Gordon Allport and Henry Odbert proposed an inventory of around 4,500 terms, derived from Webster’s New International Dictionary, describing various personality traits.

Subsequent attempts have been made to produce more concise, workable trait inventories. Psychologist Raymond Cattell produced the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) in the 1940s, whilst Hans and Sybil Eysenck developed the PEN model of personality, which measured 3 key traits.

In recent years, these five factors, which include conscientiousness, have become a benchmark for assessing personality differences.

The factors have been used in a number of models of personality, including Lewis Goldberg’s Big Five, and Robert McCrae and Paul Costa’s Five Factor Model. Each of the five factors covers a broad array of facets - traits describing more specific aspects of personality.

Conscientiousness is commonly assessed using self-report questionnaires. A person taking the questionnaire is asked to rate the extent to which a number of statement or terms describe his or her personality.

Inventories of such questions, which are used to measure conscientiousness and other factors, include Costa and McCrae’s Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R) and the International Personality Item Pool (McCrae and Costa, 1987).

What Factors Influence Conscientiousness?

Both biological and environmental differences have been found between conscientious people and those exhibiting lower levels of the trait.

Personality psychologists Robert McCrae and Paul Costa, who have lead research into the Five Factor model of personality, found that the interactions children have with their parents or caregivers can affect personality traits later in life.

They surveyed a sample of adults, measuring key personality traits along with their memories of their parents’ behavior when they were younger.

The researchers found that children whose parents were affectionate towards them tended to score higher on conscientiousness than participants whose parents were more distant (McCrae and Costa, 1988).

However, further research has suggested a biological basis for some personality traits, including conscientiousness.

A study of the Big Five personality traits amongst monozygotic and dizygotic twins in Vancouver, Canada found that conscientiousness may be, to some degree, inherited through the genes of our parents (Jang et al, 1996).

MRI scans have also identified a link between brain structure and conscientiousness. A study published in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience in 2017 found that the brains of participants who were more conscientious had a “thicker cortex and smaller area and folding in prefrontal regions” (Riccelli et al, 2017; license).

Yet, conscientiousness does not necessarily remain constant. The extent to which we experience it can vary through our lives.

According to what psychologists term the ‘maturity principle’, traits such as conscientiousness tend to increase as we grow older. Aside from a slight decrease between early and mid-adolescence, we grow more conscientious with age (Van den Akker, 2014).

Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism

By Annabelle G.Y. Lim , published June 15, 2020

by Saul Mcleod, PhD

Take-home Messages

• The Big Five personality traits are extraversion (also often spelled extroversion), agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism.
• Each trait represents a continuum. Individuals can fall anywhere on the continuum for each trait.
• The Big Five remain relatively stable throughout most of one’s lifetime.
• They are influenced significantly by both genes and the environment, with an estimated heritability of 50%.
• They are also known to predict certain important life outcomes such as education and health.

The Big Five Personality Traits

Unlike other trait theories that sort individuals into binary categories (i.e. introvert or extrovert), the Big Five Model asserts that each personality trait is a spectrum.

Therefore, individuals are ranked on a scale between the two extreme ends of five broad dimensions: 

For instance, when measuring Extraversion, one would not be classified as purely extroverted or introverted, but placed on a scale determining their level of extraversion.

By ranking individuals on each of these traits, it is possible to effectively measure individual differences in personality.

History and Background

The Big Five model resulted from the contributions of many independent researchers. Gordon Allport and Henry Odbert first formed a list of 4,500 terms relating to personality traits in 1936 (Vinney, 2018). Their work provided the foundation for other psychologists to begin determining the basic dimensions of personality.

In the 1940s, Raymond Cattell and his colleagues used factor analysis (a statistical method) to narrow down Allport’s list to sixteen traits. However, numerous psychologists examined Cattell’s list and found that it could be further reduced to five traits. Among these psychologists were Donald Fiske, Norman, Smith, Goldberg, and McCrae & Costa (Cherry, 2019).

In particular, Lewis Goldberg advocated heavily for five primary factors of personality (Ackerman, 2017). His work was expanded upon by McCrae & Costa, who confirmed the model’s validity and provided the model used today: conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness to experience, and extraversion.

The model became known as the “Big Five” and has seen received much attention. It has been researched across many populations and cultures and continues to be the most widely accepted theory of personality today.

Each of the Big Five personality traits represents extremely broad categories which cover many personality-related terms. Each trait encompasses a multitude of other facets.

For example, the trait of Extraversion is a category that contains labels such as Gregariousness (sociable), Assertiveness (forceful), Activity (energetic), Excitement-seeking (adventurous), Positive emotions (enthusiastic), and Warmth (outgoing) (John & Srivastava, 1999).

Therefore, the Big Five while not completely exhaustive, cover virtually all personality-related terms.

Figure 1. The Big Five Personality Traits. Reprinted from PennState, by R. Gray, 2017, https://sites.psu.edu/leadership/2017/09/02/the-importance-of-personality-trait-screening-for-todays-organizations-application-of-the-five-factor-model-ffm/

Another important aspect of the Big Five Model is its approach to measuring personality. It focuses on conceptualizing traits as a spectrum rather than black-and-white categories (see Figure 1). It recognizes that most individuals are not on the polar ends of the spectrum but rather somewhere in between.

Conscientiousness

Conscientiousness describes a person’s ability to regulate their impulse control in order to engage in goal-directed behaviors (Grohol, 2019). It measures elements such as control, inhibition, and persistency of behavior.

Facets of conscientiousness include the following (John & Srivastava, 1999):

High

Low

Conscientiousness vs. Lack of Direction

Those who score high on conscientiousness can be described as organized, disciplined, detail-oriented, thoughtful, and careful. They also have good impulse control, which allows them to complete tasks and achieve goals.

Those who score low on conscientiousness may struggle with impulse control, leading to difficulty in completing tasks and fulfilling goals.

They tend to be more disorganized and may dislike too much structure. They may also engage in more impulsive and careless behavior.

Agreeableness

Agreeableness refers to how people tend to treat relationships with others. Unlike extraversion which consists of the pursuit of relationships, agreeableness focuses on people’s orientation and interactions with others (Ackerman, 2017).

Facets of agreeableness include the following (John & Srivastava, 1999):

High

Low

Agreeableness vs. Antagonism

Those high in agreeableness can be described as soft-hearted, trusting, and well-liked. They are sensitive to the needs of others and are helpful and cooperative. People regard them as trustworthy and altruistic.

Those low in agreeableness may be perceived as suspicious, manipulative, and uncooperative. They may be antagonistic when interacting with others, making them less likely to be well-liked and trusted.

Extraversion

Extraversion reflects the tendency and intensity to which someone seeks interaction with their environment, particularly socially. It encompasses the comfort and assertiveness levels of people in social situations.

Additionally, it also reflects the sources from which someone draws energy.

Facets of extraversion include the following (John & Srivastava, 1999):

High

Low

Extraversion vs. Introversion

Those high on extraversion are generally assertive, sociable, fun-loving, and outgoing. They thrive in social situations and feel comfortable voicing their opinions. They tend to gain energy and become excited from being around others.

Those who score low in extraversion are often referred to as introverts. These people tend to be more reserved and quieter. They prefer listening to others rather than needing to be heard.

Introverts often need periods of solitude in order to regain energy as attending social events can be very tiring for them. Of importance to note is that introverts do not necessarily dislike social events, but instead find them tiring.

Openness to Experience

Openness to experience refers to one’s willingness to try new things as well as engage in imaginative and intellectual activities. It includes the ability to “think outside of the box.”

Facets of openness include the following (John & Srivastava, 1999):

High

Low

Openness vs. Closedness to Experience

Those who score high on openness to experience are perceived as creative and artistic. They prefer variety and value independence. They are curious about their surroundings and enjoy traveling and learning new things.

People who score low on openness to experience prefer routine. They are uncomfortable with change and trying new things so they prefer the familiar over the unknown. As they are practical people, they often find it difficult to think creatively or abstractly.

Neuroticism

Neuroticism describes the overall emotional stability of an individual through how they perceive the world. It takes into account how likely a person is to interpret events as threatening or difficult.

It also includes one’s propensity to experience negative emotions.

Facets of neuroticism include the following (John & Srivastava, 1999):

High

Low

Neuroticism vs. Emotional Stability

Those who score high on neuroticism often feel anxious, insecure and self-pitying. They are often perceived as moody and irritable. They are prone to excessive sadness and low self-esteem.

Those who score low on neuroticism are more likely to calm, secure and self-satisfied. They are less likely to be perceived as anxious or moody. They are more likely to have high self-esteem and remain resilient.

Stability of the Traits

People’s scores of the Big Five remain relatively stable for most of their life with some slight changes from childhood to adulthood. A study by Soto & John (2012) attempted to track the developmental trends of the Big Five traits.

They found that overall agreeableness and conscientiousness increased with age. There was no significant trend for extraversion overall although gregariousness decreased and assertiveness increased.

Openness to experience and neuroticism decreased slightly from adolescence to middle adulthood. The researchers concluded that there were more significant trends in specific facets (i.e. adventurousness and depression) rather than in the Big Five traits overall.

Factors that Influence the Big 5

Like with all theories of personality, the Big Five is influenced by both nature and nurture. Twin studies have found that the heritability (the amount of variance that can be attributed to genes) of the Big Five traits is 40-60%.

Jang et al. (1996) conducted a study with 123 pairs of identical twins and 127 pairs of fraternal twins. They estimated the heritability of conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness to experience, and extraversion to be 44%, 41%, 41%, 61%, and 53%, respectively.

This finding was similar to the findings of another study, where the heritability of conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness to experience and extraversion were estimated to be 49%, 48%, 49%, 48%, and 50%, respectively (Jang et al., 1998).

Such twin studies demonstrate that the Big Five personality traits are significantly influenced by genes and that all five traits are equally heritable. Heritability for males and females do not seem to differ significantly (Leohlin et al., 1998).

Studies from different countries also support the idea of a strong genetic basis for the Big Five personality traits (Riemann et al., 1997; Yamagata et al., 2006).

Differences in the Big Five personality traits between genders have been observed, but these differences are small compared to differences between individuals within the same gender.

Costa et al. (2001) gathered data from over 23,000 men and women in 26 countries. They found that “gender differences are modest in magnitude, consistent with gender stereotypes, and replicable across cultures” (p. 328).

Women reported themselves to be higher in Neuroticism, Agreeableness, Warmth (a facet of Extraversion), and Openness to Feelings compared to men. Men reported themselves to be higher in Assertiveness (a facet of Extraversion) and Openness to Ideas.

Another interesting finding was that bigger gender differences were reported in Western, industrialized countries. Researchers proposed that the most plausible reason for this finding was attribution processes.

They surmised that actions of women in individualistic countries would be more likely to be attributed to her personality whereas actions of women in collectivistic countries would be more likely to be attributed to their compliance with gender role norms.

Behavioral Outcomes

Relationships

In marriages where one partner scores lower than the other on agreeableness, stability, and openness, there is likely to be marital dissatisfaction (Myers, 2011).

Health

Neuroticism seems to be a risk factor for many health problems, including depression, schizophrenia, diabetes, asthma, irritable bowel syndrome, and heart disease (Lahey, 2009).

People high in neuroticism are particularly vulnerable to mood disorders such as depression. Low agreeableness has also been linked to higher chances of health problems (John & Srivastava, 1999).

There is evidence to suggest that conscientiousness is a protective factor against health diseases. People who score high in conscientiousness have been observed to have better health outcomes and longevity (John & Srivastava, 1999).

Researchers believe that such is due to conscientious people having regular and well-structured lives, as well as the impulse control to follow diets, treatment plans, etc.

Education

A high score on conscientiousness predicts better high school and university grades (Myers, 2011). Contrarily, low agreeableness and low conscientiousness predict juvenile delinquency (John & Srivastava, 1999).

Work

Conscientiousness is the strongest predictor of all five traits for job performance (John & Srivastava, 1999). A high score of conscientiousness has been shown to relate to high work performance across all dimensions.

The other traits have been shown to predict more specific aspects of job performance. For instance, agreeableness and neuroticism predict better performance in jobs where teamwork is involved.

However, agreeableness is negatively related to individual proactivity. Openness to experience is positively related to individual proactivity but negatively related to team efficiency (Neal et al., 2012).

Extraversion is a predictor of leadership, as well as success in sales and management positions (John & Srivastava, 1999).

Limitations of the Big Five

Descriptor Rather Than a Theory

The Big Five was developed to organize personality traits rather than as a comprehensive theory of personality.

Therefore, it is more descriptive than explanatory and does not fully account for differences between individuals (John & Srivastava, 1999). It also does not sufficiently provide a causal reason for human behavior.

Cross-Cultural Validity

Although the Big Five has been tested in many countries and its existence is generally supported by findings (McCrae, 2002), there have been some studies that do not support its model. Most previous studies have tested the presence of the Big Five in urbanized, literate populations.

A study by Gurven et al. (2013) was the first to test the validity of the Big Five model in a largely illiterate, indigenous population in Bolivia. They administered a 44-item Big Five Inventory but found that the participants did not sort the items in consistency with the Big Five traits.

More research in illiterate and non-industrialized populations is needed to clarify such discrepancies.

Is 5 Really the Magic Number?

A common criticism of the Big Five is that each trait is too broad. Although the Big Five is useful in terms of providing a rough overview of personality, more specific traits are required to be of use for predicting outcomes (John & Srivastava, 1999).

There is also an argument from psychologists that more than five traits are required to encompass the entirety of personality.

A new model, HEXACO, was developed by Kibeom Lee and Michael Ashton, and expands upon the Big Five Model. HEXACO retains the original traits from the Big Five Model but contains one additional trait: Honesty-Humility, which they describe as the extent to which one places others’ interests above their own.

Annabelle Lim is a second-year student majoring in psychology and minoring in educational studies at Harvard College. She is interested in the intersections between psychology and education, as well as psychology and the law.

How to reference this article:

Lim, A (2020, June 15). The big five personality traits. Simply Psychology. www.simplypsychology.org/big-five-personality.html

APA Style References

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Gurven, M., von Rueden, C., Massenkoff, M., Kaplan, H., & Lero Vie, M. (2013). How universal is the Big Five? Testing the five-factor model of personality variation among forager-farmers in the Bolivian Amazon. Journal of personality and social psychology, 104(2), 354–370. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030841

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Vinney, C. (2018, September 27). Understanding the Big Five Personality Traits. ThoughtCo. Retrieved 12 June 2020, from https://www.thoughtco.com/big-five-personality-traits-4176097

How to reference this article:

Lim, A (2020, June 15). The big five personality traits. Simply Psychology. www.simplypsychology.org/big-five-personality.html

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