Big 5 theory of personality is one of the widely popular personality theories. It serves as an integrated system and represents personality description. Moreover, doing so in a common framework instead of replacing the earlier systems.
What is Personality?
Personality refers to the unique combination of traits, behaviors, emotions, and thought patterns that define an individual’s character and influence how they interact with the world. It encompasses qualities such as temperament, attitudes, and habits, shaped by both genetic and environmental factors. Personality helps explain why people respond differently to similar situations and plays a key role in shaping relationships, decision-making, and overall life experiences.
Gordon Allport defined personality as the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychological systems that determines his unique adjustments to the environment
Normann Munn defined personality as a unique combination of individual’s physical structure, needs, interests, abilities and aptitudes.
What is Trait ?
A trait is a consistent and enduring characteristic or quality that influences an individual’s behavior, thoughts, and emotions across various situations. Traits are the building blocks of personality and help describe how people typically behave or respond. For example- being outgoing, organized, or empathetic are traits that reflect underlying patterns in a person’s character.
Characteristics of Traits
- The main goal of trait approach to personality is to catalog all of the dimensions (traits) on which people vary and create a classification of traits that reflects which traits tend to go together. For example- talkativeness, sociability, assertiveness, and gregariousness are all distinct traits, but they also have a lot in common.
- The trait approach leads to a classification system that tells us what groups of traits exist and which traits are in which groups. However, these groups composed of personality traits are often called personality factors.
- Traits have proven extremely useful for describing personality and predicting people’s characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving
Big Five Factor Theory of Personality
Robert McCrae and Paul Costa (1987) developed a personality traits theory. It explains the big five major factors of personality. According to them, personality traits are basic tendencies. Although, they root in biology and interact with external influences. It includes culture in shaping the skills, habits, tastes and values of the individual.
Big 5 Theory of Personality
The Big Five personality dimension is the result of finding a general taxonomy. Even though, these dimensions do not represent a particular theoretical perspective. But from people’s description of themselves and others, it is easy to derive it in their natural language.
The five major factors of personality are as follows-
1. Openness to Experience
2. Conscientiousness
3. Extraversion
4. Agreeableness
5. Neuroticism
Openness to experience (O)
Openness is best described as a person’s willingness to try new things and be open to new experiences. However, a personality trait related to appreciation for art, emotion, adventure, unusual ideas, creativity, imagination curiosity and variety of experience is Openness to experience .
Facets of Openness to New Experiences
- Fantasy / Imagination
- Aesthetics / Artistic Interest
- Feelings / Emotionality
- Adventurousness / Exploration
- Ideas / Curiosity
- Values / Tolerance to Ambiguity
This is also called as Intellect or Intellect/ Imagination. Those who score high in this trait also tend to have a broad range of interests.
People who are open to experience are curious, imaginative and creative. Whereas, those who are less open to experience are non creative and lack aesthetic sense. As a result, people who try to maintain the status quo and who don’t like to change things would score low on openness.
Read More- My Score on Openness to Experience
Conscientiousness (C)
Conscientiousness is a personality trait showing tendency to display self discipline. However, it relates to the way in which people control, regulate and direct their impulses.
Facets of Conscientiousness
- Competence / Self – Efficacy
- Organizing
- Sense of Duty / Obligation
- Achievement Striving
- Self – discipline / Willpower
- Deliberation / Cautiousness
Well organized, responsible, dependable and hardworking people have high conscientiousness. Whereas, people having low conscientiousness are – unorganized, irresponsible, spontaneous and careless. Hence, those who score high in this dimension are punctual and careful as well.
For example- An individual scores low on this dimension. He/she might always be late to important social events. Similarly, might borrow belongings and fail to return them. Or return them in poor condition.
Read More- My Score on Conscientiousness
Extraversion (E)
Carl Jung (1933) first used the term extraversion. Also he believed that all people are mainly divided into two personality types: ‘extraverts’ and ‘introverts’. Whereas, ‘Extroversion’, is a trait characterized by activities and energy creation from external means. This is also called as ‘Surgency’.
Facets of Extraversion
- Warmth / Kindness
- Gregariousness
- Assertiveness
- Lively temperament
- Excitement seeking
- Positive emotion / Cheerfulness
People having high extroversion are talkative, enthusiastic, open minded, sociable, assertive and courageous. But, people having low extroversion are less talkative, shy, alone and less involved.
Read More- My Score on Extraversion
Agreeableness (A)
Agreeableness refers to the basic emotional style of a person. However, an agreeable person may be easygoing, friendly, and pleasant (at the high end of the scale). Whereas Grumpy, crabby, and hard to get along with (at the low end).
Facets of Agreeableness
- Trust in others
- Straightforwardness / Morality
- Altruism
- Compliance / Co-operation
- Modesty
- Tender-mindedness / Sympathy
It is a personality trait showing an ability of an individual to get along with people. Moreover, it shows concern for social harmony. Hence people having high agreeableness are kind, loving, caring, friendly and cooperative. But, people having low agreeableness are non – cooperative, jealous and hostile.
Read More- My Score on Agreeableness
Neuroticism (N)
Neuroticism refers to emotional instability or stability. It is one of the personality traits which leads to experience of negative emotions, such as anger, anxiety or depression.
Facets of Neuroticism
- Anxiety
- Hostility / Anger
- Depression
- Self – Consciousness
- Impulsiveness / Immoderation
- Vulnerability to stress / Fear / Learned helplessness
People who are worriers, overanxious, and moody would score high on this dimension. However, those who have even-temper and calm would score low. Besides, a person having high neuroticism is anxious, depressed and irritable. He/she is also fearful, impulsive, angry and unstable. Likewise, an individual scoring low on neuroticism, is – balanced, calm and stable.
Read More- My Score on Neuroticism
This five factor is useful in understanding the personality profile of people across cultures . Thus, this model represents an important theoretical development in the field of personality . It is also consistent with the analysis of personality traits found in different languages. The studies of personality carried out through different methods also support this theory . Hence, it is now one of the most promising empirical approach to the study of personality.
Big Five Personality Traits Can Help Predict Team Performance
Although regional variations exist in application of this theory. Still, cross-cultural research from 56 countries has found some contrast evidence. Also these five trait dimensions are in all primary cultural regions of the world (Schmitt et al., 2007). Furthermore, it appears that these dimensions are recognizable in most languages and cultures.
They are also consistent when assessed by either self-ratings or observers. (Allik et al., 2013; McCrae & Terracciano, 2005). Hence, this raises some questions about the origins of the Big Five trait dimensions. Are child-rearing practices across all cultures similar enough to result in these five aspects of personality? Could these five dimensions have a genetic component that transcends cultural differences?
Important Characteristics of the Big Five Factors
The following are some of the important characteristics of the five factors-
- The factors are dimensions, not types. Hence, people vary on them, with most people falling between the extremes.
- These factors are stable over a 45-year period. Beginning in young adulthood (Soldz & Vaillant, 1999).
- However, the factors and their specific facets are partially heritable. (Jang, McCrae, Angleitner, Riemann, & Livesley, 1998; Loehlin, McCrae, Costa, & John, 1998).
- They probably had adaptive value in a prehistoric environment (Buss, 1996).
- These factors originated in diverse languages. Such as German and Chinese (McCrae & Costa, 1997). Thus, these factors are universal.
- Knowing one’s placement on the factors is useful for insight. Furthermore, it can help in improvement through therapy (Costa & McCrae, 1992).
Criticism on Big Five Theory of Personality
Some theorists have stated that an individual may not always express these personality traits in the same way. Especially across different situations. Moreover, Walter Mischel, a social cognitive theorist, has emphasized that there is a trait–situation interaction. However, the particular circumstances of any given situation influence the way a trait expresses. (Mischel & Shoda, 1995). An outgoing extravert, for example, might laugh, talk to strangers, and tell jokes at a party. But, that same person, if at a funeral, would still talk and be open. However, the jokes and laughter would be less likely to occur.
Read More- MCQ test on Big Five Theory of Personality
References
Ciccarelli, S. K.; White J. N. Adapted by Girishwar Misra (2018). Psychology (5th Edition). Pearson.
Maharashtra State Bureau of Textbook Production and Curriculum Research, Pune. (2020)
Lim, S. L., Bentley, P. J., Peterson, R. S., Hu, X., & Prouty McLaren, J. (2023). Kill chaos with kindness: Agreeableness improves team performance under uncertainty. Collective Intelligence, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/26339137231158584
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However, Researchers and psychologists have put forth various theories and developed personality tests. In these tests, people fall into different personality types. It based on the traits they exhibit.
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