Big Five personality traits

Basic Five Factor model

The Big Five personality traits (the basis for the five factor model) are the five traits psychologists use to describe an individual's personality.

The Big Five personality traits are: conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism (See also: Emotional stability) and openness.

While other traits exist, these are thought to define a large part of individuality. Hans Eysenck initiated this concept, but only included two personality traits, extraversion and neuroticism.

Big Five personality traits

• Conscientiousness - Self-control/Self-discipline/willpower, efficiency/productivity, orderliness/organizational skills and dependable. Conscientiousness is positively correlated to a desire to perform a task well. See: Self-efficacy and Skill and Work ethic

• Extraversion (See: Emotional stability) - Assertive, energetic, and personable. See: Interpersonal skills and Interpersonal relations and Social intelligence and Conversational skills and Communication skills and Affability and Friendship and Social networking and Conflict resolution

• Agreeableness - Understanding and cooperativeness. See: Empathy and Collaboration

• Neuroticism - Anxiety/fear, vulnerability, and sensitivity. See also: Courage and Self-confidence and Mindset and Growth mindset and Optimism and Mental toughness and Psychological resilience and Comfort zone

• Openness - Creativity, imagination, imitativeness, intellectual curiosity and innovation

Changeability of the Big Five personality traits

See also: Neuroplasticity and the ability of individuals to change their personality

The Big Five personality traits do change due to a person becoming more mature, efforts to change the personality traits or a major life change (See: Neuroplasticity and the ability of individuals to change their personality).

Big Five personality traits typical potential changes and potential changes with signficant effort and/or major life change

"A bell curve, also known as a normal distribution, is a symmetrical, bell-shaped curve that represents the distribution of data in statistics. Standard deviations measure the spread or dispersion of data points around the mean (average) of a normal distribution. In a normal distribution, roughly 68% of the data falls within one standard deviation of the mean, 95% within two standard deviations, and 99.7% within three standard deviations."

Big Five personality traits – Typical possible change ranges:

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Extraversion → Can shift about 0.5 SD, sometimes up to 1.0 SD with therapy or big life changes. Agreeableness → Usually 0.3–0.5 SD, but can move up to ~1.0 SD in some cases. Conscientiousness → One of the more trainable traits; evidence suggests 0.5–1.0 SD shifts are possible, especially with habit-building, therapy, or structured environments. Neuroticism (Emotional Stability) → Can reduce by 0.5–1.0 SD with therapy, mindfulness, or medication. This is often the most responsive trait to intentional change. Openness to Experience → Usually the most stable; small shifts (~0.3–0.5 SD) are common, but larger changes are rare unless triggered by education, travel, or very novel experiences. Summary Most changeable: Neuroticism ↓, Conscientiousness ↑ Moderately changeable: Extraversion, Agreeableness Least changeable: Openness."

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Typical big life changes are starting a more challenging job, achieving a big goal, overcoming a big challenge, intentional efforts to significantly stretch one's comfort zone, a romantic relationship, significantly changes to one's social circle (See: Social influence) or a religious conversion.

Potential change in personality traits due to intervention and or life-changing event:

• How many standard deviation points is it possible to move one's extroversion?, AI
• How many standard deviation points is it possible to move one's agreeableness?, AI
• How many standard deviation points is it possible to move one's conscientiousness?, AI
• How many standard deviation points is it possible to move one's neuroticism?, AI
• How many standard deviation points is it possible to move one's openness?, AI

Journal articles on the Big Five personality traits

• Stability and Change in the Big Five Personality Traits: Findings from a Longitudinal Study of Mexican-Origin Adults, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 2022 Feb; 122(2): 337–350.
• Big Five Personality Traits Predict Successful Transitions From School to Vocational Education and Training: A Large-Scale Study, Frontiers of Psychology, 2020; 11: 1827. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01827
• “Nothing to see here”: No structural brain differences as a function of the Big Five personality traits from a systematic review and meta-analysis, Personality Neuroscience, 2022; 5: e8. doi: 10.1017/pen.2021.5

Big Five personality traits, changes and effects on income

See also: Personality changes and its effect on income

Ben C. Fletcher D.Phil., Oxon writes:

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In their paper Boyce and colleagues went on to put a monetary value on changes in each of the Big Five personality traits. Their results showed that every standard unit increase in personality change was equivalent to an increase of between $92,000 and $314,000 in annual household income (US dollars). To put this another way, people needed an increase of between $91,000 and $309,00 in annual income to achieve the same increase in life satisfaction produced by a unit change in personality. Change in the different personality traits were associated with different monetary values, with change in neuroticism being worth $314k, extraversion $225k, agreeableness $149k, conscientiousness was worth $91k and openness to experience $62k. If we bear in mind that the average annual household income was around $88,000/year it seems to pay really well to Flex!

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Online Big Five personality tests

• Personality assessor
• Learn to know yourself better with a free, open-source personality test
• Personality test
• The Big Five test, University of Liverpool

See also

• Personality disorder
• Dark Triad personality traits