Psychologists have identified five main personality traits, often called the “Bi

Question

Psychologists have identified five main personality traits, often called the “Big Five” or the five-trait model. Think about the “Big Five” personality traits we studied in class. Then select a real or fictional character from literature, film, television, or public life. How could the “Big Five” model be used to understand the character’s personality?

In a multi-paragraph essay, explain what is meant by a “personality trait” according to the “Big Five” model, define each of the “Big Five” traits, and describe the character’s personality using the “Big Five” traits. For each trait, be sure to provide evidence from the character’s thoughts, emotions, and behavior. Include details from class materials, readings, and research on personality to support your discussion.

Explanation / Answer

THE BIG FIVE TRAITS:

Attempting to understand and classify what makes people who they are has been a longstanding challenge in the world of personality psychology. Numerous theories and models have been developed over the years to better understand aspects of human personality. Most trait theory models attempt to accurately describe aspects of personality. In psychology, the 'Big Five' is a term used to describe the five broad traits of human personality. In current practice, it is sometimes used interchangeably with the term 'five-factor model.' Each of the traits, or factors, identified as the Big Five are independent of each other and account for the infinite number of unique aspects that comprise human personality. Understanding each of the Big Five factors will help you better grasp the concept of personality traits. The Big Five personality traits are:

•Openness - Openness refers to traits, such as how inclined someone is to conform to societal or cultural norms, how concretely or abstractly someone thinks about things, and how open or resistant someone is to change. A person who is a creative thinker and always looking for ways to do things better would likely score high on measures of openness. People who are high on the openness continuum are typically:

Very creative

Open to trying new things

Focused on tackling new challenges

Happy to think about abstract concepts

Those who are low on this trait:

Dislike change

Do not enjoy new things

Resist new ideas

Not very imaginative

Dislikes abstract or theoretical concepts

•Conscientiousness - Conscientiousness has to do with a person's degree of organization, level of discipline, and how prone he or she is to taking risks. Those who are high on the conscientiousness continuum also tend to:

Spend time preparing

Finish important tasks right away

Pay attention to details

Enjoy having a set schedule

People who are low in this trait tend to:

Dislike structure and schedules

Make messes and not take care of things

Fail to return things or put them back where they belong

Procrastinate important tasks

Fail to complete the things they are supposed to do

•Extraversion - Extraversion is a personality characteristic that describes things like how social a person is or how warm and loving they tend to be. Extraverts are people who would typically prefer to go out to a party with lots of friends, as opposed to stay in and watch a movie with one or two friends. People who are high in extraversion are outgoing and tend to gain energy in social situations. People who are low in extraversion (or introverted) tend to be more reserved and have to expend energy in social settings.

People who rate high on extraversion tend to:

Enjoy being the center of attention

Like to start conversations

Enjoy meeting new people

Have a wide social circle of friends and acquaintances

Find it easy to make new friends

Feel energized when they are around other people

Say things before they think about them

People who rate low on extraversion tend to:

Prefer solitude

Feel exhausted when they have to socialize a lot

Find it difficult to start conversations

Dislike making small talk

Carefully think things through before they speak

Dislike being the center of attention

•Agreeableness - Agreeableness takes into account how kind, dependable, and cooperative a person is. People who score high on scales of agreeableness are typically more interested in doing things for the common good, as opposed to fulfilling their own self-interests. People who are high in the trait of agreeableness tend to:

Have a great deal of interest in other people

Care about others

Feel empathy and concern for other people

Those who are low in this trait tend to:

Take little interest in others

Don't care about how other people feel

Have little interest in other people's problems

Insult and belittle others

•Neuroticism - Neuroticism is a personality characteristic that describes how nervous or anxious a person tends to be, as well as the degree of self-confidence and self-contentment he or she possesses. Individuals who are high in neuroticism tend to:

Experience a lot of stress

Worry about many different things

Get upset easily

Experience dramatic shifts in mood

Feel anxious

Those who are low in this trait are typically:

Emotionally stable

Deal well with stress

Rarely feel sad or depressed

Don't worry much

Very relaxed

Individuals who score high on levels of neuroticism will often be preoccupied with the 'what ifs' of life. They tend to be worrisome and preoccupied with things that might not be within their control.

Critics of the trait approach argue that the patterns of variability over different situations are crucial to determining personality that averaging over such situations to find an overarching "trait" masks critical differences among individuals. Critics of the five-factor model in particular argue that the model has limitations as an explanatory or predictive theory and that it does not explain all of human personality. Some psychologists have dissented from the model because they feel it neglects other domains of personality, such as religiosity, manipulativeness/machiavellianism, honesty, sexiness/seductiveness, thriftiness, conservativeness, masculinity/femininity, snobbishness/egotism, sense of humor, and risk-taking/thrill-seeking. Factor analysis, the statistical method used to identify the dimensional structure of observed variables, lacks a universally recognized basis for choosing among solutions with different numbers of factors. A five-factor solution depends, on some degree, on the interpretation of the analyst. A larger number of factors may, in fact, underlie these five factors; this has led to disputes about the "true" number of factors. Proponents of the five-factor model have responded that although other solutions may be viable in a single dataset, only the five-factor structure consistently replicates across different studies. Another frequent criticism is that the five-factor model is not based on any underlying theory; it is merely an empirical finding that certain descriptors cluster together under factor analysis. This means that while these five factors do exist, the underlying causes behind them are unknown.

Always a point to remember, that behavior involves an interaction between a person's underlying personality and situational variables. The situation that a person finds himself or herself in plays a major role in how the person reacts. However, in most cases, people offer responses that are consistent with their underlying personality traits. These dimensions represent broad areas of personality. Research has demonstrated that these groupings of characteristics tend to occur together in many people. For example, individuals who are sociable tend to be talkative. However, these traits do not always occur together. Personality is a complex and varied and each person may display behaviors across several of these dimensions.

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