Have you ever wondered why some people find the perfect partner while others can’t find their match? Some people successfully reach the top of their careers while others jump from job to job to make a living? Have you ever pondered why things align so perfectly for some while life seems so unfair for others? You may find it surreal to believe but apart from luck or fate, it is your personality.
What is a personality trait?
Personality traits not only set individuals apart but also determine the course of our life. According to the APA dictionary of psychology, personality trait is a relatively stable, enduring, and consistent internal characteristics inferred from a pattern of behaviors, attitudes, feelings, and habits in the individual.
Five-Factor theory of personality
Five-factor theory (big five personality traits) is the most widely and commonly discussed and researched theory among various personality theories. This theory describes the significant characteristics that are considered building blocks of the personality. These personality traits include openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.
Personality traits: A continuum, not distinct personality types
According to psychologists, these personality traits are on a continuum rather than distinct personality types. Thus, a person can be low, medium, or high on a specific attribute. If we talk about extroversion and introversion, for example, the person cannot be entirely highly extroverted or highly introverted. Instead, it lies somewhere on the continuum, where his personality inclined more towards extroversion and less towards introversion.
Big five personality traits
Five dimensions of personality almost cover every characteristic of human temperament. This continuous distribution of the personality traits is described below.
- Openness to experience
This trait entails the degree of intellectual inquisitiveness, creativity and novelty-seeking and admiration. This trait lies on the spectrum from curious to cautious. People high in this trait tend to be imaginative, curious and adventurous. They have a broad range of interests, eager to learn and experience new things, and like to take challenges.
On the contrary, a person having a closedness to experience trait like consistency, are traditional and considered practical. They are less creative and abstract. Instead, they like predictability.
- Conscientiousness
This is the tendency to be organised and dependable. This trait is assessed on the spectrum from organised to careless. Conscientious individuals are thoughtful, organised, detail-oriented, and plan ahead. They have good impulse control and engage in goal-directed behaviors.
On the other hand, people with low conscientiousness tend to be easygoing. They don’t like structure, tend to engage in impulsive behaviour and procrastinate. They can be disorganised and find it difficult to carefully and competently work on a task with discipline.
- Extraversion
This trait is characterised by the tendency to seek the company of others and interact. It is assessed on the continuum from energetic to reserved. People high in extraversion are social, talkative, assertive, emotionally expressive and outgoing. They feel good, excited, and energised when in the company of others.
On the other continuum, people low on extroversion also referred to as introverts, are more reserved and don’t like to initiate conversations or make small talk. Social situations and companies drain their energy, and they need their comfort zone to feel relaxed and charged.
- Agreeableness
This trait depicts the trusting and helpful nature of a person. It is assessed on the continuum from compassionate to challenging. Highly agreeable people are kind, affectionate, altruistic, and cooperative. They are trustful and frequently engage in prosocial behavior.
Less agreeable people are considered the antagonist. They are skeptical, demanding, and stubborn. People find them hurtful and unsympathetic.
- Neuroticism
Neuroticism suggests a predisposition to psychological distress. It is measured on the spectrum from neurosis to emotional stability. Highly neurotic people tend to be moody, sad, and emotionally vulnerable. These people quickly get stressed, worry a lot, and feel anxious almost all the time.
On the other end of the continuum, people with low neuroticism scores are confident and relaxed. They can handle stress effectively and are emotionally stable.
Thus, if you like to have a consistent routine and hate change, you are low on openness to experience. If you hate messes and procrastination, you are on the high continuum of conscientiousness. Personality traits clearly define our behaviors and thoughts. Likewise, these also influence our life outcomes.
Big five personality traits and life outcomes
Do personality traits actually lead to a successful or difficult life, including relationships and career? Although the extent of the impact is difficult to assess, these traits definitely impact essential life domains. And this is suggested and established by various research studies. Research study has proved that highly extrovert and conscientious people tend to be happier while neurotic people have lower well-being (Anglim et al., 2020).
Moreover, personality traits also predict our life expectancy, as Jokela and colleagues (2019) proposed. It was suggested that highly neurotic and less conscientious individuals experience poor health outcomes and reduced healthy life expectancy.
Personality traits also influence our relationship choices and course, social interactions, and workplace behaviors. Thus, it is not wrong to say that personality traits determine our life. Therefore, knowing our own personality can help us make wise choices and prudent decisions that can make our lives fuller and happier.
But wait!
What to do when the involuntary stage of falling in love takes us over?
Stay tuned for another psycho-education blog! In the meantime take this test to find your personality traits here: https://bigfive-test.com/
References
Anglim, J., Horwood, S., Smillie, L. D., Marrero, R. J., & Wood, J. K. (2020). Predicting psychological and subjective well-being from personality: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 146(4), 279.
Jokela, M., Airaksinen, J., Virtanen, M., Batty, G. D., Kivimäki, M., & Hakulinen, C. (2020). Personality, disability‐free life years, and life expectancy: Individual participant meta‐analysis of 131,195 individuals from 10 cohort studies. Journal of personality, 88(3), 596-605.
