Lecture 2: The Big
Five Personality
Traits
PSYC 2600
Dr Heather Douglas
Learning
objectives
-
Chapter 3: The
Big Five
Personality
Traits
1. Explain how the Big Five personality traits were
developed
2. Describe the Big Five personality traits
3. Describe the behaviours, attitudes, and
characteristics of people high in each of the Big
Five traits
4. Explain how the Big Five traits can help us better
understand ourselves
2
Fundamental
questions in
personality
(Mayer, 2008)
3
1. Personal
Identity
Who am I?
2. Social
Relations
How do I
compare?
3. Adaptation
and Change
How can I
change?
4. Scientific
Research
How can I find
answers to my
questions?
Development
of the Big Five
◎ Traits – Relatively stable
characteristics of people
◎ Which traits are the
most important?
◎ How can we describe
an individual’s
personality in only a
few traits?
4
Dodge Morgan
(1932-2010)
◎ Sailed solo around the world in 100 days at
54 years old
◎ Intensive psychological case study including
psychological testing
◎ Published in an entire issue of the
Journal of Personality (Volume 65, issue
4)
◎ High scores on Achievement, Autonomy,
Dominance, Endurance, Exhibition
5
Development
of the Big Five
◎ Lexical Hypothesis – The idea that important
traits become embedded in our language
◎ Allport and Odbert (1936); Cattell (1943)
◎ Recorded all the words in the English language
that could be used to describe people
◎ Screened out temporary states, social evaluations
and those of questionable use
◎ Only the words that described stable, psychological
attributes of people were left
6
Development
of the Big Five
◎ Factor analysis – The analysis of correlations
between items to see which items form related
clusters
◎ Researchers had many people rate themselves on
the adjectives they found in the dictionary, then
performed factor analysis
■ How adjective ratings correlated with one another
■ How adjective ratings formed groups (factors)
◎ Most researchers found five factors covered the
most adjectives from the dictionary
7
Traits of the
Big 5
◎ Extraversion
◎ Outgoing and experiencing
positive emotions
■ Opposite: Introverted or shy
◎ Agreeableness
◎ Caring for others and getting
along with other people
■ Opposite: Argumentative,
combative and self-centred
8
Traits of the
Big 5
(cont’d)
◎ Conscientiousness
◎ Organised ambitious, and self-controlled
■ Opposite: Messy, unmotivated and impulsive
◎ Neuroticism
◎ Experiencing negative emotions like worry and anger
■ Opposite: Calm and emotional stable
◎ Openness to Experience
◎ Interested in trying new activities and paying with
new ideas beliefs, and value systems
■ Opposite: Conventional and less comfortable
with change
9
Facets of the
Big Five
◎ The Big Five can be broken into more specific
components, called facets (Costa & McCrae,
1992a; Maples et al., 2014)
◎ Helps view diversity of characteristics within each
larger grouping
◎ Helps avoid common misunderstandings about the
traits
10
Facets of the
Big Five
◎ Extraversion: friendliness, gregariousness,
assertiveness, activity level, excitement seeking,
cheerfulness
◎ Agreeableness: trust, morality, altruism, cooperation,
modesty, sympathy
◎ Conscientiousness: self-efficacy, orderliness, dutifulness,
achievement-striving, self-discipline, cautiousness
◎ Neuroticism: anxiety, anger, depression, self-
consciousness, immoderation, vulnerability
◎ Openness to Experience: imagination, artistic interests,
emotionality, adventurousness, intellect, liberalism
11
Facets of the
Big Five
(cont’d)
◎ Specific facets in each Big Five model vary
12
Categories
vs Continuum
◎ Traits are on a continuum
◎ Very few people score at one extreme or the other
◎ Most are somewhere in between
◎ Some traits are weakly correlated with others
◎ Neurotic people are usually less Extraverted, less
Agreeable and less Conscientious
◎ Extraverts are usually more Agreeable,
Conscientious and Open to Experience
13
Source: Pearson Education, Inc.
What do the
Big Five Traits
Really Mean?
◎ There is no right or wrong personality
◎ Research studies are based on averages – not
everyone with each trait will behave exactly like
the average
◎ Scales with the same name can still have some
differences
14
Characteristics
and Behaviours
– Extraversion
◎ Enjoy and prefer the company of others
◎ Seek stimulation and excitement
◎ Want to be leaders
◎ Emerge more as leaders (Judge et al., 2002), specifically
as transformational leaders (Bono & Judge, 2004)
◎ Are more physically active
◎ Experience more happiness and joy
◎ E.g. positive feeling when chance to earn rewards (Smillie
et al., 2012)
◎ Have more financial problems
◎ E.g. credit card debt (Brown & Taylor, 2014)
15
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Characteristics
and Behaviours
– Extraversion
(cont’d)
◎ Introversion is the opposite of extraversion
◎ Prefer quiet and solitude
■ Stimulation Hypothesis – introverts are highly
sensitive to stimulation, prefer quiet and
solitude
◎ Would rather interact with close friends and family
16
Characteristics
and Behaviours
– Extraversion
(cont’d)
◎ Behavioural examples
◎ Extraverts use more words on Facebook like party,
love, tonight, and weekend (Kern et al., 2014; Park
et al., 2015)
◎ Extraverts talk on cell phones more frequently,
drink more alcohol, and talk more about sex than
introverts do (Chapman & Goldberg, 2017)
◎ Extraverts read more about people or
relationships; Introverts read more about fantasy
and science fiction (Annalyn et al., 2017)
◎ Most people are both extraverted and introverted
in different settings
17
Characteristics
and Behaviours
– Agreeableness
◎ Are trusting and sympathetic
◎ Prefer cooperation to competition
◎ Tend to be honest, forthright, humble, self-
effacing and compliant
◎ Tend to be good friends and caring romantic
partners
18
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Characteristics
and Behaviours
– Agreeableness
(cont’d)
◎ Antagonism, or disagreeableness, is the opposite
of agreeableness
◎ Tend to be skeptical, cynical, dishonest,
aggressive, grandiose, egocentric, manipulative
and callous
◎ More likely to be involved with crime, risky sex,
drug abuse, and other antisocial behavior
◎ Likely to have a hostile attribution bias
19
Characteristics
and Behaviours
– Agreeableness
(cont’d)
◎ Behavioural examples
◎ Agreeable people use more words on Facebook
like thank you, wonderful, and blessed (Kern et al.,
2014)
◎ Disagreeable people are more likely to engage in
antisocial behaviour including crime (Miller &
Lynam, 2001), aggression (Jones et al., 2011), risky
sex (Hoyle et al., 2000), drug abuse (Kotov et al.,
2010) and gambling (MacLaren et al., 2011)
◎ Disagreeable men earn more money (so do
women, but not by as much; Judge et al., 2012)
20
Characteristics
and Behaviours
– Conscientious-
ness
◎ Have high levels of willpower
◎ Are able to delay gratification
◎ Consider potential consequences before acting
◎ Work hard toward goals despite frustrations,
distractions or boredom
◎ Are organised and diligent
21
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◎ People low in conscientiousness
◎ Are impulsive
◎ Are easily distracted
◎ Have less ambition
◎ Are unorganised
◎ Tend to give up easily 22
Characteristics
and Behaviours
– Conscientious-
ness (cont’d)
◎ Behavioural examples
◎ Conscientious people use more words on Facebook like
ready, work and thankful; less conscientious people use
more swear words, as well as words like YouTube,
Pokemon and bored (Kern et al., 2014)
◎ Conscientious people eat more vegetable salads and are
less likely to be overweight (Keller & Siegrist, 2015)
◎ Less conscientious people more likely to abuse drugs and
alcohol and engage in crime, risky sex, and gambling
(Hoyle et al., 2000; Kotov et al., 2010; MacLaren et al.,
2011; Miller & Lynam, 2001)
23
Characteristics
and Behaviours
– Conscientious-
ness (cont’d)
Characteristics
and Behaviours
– Neuroticism
◎ Have negative emotions like anger, depression,
anxiety, shame and self-consciousness
◎ Are more prone to mental health issues including
depression, anxiety disorder, personality
disorders, substance abuse disorders and eating
disorders
◎ Are more prone to physical health issues
including heart issues, obesity and irritable bowel
syndrome
24
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Characteristics
and Behaviours
– Neuroticism
(cont’d)
◎ Behavioural example
◎ Neurotic people use more words on Facebook like
depressed, lonely, and sick of ; less neurotic people
use words like workout, success and basketball
(Kern et al., 2014)
◎ Neurotic people tend to choke under pressure
(Byrne et al, 2015)
◎ Neurotic people are more to drink alcohol or take
drugs in an attempt to improve their mood
(Chapman & Goldberg, 2017)
◎ Neurotic people tend to not live as long as calmer
people (Shipley et al., 2007)
◎
25
Characteristics
and Behaviours
– Openness to
Experience
◎ Enjoy trying new things
◎ Play with complex ideas
◎ Consider alternative perspectives and value
systems
◎ Tend to be creative
◎ Tend to be politically liberal and interested in
social activism
26
Characteristics
and Behaviours
– Openness to
Experience
(cont’d)
◎ People low in openness to experience
◎ Prefer routine
◎ Value the status quo
◎ Favour traditional and conventional activities
◎ Tend to be politically conservative
◎ Hardest trait to define
◎ Less likely to appear in other cultures than the four
other traits (DeRaad et al., 2010)
27
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Characteristics
and Behaviours
– Openness to
Experience
(cont’d)
◎ Behavioural example
◎ Open people use more words on Facebook like
universe, writing and music; low openness people
use words like can’t wait and text-speak words
such as wat or ur (Kern et al, 2014)
◎ Open people are more likely to meditate, write in a
journal, smoke marijuana or walk around the
house naked (Chapman & Goldberg, 2017)
◎ Open people are more likely to major in the
humanities, the arts, and psychology (Vedel, 2016)
◎ Low openness people prefer routine and value the
status quo (Sibley & Bulbulia, 2014)
28
Dodge Morgan
(1932-2010)
◎ Extraversion score is average
◎ Agreeableness score is average
◎ Conscientiousness score is above average
◎ Neuroticism score is below average
◎ Openness score is above average 29
Personality
correlations
with behaviour
◎ Relationships are probabilities, not certainties
◎ Small effects can cumulate (Funder & Ozer,
2019)
◎ Personality traits are bad predictors of single
behaviours or the outcomes of single encounters
◎ If a stable trait affects much of what you do even in
a small way, its consequences can add up very
quickly
30
The Usefulness
of the Big Five
◎ Information about survival ability
31
Advantage Disadvantage
Extraversion Connect with others Risk-taking
Agreeableness Getting along with
others
Taken advantage of
Conscientiousness Careful planning
and hard work
Rigid and inflexible
Neuroticism Wary of danger Missed
opportunities
Openness Creativity in
changing
circumstances
Delusional beliefs
or ostracism for
being too different
The Usefulness
of the Big Five
◎ Translates other personality research
◎ Incorporates traits used in other models of
personality
◎ Create a common language to talk about
personality traits
■ Eysenck’s Personality Questionnaire (EPQ; Eysenck
& Eysenck, 1975)
■ The state-trait anxiety inventory (Spielberger, 1983)
■ The California Psychological Inventory
32
The Usefulness
of the Big Five
◎ Translates across cultures
◎ The Big Five Inventory has been translated into 28
languages and administered across 56 nations
■ Found the same five personality domains
◎ Researchers identified clusters of trait adjectives in
other languages
■ Most languages have domains for extraversion,
agreeableness, and conscientiousness
33
Does
Personality
Change?
◎ From moment to moment?
◎ Fleeson and Gallagher (2009)
■ personality traits correlate with trait
manifestations of behaviour
between .42 and .56
34
Does
Personality
Change?
◎ Over time?
◎ Wortman, Lucas, and Donnellan (2012)
■ E, N, and O declined
■ A increased in younger adults, was
stable among middle-aged adults,
and declined among the oldest old
■ Conscientiousness increased
35
Free trait
theory – Brian
Little
◎ We have some power to express traits that
we are not otherwise predisposed towards
◎ Introverts who perform
◎ Robin Williams
◎ Avicii
◎ Susan Cain
◎ Brian Little!
◎ We need to recover afterwards
36
Understanding
the fundamental
questions
37
1. Personal
Identity
Who am I?
2. Social
Relations
How do I
compare?
3. Adaptation
and Change
How can I
change?
4. Scientific
Research
How can I find
answers to my
questions?
Variability of
personality traits
(Fleeson &
Gallagher, 2009)
Longitudinal
studies
Free trait theory
Traits describe
relatively stable
tendencies of
individuals
Traits allow us to
understand
others
characteristics
and behaviours