The Big Five Model Of Personality

The Big Five personality test is currently the most accepted personality model within the scientific community. In the 1950s, it emerged from the work of multiple different researchers who all obtained similar results when studying personality through each of their own methods. My results, which are based on the personality traits highlighted within the Big Five personality test, are as follows: my extroversion results were moderately high. This results suggests that, at times, I tend to be overly talkative, outgoing, sociable. My orderliness results showed to be moderately high as well. This suggests that I tend to be an organized, neat, and structured person throughout my daily life. My emotional stability results were low. This suggests that I tend to worry too often. According to my results, I tend to be overly insecure, emotional and anxious. My accommodation results were moderately low. This suggests that, at times, I can be overly selfish, uncooperative and difficult to work with, especially in groups.

Personality theories, or models, are metaphors for describing something which is intrinsically indescribable, the human personality. Currently, one of the most popular approaches among psychologists for studying personality theory is the Five-Factor Model (FFM) or Big Five dimensions of personality. This essay will explore the 'Big Five ' personality constructs and seek to explain how useful they are to understanding how people are likely to perform in a work situation. In conclusion, this essay will also discuss some of the arguments against the relevance and accuracy of personality testing within the employment context.

One main goal of psychology has been established a model to describe and understand human personality. The five-factor model of personality is the most widely used model in describing personality types. The components of the Big Five are extraversion, openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism.

The five-factor model (FFM) is a contemporary construct describing personality. It incorporates five traits – openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism also referred to as OCEAN. Within each dimension, there are specific personality attributes, for example, openness includes subcategories of feelings and actions. The FFM was influenced by Cattell’s 16-factor model (1957) and shares traits with many other personality theories such as Eysenck’s PEN model. There has been an ongoing debate discussing how many factors appropriately represent the brain structure of personality, suggestions have varied from 2-7, recently Almagor et al. (1995) advocated that a 7-factor model unfolds when evaluative traits are involved. Costa & Mcrae (1992) claim that the FFM is the best theory of personality, however, the model has received much criticism. Through examining different aspects of the model its credibility can be explored.

inspection can be analyzed and broken down. Personality, when broken down, is really just a

Personality is defined as a relatively stable set of characteristics that influence an individual’s behavior. Both heredity and environmental forces shape personality.

The Big Five Test is a compilation of 70 questioned geared towards “measuring how accurate or inaccurate the statements pertain to you.”(Wentz) This test is considered to be an objective test measuring certain traits of the individual taking it rather than states. Traits differ from states in the sense that traits are life-long characteristics; meanwhile states are temporary characteristics of an individual. This test was designed to measure the Big Five personality traits, including: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability and openness. When you are listed as being in the higher percentiles for each of these categories, then you

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to explore what personality trait I am through taking a personality test. By taking this test it will allow me to analyze my strengths and weaknesses as a person and how to improve those characteristics in the workplace.

In psychology, the Big Five personality traits are five broad domains or dimensions of personality that are used to describe human personality. The theory based on the Big Five factors is called the Five Factor Model (FFM)[1] The Big Five factors are openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.

Allport defines personality as ‘the dynamic organisation within the individual of those psychological systems that determine his unique adjustment to his environment’ (Allport, 1937). An individual’s unique personality traits and attributes are a powerful indicator of how he/she will interact with the work environment. The difference between average and outstanding employees can often be solely personality related. As the employee is the most valuable asset to the company, ‘selecting the right employee during the process is critical’ (Carbery and Cross, 2013, pp. 41-53)

The Five Factor Model or Big Five model developed by McCrae and Costa factor together personality traits into 5 major categories. Those factors were Neuroticism (worried insecure, nervous, highly strung), Extraversion (Sociable, talkative, fun-loving, affectionate), Openness (Original, independent, creative, daring), Agreeableness (Good-natured, softhearted, trusting, courteous), and Conscientiousness (Careful, reliable, hardworking, organized). (Schultz & Schultz, 2013). They are able to include most of other lower order traits accounting for specific dimensions of individual differences in personality. (Schultz & Schultz, 2013)

Personality has been inherently defined as possession of a particular set of characteristics possessed by people which influences their behaviour and reactions in different situation along with their motivation level to react to difficulties at the workplace. However, understanding personality traits and their development has been a contentious matter. Nonetheless, various theories have been forwarded to rather contribute to this contentious debate. For example employers set goals and encourage involvement with the company to have a better employee performance, which would result in higher motivation level subsequently leading to increased efficiency. Studies regarding the relationship between personality traits of a particular employee

Many contemporary psychologists believe that there are five basic dimensions of personality and refer to them as the ‘Big Five’. The five-factor model (FFM) of personality is a theory based on five core categories of human personality – openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. While different theorists may use different terminology, the five factors or personality traits have shown a rather consistent pattern over time. This study briefly examines the history, strengths and limitations of the five-factor model.

A largely effective method of breaking up the human personality is using the Big Five Factor Model, this presents five traits (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, openness). Many studies that been done on each individual trait and their respective influences on success, however when individual traits are studied to observe their effect on academic success it is clear that some traits are more desirable than others if one is to strive within an academic setting (ETS, 2016).

Individuals bring a number of differences to work. They have a variety of personalities, which differentiate one from another. Basically, personality refers to individual differences in characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling and behaving (Pappas, 2013). Each person has a unique personality that distinguishes a person from another. Personality affects all aspects of a person’s performance, even how employee reacts toward his/her job. When people enter into organizations, their personalities can affect how they behave and perform, which will affect their performance at work. According to Rothmann & Coetzer (2003), work performance could be affected by situational and dispositional factors. Situational factor can be described as characteristics of the job and work mates, while dispositional factor is caused by employee personality characteristics. Dispositional factors itself can potentially influence employees interpretation of their employment settings, and can therefore affect employee performance and satisfaction. These people 's personality patterns can be broken into a Big Five Personality Model (also known as O.C.E.A.N.). These broad five personality types are very helpful for understanding and predicting different kinds of work related behaviors. Therefore, this essay is going to examine the importance of study personality to the study of behavior within the framework of Big Five Personality Model, and its impact on work performance, employee satisfaction, and