The 5 Big Personality Traits: What Personal Characteristics Define You?
Do you know what your personality is like? What are the characteristics of your personality? Discover Goldberg’s theory of the 5 big personality traits and discover what you are like.
Define ourPersonality traits It is a difficult task for anyone. The reason for this is that personalities are complex, and establishing a definition of personality is a daunting task. Despite this, within psychology different researchers have dared to take on this challenge. Even so, there are many theories about personality types in psychology. One of the most popular is the theory of the Big 5 personality traits. In it we can roughly approach the characteristics of a person’s personality.
The definition of personality It is a very complicated process. Within psychology, there are various models that attempt to define personality characteristics and their meaning. One of the best-known theories within this science is the model of the 5 big personality traits of psychologist Lewis Goldberg.
This model tries define aspects of personality of an individual through five factors or five traits. In this theory, personality is understood as a set of patterns of thoughts, feelings and behaviors that are relatively durable throughout our lives.
The Goldberg’s personality theory defends that the traits of each person can be grouped into five large dimensions, which are what shape what a person is like.
The Big Five theory which is how it is also known, is not Lewis Goldberg’s own, but this psychologist and professor emeritus at the University of Oregon collected studies from previous professionals, such as Galton, McDougall, Thurstone, Fiske, Tupes and Cristal, although he was the Goldberg himself who gave the theory its name.
Its approach is that any personality is defined by five traits or elements that, in turn, are made up of more specific variables. Each personality trait or component is distinguished by a capital letter.
The 5 big personality traits
Goldberg established that there were five personality types in psychology according to their research. In this way, each of them indicated the positive and negative personal characteristics that we found in a person’s personality. These were the following.
1. Neuroticism (Factor N)
Neuroticism is one of the personality traits which refers to the power that people have to adapt to changes and face problems. It explains the emotional stability of a person because it helps define how each subject reacts to a specific situation or personal crisis.
Within your psychological traits We find negative emotions such as sadness, fear, anger…, feelings that can influence our reaction and condition our adaptation to these changes. If it explains the emotional stability of people, the variables that define this factor will indicate that a person can be more balanced or less, they can be calmer or more nervous, more carefree or with a tendency to become overwhelmed by problems.
Characteristics of a personality with high neuroticism
You experience a lot of stress
Worry about many different things
Gets angry easily
Experience drastic mood swings
suffer from anxiety
Struggle to recover after periods of high stress
Characteristics of a personality with low neuroticism
Emotionally stable
Manage stress well
You rarely feel sad or depressed
He doesn’t worry much
It’s very relaxed
2. Extraversion (Factor E)
This is the personality trait in charge of defining the sociability of people, their relationship with others and the way they interact with others. The variables that make it up help to know if you are pessimistic or optimistic, introverted or extroverted, talkative or quiet, open or reserved… Depending on the elements, we will be faced with a more sociable, extroverted and active person or a more introverted, calm person. and reserved.
Therefore this personality in psychology It is characterized by defining people who tend to fill themselves with energy in social situations. That is to say, one of the characteristics of a person with high extraversion is that being with others helps them feel full of energy and fill their lives with emotion.
On the other hand, those people who define themselves with the ‘negative aspects ‘ of extraversion (which does not imply something bad, but rather the opposite of this personality trait) tend to be more reserved, as well as feel that they ‘waste’ their energy by being in certain social environments. Therefore, when you have these more introverted character traits, individuals require a period of solitude and tranquility to be able to recharge their energy.
Personality characteristics with high extroversion
Enjoy being the center of attention
He likes to start conversations
Enjoy meeting new people
He has a wide social circle of friends and acquaintances.
Finds it easy to make new friends
You feel full of energy when you are around other people
This is one of the personality traits which have been more debated since there is no unanimity regarding their interpretation by professionals who investigate the concept of personality. This trait is made up of variables such as intellectual restlessness, the search for new challenges and experiences, imagination, independence, a taste for variety, and creativity. Depending on the variables, we will talk about more open and curious people or more conservative people.
When people present high traits of these personality factors They usually have a wide range of interests. Therefore, in this aspect, the positive qualities of a person with high openness to experience tend to be curiosity about the world, other people, and the energy they feel when trying to learn new things or enjoy new experiences.
In this way, people who have a high level of openness to experience They are usually very adventurous and creative. On the other hand, those who tend towards the opposite of these psychological traits tend to be more traditional and have difficulties with abstract thinking.
Characteristics of a personality with openness to high experience
Very creative
Open to trying new things
Focused on facing new challenges
Loves to think about abstract concepts
Characteristics of a personality with low openness to experience
He doesn’t like change
Does not enjoy new things
Resists new ideas
with little imagination
Does not like abstract or theoretical concepts
4. Kindness (Factor A)
As its name indicates, this is one of the personality factors which is defined by a person’s respect, empathy and tolerance towards others. One of these character traits includes variables such as altruism, kindness, trust… and they tell us if a subject is egocentric or humble, if he is selfish or altruistic, if he is cold and distant or close and trusting.
Therefore, people with a high level of these personal traits, that is, when their personality definition is characterized by the positive aspects of kindness, they tend to be individuals with a tendency to be more cooperative with others. On the other hand, when defined by the negative aspects of these personality traits, people can even be manipulative with those around them.
Personality characteristics with high agreeableness
He has a lot of interest in other people.
He cares about others
He/she is empathetic
Enjoy helping and contributing to the happiness of others
Help other people who need help
Personality characteristics with low agreeableness
Has little interest in others
He doesn’t care how those around him feel.
Has little interest in other people’s problems
Insults and belittles others
Manipulates others to get what they want
5. Responsibility (Factor C)
The last factor of the personality traits theory It refers to the ability that people have when it comes to organizing themselves and responding to others. Thus, the elements that make up this factor are organization, self-control, punctuality… In short, it is a factor that informs us of whether or not a subject is capable of controlling his impulses, of organizing his tasks, of being responsible with things. social norms, to respect others.
When a person is very defined by positive aspects (or high) of this personality, people are usually characterized by having high levels of consideration for others, good control of their impulses and tend to know how to organize themselves to achieve their goals. On the other hand, when the individual is defined by their negative aspects, they tend to tend towards disorder and lack of organization in their lives.
Personality characteristics with high responsibility
Prepare in time
Finish important tasks immediately
Pay attention to the details
Enjoy having a fixed schedule
Personality characteristics with low responsibility
Does not like organization or schedules
Does not take care of his tasks
Does not return things on time
Procrastinate on those most important tasks
To know characteristics of our personality We can focus on improving our defects and virtues so we can feel more comfortable with ourselves. If you think you require professional help to establish a good definition of your personality, you can count on our specialist psychologists. Knowing who you are is the first step to enjoying all aspects of your life.
