Big Five

Today I thought I would share some of my thoughts on the big five factor model to personality mapping. It is one of the most accepted and widely used methods of personality mapping. Essentially this model boils down a plethora of adjectives and traits that could be used to describe a person’s personality into five comprehensive scales. There are a number of tests that one can find on the internet to map one’s personality. Though there are sometimes different synonyms to name the five factors, they are generally openness, extroversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, and conscientiousness.

I took two of these internet tests for good measure. Both tests ended up being pretty similar. I scored very high on both openness and extroversion in both tests. This means that I have a tendency to be curious and open to art and learning, as well as talkative and sociable. I fell average on agreeableness, meaning that I am a mix of trusting and friendly as well as aggressive. I scored mildly high on neuroticism. This means that I have a tendency to be less relaxed. The score that I was lowest on was conscientious. This implies that I am disorganized, and perhaps can become distracted from tasks.

There are a great deal of uses for this particular scale, mostly in research, but I think there are still issues. Firstly, it becomes tempting to make broad assertions about an individual because of how they score on these particular scales. For instance, if one were to score lowly on a factor such as conscientiousness it may be because they are disorganized, yet the score also implies that they are easily distracted. This is actually strange to me, because I have read a number of articles and papers that suggest that messy desks and disorganized workspace are actually a signs of a more efficient thinker.

Another issue with the big five testing is the way we have to gain that information. It is through self survey, and there is always a problem with that. I did a bit a research recently about the psychological difference between the Japanese and those in the United States. They used the five factor model to compare the two peoples, and found that the Japanese scored significantly worse on all aspects than the Americans when scoring themselves, yet higher when scoring one another. The conclusion that was reached was that those in the United States were far more apt to be critical of others, and bolster their own scores, while the Japanese were more critical of themselves, and complimentary to others. This tendency for the Japanese to be humble, and the Americans to not be, shows that how one decides to answer can skew the results of a test like this.

In the end, it is still a relatively effective and useful way to gauge one’s personality, or at very least how one views themselves, or wishes others to view them. There may never be a perfect way to map personality. I think that is why it is so interesting. People are interesting.

Take one of the tests. How did you score? What do you think this says about your personality? Do you think it is accurate? Answer honestly, because you will only be lying to yourself.

Come back next time, where I will be discussing Ellis’s sixth personality trait: scientific thinking.