PERSONALITY REFLECTION

Personality Reflection

Personality Reflection

Define personality

Personality characteristics can be organized hierarchically. The lowest level at which we can examine personality is at the single, individual behavior level (e.g., telling a joke). Similar behaviors form habits that constitute the next level of the hierarchy (e.g., tendency to make others laugh). Clusters of interrelated habitual behaviors constitute levels further up the hierarchy (e.g., sociability, gregariousness). At an even higher level, one finds broad factors of personality (e.g., Extraversion). It is important to think of each Big Five factor not as a single entity, but as a collection of clusters consisting of interrelated habitual behaviors that have a common core and carry little specific meaning.

Key personality features

Emotional Stability

The first factor, which refers to an individual's tendency to become emotionally upset, is most frequently called Emotional Stability, or by the name of its negative pole, Neuroticism. This dimension characterizes individuals in terms of their proneness to experience emotional distress and maladaptive coping strategies. Common traits associated with the neurotic end of this dimension include anxiety, depression, anger, embarrassment, emotion, worry, fearfulness, instability, and insecurity. Emotionally stable individuals are well-adjusted, relaxed, self-assured, hardy, even-tempered, and calm. Individuals scoring low on Emotional Stability are described as moody, anxious, worrying, insecure, hypochondriacal, and tense.

Extraversion

Extraversion encompasses traits relating to sociability, dominance, energy, and positive affect. It has also been referred to as “surgency.” It includes a person's tendency to seek interpersonal stimulation and capacity for joy. Individuals scoring high on this dimension are described as energetic, active, vigorous, talkative, assertive, fun-loving, gregarious, persuasive, and positive. They seek social situations in which they can interact with others and be socially dominant. Individuals scoring low on this dimension are described as introverted, silent, submissive, passive, unenergetic, retiring, reserved, or “loners.”

Openness

This factor has been interpreted frequently as openness to experience, intellect, or culture. Traits commonly associated with this dimension include imagination, curiosity, originality, broadmindedness, and intelligence. Openness results in tolerance for ambiguity, and artistic sensitivity. This dimension describes individual differences in tolerance for and attraction to the unfamiliar. It has been described as a trait influencing an individual's breadth and complexity of mental experiences. High scorers are described as having wide interests, being imaginative, curious, creative, and insightful. They prefer complexity and change over familiar and stable situations. Low scorers are described as shallow, conventional, unanalytical, down-to-earth, and lacking in imagination. Openness is the most controversial of the Big ...