The Big Five Personality

655 Words3 Pages
Personality refers to individual differences in characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving (Kazdin 2000). The big five personality is a hierarchical model of classification of traits used to predict human personalities. In this model, human personality is determined by five broad clusters of traits, namely: Extroversion, agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism and Openness to experience. Extroversion is associated with positive energy. Extroverts exhibit pronounced sociability and enthusiasm for engagement with external environment. Such individuals are usually talkative, and assertive in life and when dealing with others. They are known to excel in situations that require team work as opposed to those that require them to work singly. Introversion is the reverse trait to extroversion. Individuals with this trait lack the exuberance and energy associated with extroversion. They show low levels of interaction with the external world and shy from attention. In contrast with the extroverts, introverts thrive in situations that require individual activity. Agreeableness measures the extent of friendliness, compassion and corporation with others. Agreeable people get along well with others and are generally considerate, friendly and willing to compromise their interests with others (Rothmann & Coetzer 2013). Agreeable people think positively of others. They see others as trustworthy, honest and decent. Disagreeable people on the other hand, place self interest before others. They treat others with suspicion and as such, they do not generally get along well with others. Conscientiousness relates to the way people control, regulate and express their reactions. Conscientious individuals exhibit extreme self discipline, are organized and plan their actions carefully. Because of their organization and planning, such individuals achieve high levels of
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