Psychology Chapter 3: Big Five Traits

Big Five Personality Traits

• Traits refer to stable tendencies of individuals impacting behavior and attitude.
• The Big Five encompasses five primary personality domains:
  • Extraversion
  • Agreeableness
  • Conscientiousness
  • Neuroticism
  • Openness to experience
• Cultural variations exist such as the Spanish adaptation (Big Seven) and the Chinese emphasis on interpersonal relatedness.

Extraversion

• Characterized by outgoing behavior and positive emotional experiences.
• Opposite is introversion or shyness.
• Influences social interaction styles.

Agreeableness

• Involves care for others and cooperation; opposite reflects argumentative and self-centered traits.
• Associated with criminal behavior, aggression, and risky activities like drug abuse.
• Low agreeableness may stem from factors like childhood abuse or bullying due to hostile attribution bias.

Conscientiousness

• Defined by organization, ambition, and self-control; opposite involves messiness and impulsivity.
• Overlaps with self-control and persistence leading to better workplace and physical health outcomes.
• Increased conscientiousness is achievable through practice; more prevalent in regions like the Southwest and Southeast.

Neuroticism

• Captures negative emotional states such as worry and anger; opposite refers to calm and emotional stability.
• Poor stress management and higher susceptibility to depression are common traits.
• Gender differences show higher neuroticism in women and younger generations; can be addressed through therapy.

Openness to Experience

• Represents interest in new activities and ideas; opposite shows comfort with conventional beliefs.
• Least clearly defined trait; less prominent in various cultures and languages.
• Linked to liberal political views, urban living, intellectual pursuits, and creative outputs like patents.

Facets of the Big Five

• Each Big Five trait has specific subcategories or facets:
  • Extraversion: friendliness, gregariousness, assertiveness, etc.
  • Agreeableness: trust, altruism, cooperation, etc.
  • Conscientiousness: self-efficacy, orderliness, self-discipline, etc.
  • Neuroticism: anxiety, self-consciousness, vulnerability, etc.
  • Openness: imagination, adventurousness, liberalism, etc.

Hostile Attribution Bias

• The inclination to perceive others as hostile and aggressive leads to negative social interpretations.

Lexical Hypothesis

• Important traits for survival and reproduction are represented in language, with significant traits having many synonyms.

Factor Analysis

• A method for analyzing item correlations to identify clusters of related traits within personality frameworks, such as those in the Big Five.