Using a statistical method known as factor analysis, researchers found that the multitude of descriptors for personality fell into five major groups. These findings were corroborated when four independent teams of investigators, using different methods, confirmed that almost all known personality traits can be organized into the following “Big Five” categories: extraversion, openness, emotional stability, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Each person’s personality consists of a combination of traits within these groupings, and the qualities shared within each category follow common themes:
• Extraversion. Extroverts are outgoing, have lots of energy, and tend to do well in social situations. You might describe them as assertive, bold, and talkative, but some may lack restraint and take unnecessary risks.
• Openness. People who are open like adventure, seek novelty, and welcome challenges. They are creative, bright, and imaginative and enjoy intellectual stimulation.
• Emotional stability. People who are emotionally stable are calm, relaxed, and self-confident. This personality trait is the antithesis of the moody, high-strung, and temperamental features of neuroticism.
• Agreeableness. Agreeable people are friendly, sympathetic, and warm. They are pleasant to be around and are considerate of other people’s feelings. However, if someone is too agreeable, they may be taken advantage of.
• Conscientiousness. Conscientious people are masters of self-control and efficiency. They tend to be neat and organized, and they are careful when making decisions. They can be counted on to get the job done, although too much conscientiousness can lead to obsessive-compulsive behaviors.
Big Five Personality Wheel
Our individuality is determined by where we fall on the spectrum within each of these five personality categories. For example, if you are an extremely popular person, you would probably score high on a measure of extraversion. If you tend to ruminate and neurotically obsess over things, you would likely score low on an emotional stability scale.
Consider Emma at the wedding. If we describe her personality based solely on her experience on that particular day, she would score pretty low on an extraversion rating. She also didn’t seem very open to new experiences, so she would score low on openness. She kept second-guessing herself and putting herself down for her choices, indicating that she would rank fairly low on the emotional stability scale. Emma was curt to the man who asked her to dance, which would lower her score on the agreeableness scale. She did, however, show up at her friend’s wedding instead of skipping it, which raised her conscientiousness rating.
If we were to rate Emma’s Big Five personality traits on a scale from one to five, her scores might chart like this:
Keep in mind that we are basing this assessment on one brief vignette from Emma’s life. If we got to know her better, we might learn that she volunteers regularly at the women’s shelter. That compassionate characteristic would raise her agreeableness rating. And although she was emotionally closed off at the wedding, at other times she may enjoy creative pursuits like dancing or studying art history, which raises her openness rating. Clearly, the better we get to know people, the more accurately we can describe their personalities. This holds true for ourselves as well. The better we understand our own personalities, the easier it will be to focus on what we want to change and how to do it.
Our brain structure actually varies depending on our personality style. At the University of Minnesota, Colin DeYoung and his coworkers assessed the personalities of 116 volunteers ages 18 to 40 (22 years old on average) and performed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scans to determine the relative sizes of their different brain regions. The scientists’ findings, published in the journal Psychological Science, indicated that the medial orbitofrontal cortex, a brain region just behind and above the eyes, was significantly larger in extroverts compared with introverts. This is not surprising since this region controls the brain’s reward system—extroverts seek more positive experiences through social interactions and the pursuit of excitement and adventure. Volunteers who were more conscientious showed larger volumes in the lateral prefrontal cortex, which controls a person’s ability to plan ahead. In neurotic study subjects, brain volume was larger in a nearby region, the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, and in an area under the temples that controls emotional reactions, the medial temporal lobe.
Personality Extremes: When Traits Become Disorders
Everyday life can be stressful, and most of us react to that stress with upsetting emotions like anxiety, sadness, or anger. Although these feelings are usually short-lived, some people experience these types of emotions chronically, and that can become a problem.
Sometimes personality traits and their accompanying behavior patterns become so extreme that they impair an individual’s success and ability to function normally. In fact, when any mental condition becomes so severe that it disrupts a person’s life, it is considered a disorder.
Personality disorders are essentially character traits taken to the extreme. If a patient’s desire for orderliness becomes excessive and interferes with their ability to work, they may fall out of the conscientious personality category and meet the diagnostic criteria for obsessive-compulsive disorder. Think of how shy Emma was at the wedding. If her shyness grew more extreme to the point that she isolated herself and rarely connected with other people, that personality trait might become a phobic disorder.
Those who suffer from personality disorders can cause others around them to feel uncomfortable. In response to this discomfort, many people employ personality-disorder terminology to label and disparage those with disorders: Lily is such a narcissist—she only cares about herself. Fred’s a pathological liar and can’t be trusted. Lois thinks everyone’s out to get her—she’s so paranoid. Although labeling may temporarily reduce the anxiety many people feel about those with difficult personalities, it doesn’t provide any real insight into their behavior, and it comes at the expense of their empathy.
Major Personality Disorders
The American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (fifth edition) lists the following personality disorders that cause social and professional impairment:
• Antisocial. People with this disorder lack empathy, cannot distinguish right from wrong, persistently lie and exploit others, and use their charm to manipulate others for personal gain. They often have legal problems, take unnecessary risks, and engage in abusive relationships.
• Avoidant. These individuals suffer from feelings of social inadequacy and inhibition; they are extremely sensitive to any criticism or rejection and have major difficulties interacting with others and maintaining relationships.
• Borderline. These patients live in a world that borders between typical neurotic behavior and full-blown psychosis wherein they lose touch with reality. They have a disturbed sense of identity and are sensitive to real or imagined abandonment. They are impulsive and have intense, uncontrollable emotional outbursts. Their relationships are chaotic, and they often suffer from depression, psychosis, substance abuse, and suicidal behavior.
• Obsessive-compulsive. People with an obsessive-compulsive disorder are preoccupied by rules and details. Extreme perfectionists, they become distressed when they fall short of their ideals. They try to control others and have trouble delegating tasks. They are rigid, stubborn, and have trouble letting go of worthless objects.
• Narcissistic. These self-centered individuals often have unrealistic fantasies about the extent of their power, success, and attractiveness. They come off as arrogant, lack