Why the Big Five became the standard
In 1936 Gordon Allport and Henry Odbert counted around 18,000 words in an English dictionary that describe how people differ. The idea that the most important differences would be captured in everyday language is called the lexical hypothesis. When later researchers had large groups of people rate themselves and others on such words and analysed the ratings statistically, the same five broad clusters kept appearing. Lewis Goldberg, who had coined the name Big Five in 1981, showed this structure clearly with adjective ratings (Goldberg, 1990), and Paul Costa and Robert McCrae built the most widely used questionnaire for it, the NEO Personality Inventory (first published in 1985 and revised as the NEO PI-R in 1992).
Earlier systems, such as Raymond Cattell's 16 personality factors, fit into the five when analysed together. The five traits have been found across many languages and cultures, and they predict real outcomes. In a review by Roberts and colleagues (2007), traits predicted mortality, divorce and occupational attainment about as well as socio-economic status and cognitive ability did.
The five traits, high and low
| Trait | High scorers tend to be | Low scorers tend to be |
|---|---|---|
| Openness to experience | Curious, imaginative, drawn to art, ideas and novelty | Practical, conventional, comfortable with routine |
| Conscientiousness | Organised, reliable, self-disciplined, goal-directed | Flexible, spontaneous, less structured, prone to put things off |
| Extraversion | Sociable, talkative, energetic, assertive | Reserved, quiet, happy with their own company |
| Agreeableness | Warm, trusting, cooperative, considerate | Sceptical, competitive, blunt, independent-minded |
| Neuroticism | Prone to worry, mood swings and stress | Calm, even-tempered, emotionally stable |
Neither end of a trait is simply good or bad. High Agreeableness helps in teams but can make it hard to negotiate; low Conscientiousness is linked with less dependable work but also with flexibility. Each trait also breaks down into narrower facets: in the Costa and McCrae model, six per trait. For a closer look at one of them, see introvert or extrovert.
How much of personality is inherited?
Identical twins share all their genes and fraternal twins about half, so comparing how alike the two kinds of twins are gives an estimate of heritability. A meta-analysis of behaviour genetic studies by Vukasović and Bratko (2015) put the average heritability of personality at about 40%, and individual twin studies often report figures from about 40 to 60% for the Big Five traits (Jang, Livesley and Vernon, 1996).
Heritability describes differences within a population, not a share of one person's personality. It also does not mean a trait is fixed: genes influence what environments people seek out and how they react to them. The remaining variation comes mostly from experiences that are unique to each person, rather than from the family home that siblings share.
How traits change with age
Two kinds of stability matter. Rank-order stability asks whether people keep their position relative to others. It rises steadily through life: in a meta-analysis by Roberts and DelVecchio (2000), the correlation between trait scores a few years apart was about 0.31 in childhood, about 0.54 in the college years and about 0.74 between ages 50 and 70.
Mean-level change asks whether people on average move in one direction. They do. Across many longitudinal studies, people tend to become more conscientious, more agreeable and more emotionally stable from young adulthood into middle age, while social vitality and openness rise in adolescence and decline slightly in old age (Roberts, Walton and Viechtbauer, 2006). This pattern is sometimes called the maturity principle. Life events such as a first job or a lasting relationship are linked to some of these shifts.
Measuring your own traits
Traits are measured with questionnaires of short statements rated from strongly disagree to strongly agree, like the trial statement above. A good test gives you a score on each trait relative to other people, not a type, and reports facets where possible. Our Big Five test is modelled on this framework and shows where you sit on all five traits. If you are curious how other models such as the 16 types or the Enneagram relate to the Big Five, see the guide to personality tests.
Sources
- Allport, G. W. and Odbert, H. S. (1936). Trait-names: a psycho-lexical study. Psychological Monographs.
- Goldberg, L. R. (1990). An alternative "description of personality": the Big-Five factor structure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
- Costa, P. T. and McCrae, R. R. (1992). NEO PI-R Professional Manual. Psychological Assessment Resources.
- Jang, K. L., Livesley, W. J. and Vernon, P. A. (1996). Heritability of the Big Five personality dimensions and their facets: a twin study. Journal of Personality.
- Vukasović, T. and Bratko, D. (2015). Heritability of personality: a meta-analysis of behavior genetic studies. Psychological Bulletin.
- Roberts, B. W. and DelVecchio, W. F. (2000). The rank-order consistency of personality traits from childhood to old age. Psychological Bulletin.
- Roberts, B. W., Walton, K. E. and Viechtbauer, W. (2006). Patterns of mean-level change in personality traits across the life course. Psychological Bulletin.
- Roberts, B. W., Kuncel, N. R., Shiner, R., Caspi, A. and Goldberg, L. R. (2007). The power of personality. Perspectives on Psychological Science.
Frequently asked questions
what is personality traits
A personality trait is a relatively lasting tendency to think, feel or act in a certain way across situations, such as being sociable or organised. Psychologists measure traits as positions on a scale rather than as present or absent.
what are the five big personality traits
Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism. Together they are known as the Big Five or OCEAN model and are the most widely used trait framework in psychology.
What are the 5 main traits of personality?
The same five: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism. Each is a broad dimension made up of narrower facets, for example orderliness and self-discipline within Conscientiousness.
What are the 16 traits of personality?
This usually refers to Raymond Cattell's 16 personality factors, such as warmth, dominance and perfectionism, measured by the 16PF questionnaire. When those 16 factors are analysed together they group into five broad traits much like the Big Five. It is a different system from the 16 four-letter types.
what are character traits
In everyday use, character traits are qualities such as honesty, kindness or courage, usually with a moral flavour. Psychologists separate these from personality traits: honesty and humility do overlap with Agreeableness, but character strengths are often treated as values and habits that can be developed.
what is a type personality traits
This search usually means type A personality traits: competitiveness, time urgency, impatience and sometimes hostility. Type A is a behaviour pattern rather than one of the Big Five traits; see type A personality for how it maps onto them.
how to test personality traits
With a questionnaire that asks you to rate many short statements about yourself, scored against a large comparison group. Look for a test that reports a score on each of the five traits rather than a single type, and read a middle score as genuinely in the middle.