Personality types and what makes us tick are customary ways to forge new relationships and explain ourselves to the world. Before I knew of Myers-Briggs, there was The Big Five, or OCEAN, for those who love a good acronym. The Big Five represents openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.
Openness – How willing are you to receive new ideas/experiences? How willing are you to innovate or spark creativity?
Conscientiousness – How systematized, meticulous, or thorough are you?
Extraversion – How much space and time do you need to socialize? How much of a social battery do you have?
Agreeableness – How kind, considerate, and honest are you?
Neuroticism – How likely are you to experience emotional instability? How likely are you to let negative emotions persist?
Some of these traits reveal themselves more than others. For example, conscientiousness was ranked highest for me out of all five the last time I assessed, but then they also vary by person. We all can be neurotic, but some may display it more frequently. In addition, there exists the opposite end of the spectrum. Introversion would be the case for extraversion, and we all fall somewhere in between. Personality assessments are usually self-reported, and many say the results aren’t as expected. I have my theories on why that could be. Yet, I try to keep OCEAN in mind as much as possible because it always reminds me just how ambiguous but finely tuned human behavior is. My cousin and I had this conversation last week, but we were shocked as we got older and realized that everyone else doesn’t view the world the same way as we do. Talk about a mind-boggle.
A new premise that I’m learning about, thanks to my former college professor, is the whole-trait theory. It explains that our personality traits depend on the situation, and motivation is an agent for why we exhibit traits in a given situation. What goal is to be achieved explains why and how we may switch it up. How I act at yoga is not how I act on the weekends. How I act around my family is not how I act around my friends. The people closest to me might say I talk a lot, but until that trust is established, I am as quiet as a mouse. It makes me wonder, “Who am I?” Don’t get me wrong – I am not denying that personality exists. But if it’s not consistent then which traits should be owned? Today I might be one way, but what about tomorrow? Even more so, who is the audience? Because everyone receives me differently. Not only do they receive me differently, but I act differently. I’ve come to realize that we never fully know anyone else, but what about ourselves? Does that mean that the way we describe ourselves is just a bunch of fluff?
Fleeson W, Jayawickreme E. Whole Trait Theory. J Res Pers. 2015 Jun 1;56:82-92. doi: 10.1016/j.jrp.2014.10.009. PMID: 26097268; PMCID: PMC4472377.
Reflection Points:
- I asked a few questions throughout this post, so what are your thoughts?
- Do you believe that personality is consistent or that it’s a never-ending formation? Maybe somewhere in between?
- Do you believe that OCEAN can drastically change? For example, can I go from being a recluse to leading three weekly social groups? Or in more modern times, can I go from being a texter to a caller?