DEFINITION:
The phrase “Big Five personality traits” refers to the theory or model of human personality which postulates that human character is largely composed of five unique traits, namely, “openness,” “conscientiousness,” “extraversion,” “agreeableness,” and “neuroticism.”
This analysis of personality is sometimes referred to as the “five-factor model” or the “OCEAN model.”
ETYMOLOGY:
The “Big Five personality traits” model has a long and complex history.
The concept of multivariate personality models was pioneered by Raymond B. Cattell (1905–1998) in his paper, “The description of personality: Principles and findings in a factor analysis” (American Journal of Psychology, 58: 69–90), published in 1945.
Next, Donald W. Fiske (1916–2003) provided what is perhaps the canonical account of the Big Five model of personality in his paper, “Consistency of the Factorial Structures of Personality Ratings from Different Sources” (Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 44: 329–344), published in 1949.
These early formulations were then refined and pruned in a second paper authored by Fiske, together with Donald T. Campbell (1916–1996), entitled “Convergent and discriminant validation by the multitrait-multimethod matrix” (Psychological Bulletin, 56: 81–105), published in 1959, as well as another article entitled “Recurrent personality factors based on trait ratings” (USAF ASD-TR-61–97 [US Air Force Aeronautical Systems Division Technical Report 61–97]), authored by Ernest C. Tupes (1915–1974) and Raymond E. Christal (1924–1995), published two years later in 1961.
In its best-known, current form, the Big Five model was put forward in a paper entitled “An Alternative ‘Description of Personality’: The Big-Five Factor Structure” (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59: 1216–1229), by Lewis R. Goldberg (b. 1932), published in 1990.
Finally, Goldberg’s model, with further refinements, was developed into a set of widely used questionnaires with an accompanying professional manual, entitled NEO PI-R Professional Manual: Revised NEO Personality Inventory and NEO Five-Factor Inventory, by Paul T. Costs, Jr. (b. 1942), and Robert R. McCrae (b. 1949), in 1992. (Note that “NEO” stands for “neuroticism-extraversion-openness.”)
The English adjective “big” is attested from the fourteenth century. It most likely derives, via Middle English, from the Norwegian dialectic word bugge, meaning an “important man.”
The English adjective “five” is attested from before the twelfth century. It derives, via Middle English, from the Old English word fīf, which is akin to Old High German finf, meaning “five.”
For the etymology of the word “personality,” see the Glossary article personality.
The English noun “trait” is attested from the late sixteenth century. It derives, via the Middle French word trait, meaning an “act of drawing,” from the Classical Latin past participle tractus of the verb traho, trahere, meaning “to drag” or “to draw.”
DISCUSSION:
The Big Five personality traits, as commonly understood today, are the following:
- openness—the characteristic of being attracted to new people and experiences, as well as being willing to engage with them frankly, fairly, and without prejudice; akin to curiosity and inventiveness.
- conscientiousness—the impulse to leave no stone unturned in the discharge of one’s duties; akin to being methodical and efficient.
- extraversion—the preference for being with others as opposed to being alone; akin to energy, volubility, and gregariousness.
- agreeableness—the desire to make oneself helpful to, and liked by, other people; akin to friendliness, tolerance, and empathy.
- neuroticism—the characteristic of being emotionally unstable; akin to volatility, nervousness, and hypersensitivity.