DEFINITION:
The term “conscientiousness” refers to a personality trait consisting of the propensity or deep-seated desire to fulfill what one takes to be one’s duty.
This may mean following the prescriptions of established laws, appropriate rules, or the instructions of persons exercising legitimate authority.
However, it may also take the form of exercising self-discipline in the performance of one’s own self-appointed tasks, goals, or duties.
ETYMOLOGY:
As a term of art in personality psychology, “conscientiousness” was introduced into the literature by Paul T. Costa, Jr., and Robert R. McCrae in the late 1980s. (For details, see the Glossary article, openness, under the heading “Etymology.”)
The English noun “conscientiousness” is connected to the adjective “conscientious,” which is attested from the seventeenth century.
It is connected to the noun “conscience,” which derives, via Middle English and Old French, from Classical Latin noun conscientia, conscientiae, meaning “shared knowledge,” “consciousness,” or “conscience.”
Conscientia, in turn, is connected to the present participle consciens, conscientis, of the verb conscio, conscire, meaning “to be conscious of” or “to have a (bad) conscience.”
DISCUSSION:
The personality trait of “conscientiousness” implies the desire to perform one’s appointed tasks as well as possible, whatever the obstacles.
It is closely allied with such virtues as being diligent, scrupulous, thorough, careful, meticulous, deliberate, responsible, and—perhaps most of all—dependable.
“Conscientiousness” is one of the “Big Five personality traits.”