What are the Big Five personality traits?

The Big Five personality traits, also known as the five-factor model or OCEAN, is a scientific framework used to measure and describe human personality along five continuous dimensions. Developed through empirical research into language and self-description, the model groups human variation into openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. It underlies most contemporary personality research and replaces older, theoretically derived models.

What we know

• The Big Five model groups human personality variation into openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism on a continuous scale. [1, 2]
• The framework was developed using empirical research into the patterns and relationships of words people use to describe themselves. [2]
• The structure of the five factors has been independently replicated across cultures and time, showing predictive validity against job performance and academic success. [2]
• Other models, like HEXACO, supplement the Big Five traits with additional variables to trade off model complexity for better fit. [2] · medium confidence

Still open

• There is some evidence suggesting that the Big Five traits may not be completely sufficient to fully explain personality across all other cultures.

Where to go next

• how we knowHow do different cultures perceive the Big Five model?
• the bigger pictureWhat is trait theory in psychology?
• compared withWhat is the HEXACO personality model?
• how it workedWhat are the dimensions of the OCEAN mnemonic?
• what followedHow does personality relate to job performance?
• an unexpected connectionHow do the Big Five traits relate to the dark triad?Factor analysis shows that low agreeableness from the Big Five is the strongest correlate of the dark triad of personality traits.

Sources

• [1]Big Five personality traits (Wikidata Q378132) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Big Five personality traits · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]Big Five personality traits and culture · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Dark triad · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]Trait theory · CC BY-SA 4.0

Your path

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7. /What are the Big Five personality traits?