Conscientiousness

A tendency to show self Discipline, act dutifully, and aim for achievement. Behaviour is planned rather than spontaneous.

Conscientiousness concerns the way in which we control, regulate, and direct our impulses. Impulses are not inherently bad; occasionally time constraints require a snap decision, and acting on our first impulse can be an effective response and in times of play, acting spontaneously and impulsively can be fun. Impulsive individuals can be seen by others as colorful, fun-to-be-with, and zany. Conscientiousness includes the factor known as Need for achievement.

Nonetheless, acting on impulse can lead to trouble in a number of ways. Some impulses are antisocial. Uncontrolled antisocial acts not only harm other members of society but also can result in retribution toward the perpetrator of such impulsive acts. Another problem with impulsive acts is that they often produce immediate rewards but undesirable, long-term consequences. Examples include excessive socialising that leads to being fired from one’s job, hurling an insult that causes the break-up of an important relationship, or using pleasure-inducing drugs that eventually destroy one’s health.

Impulsive behaviour, even when not seriously destructive, diminishes a person’s effectiveness in significant ways. Acting impulsively disallows contemplating alternative courses of action, some of which would have been wiser than the impulsive choice. Impulsivity also sidetracks people during projects that require organised sequences of steps or stages. Accomplishments of an impulsive person are therefore small, scattered and inconsistent.

There are benefits of having a high level of conscientiousness. Conscientious individuals avoid trouble and achieve high levels of success through purposeful planning and persistence. They are positively regarded by others as intelligent and reliable. On the negative there can be compulsive perfectionism and workaholism. Extremely conscientious individuals might be regarded as stuffy and boring. Unconscientious people may be criticized for their unreliability, lack of ambition, and failure to stay within the lines, but they will experience many short-lived pleasures. they are unlikely to be called dull, boring, or unimaginative.

A hallmark of intelligence is the ability to think about future consequences before acting on an impulse. Intelligent activity involves contemplation of long-range goals, organising and planning routes to these goals and persisting toward one’s goals in the face of short-lived impulses to the contrary. The idea that intelligence involves impulse control is nicely captured by the term prudence, an alternative label for the Conscientiousness domain. Prudent means both wise and cautious. Persons who score high on the Conscientiousness scale are, in fact, perceived by others as intelligent.

Facets of Conscientiousness

• Sense of competence: Competency describes an individuals confidence in their ability to accomplish things.
• Orderliness: People with high scores on conscientiousness are well organised, tidy and neat.
• Sense of Responsibility: This facet reflects the strength of a persons sense of duty and obligation.
• Achievement-Striving: Individuals who score high in this area strive hard to achieve excellence.  Their drive to be recognised as successful keeps them on track as they work hard to achieve their goals.
• Self-Discipline: Self-discipline, also called ‘will-power’ by many people, refers to the ability to persist at difficult or unpleasant tasks until they are completed.
• Deliberateness: Also known as cautiousness, deliberateness describes the disposition to think carefully through possibilities before acting.

Sample Conscientiousness items

High Conscientiousness

• Am always prepared.
• Pay attention to details.
• Get chores done right away.
• Carry out my plans.
• Make plans and stick to them.
• Complete tasks successfully.
• Do things according to a plan.
• Am exacting in my work.
• Finish what I start.
• Follow through with my plans.

Low Conscientiousness

• Waste my time.
• Find it difficult to get down to work.
• Do just enough work to get by.
• Don’t see things through.
• Shirk my duties.
• Mess things up.
• Leave things unfinished.
• Don’t put my mind on the task at hand.
• Make a mess of things.
• Need a push to get started.

Using the descriptors above rate yourself on your overall level of conscientiousness.

High___________________________________________Low

Personality traits can be defined as habitual patterns of behavior, thought, and emotion. Traits are relatively stable over time, differ among individuals (e.g. some people are outgoing whereas others are shy), and influence behaviour. Some researchers believe that traits are a function of behavioural density ie what we do most of the time. Someone is called an extravert because this is their most common mode of behaving.

The traits of the 5 factor structure are listed below.

Openness to Experience

Conscientiousness

Extraversion

Agreeableness

Neuroticism

The five Factors can also be referred to by the acronym OCEAN. When you score the items the median is usually set at at 50%. For example, a Conscientiousness rating of  8 out of 10 indicates a relatively strong sense of responsibility and orderliness, whereas an Extraversion rating of 1 indicates an exceptional need for solitude and quiet.

It is important to note that these trait clusters are statistical aggregates, and that exceptions may exist for any given individual. On average, people high in Openness are intellectually curious, open to emotion, interested in art, and willing to try new things. A particular individual, however, may have a high overall Openness score and be interested in learning and exploring new cultures, yet have no great interest in art or poetry. Situational influences also exist, and even extraverts may occasionally need time away from people.

History

A number of research studies confirm the predictive value of the Big Five traits across a wide range of behaviors. There is a relationship between the Big Five personality dimensions and each of the 10 Personality Disorders listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). The researchers found that each disorder displayed a unique and predictable five-factor profile. The most prominent and consistent personality predictors underlying the disorders were positive associations with Neuroticism and negative associations with Agreeableness.

In the area of job performance it has been found that conscientiousness showed consistent relations with all performance criteria for all occupational groups. Extraversion was a valid predictor for occupations involving social interaction (e.g. management and sales). Furthermore, extraversion and openness to experience were valid predictors of training proficiency criteria.

Heritability studies

All five factors show an influence from both heredity and environment in roughly equal proportions.

Change and development

In young adulthood, a person’s ratings on the five factors may change, with average levels of Agreeableness and Conscientiousness typically increasing, and with Extraversion, Neuroticism, and Openness generally decreasing.

After age 30, stability of the traits, not change is the general rule. There is a remarkable stability in adulthood across age groups and across time. This is not to say that personality as measured by the Big Five cannot change, given life altering circumstances or efforts to do so. It would seem that after age 30, people generally do not change their personalities very much. Of course there are other aspect of personality to consider here such as ones characteristic adaptations, narrative identity and the role of culture.

Gender differences

There may be innate differences between men and women across cultures, with women scoring higher in both the Agreeableness and Neuroticism domains. These findings are not conclusive.

Cultural differences

There is a relationship between cultural factors such as , Individualism, Power Distance, Masculinity, and Uncertainty Avoidance and the average Big Five scores within a country. For example the degree a country values individualism correlates with its average Extraversion, while people living in cultures which are accepting of large inequalities in their power structures tend to score somewhat higher on Conscientiousness. The reasons for these differences are unknown.

Criticisms

A common criticism of the Big Five is that it does not explain all of human personality. Some psychologists believe the model neglects other domains of personality, such as religiosity, manipulativeness/machiavellianism,  honesty, thriftiness,  conservativeness, masculinity/femininity, snobbishness, sense of humour, identity, self concept and motivation. Correlations have been found between some of these variables and the Big Five, such as the inverse relationship between political conservatism and Openness.

Methodological issues

Another frequent criticism is that the Big Five is not based on any underlying theory. ; it is merely a finding that certain descriptors cluster together under a statistical method called factor analysis. This does not mean that these five factors don’t exist, just that the underlying causes of them are unknown. Several overarching theoretical models have been proposed to cover all of the Big Five, such as Five-Factor Theory and Social Investment Theory.

The factor distinguishes imaginative, creative people from down-to-earth, conventional people.

Openness to Experience describes a dimension of cognitive style that distinguishes imaginative, creative people from down-to-earth, conventional people. Open people are intellectually curious, appreciative of art and sensitive to beauty. They tend to be, compared to closed people, more aware of their feelings. They tend to think and act in individualistic, unconventional and nonconforming ways though their actions may be conforming. They are adventourous and imaginative.

‘Intellectuals’ typically score high on Openness to Experience; consequently, this factor has also been called Culture or Intellect. Nonetheless, Intellect is probably best regarded as one aspect of Openness to Experience. Scores on Openness to Experience are only modestly related to years of education and scores on standard intelligent tests.

Another characteristic of the open cognitive style is a facility for thinking in symbols and abstractions far removed from concrete experience. Depending on the individual’s specific intellectual abilities, this symbolic cognition may take the form of: mathematical, logical or geometric thinking – artistic and metaphorical use of language – music composition or performance – one of the many visual or performing arts.

People with low scores on Openness to Experience tend to have narrow, common interests. They prefer the plain, straightforward and obvious over the complex, ambiguous and subtle. They may regard the arts and sciences with suspicion, regarding these endeavours as obscure or of no practical use. Closed people prefer familiarity over novelty; they are conservative and resistant to change.

Openness is often perceived as healthier or more mature. However, both open and closed styles of thinking are useful in different environments. The intellectual style of the open person may serve a educator or strategist well.  However, research has shown that closed thinking is related to superior job performance in police work, sales and a number of service occupations.

Facets of Openness to experience.

• Imagination:  To imaginative individuals the real world is often too plain and ordinary. High scorers for this facet use fantasy, not as an escape, but as a way of creating for themselves, a more richer and  interesting inner-world.

• Aesthetics: The tendency to appreciate art, music and poetry. High scorers in this area love beauty, both in art and in nature. They become easily involved and absorbed in artistic and natural events.

• Depth of Emotions: People who score high for this facet have good access to, awareness and access to their own feelings. They value emotional experience.

• Willingness to Experiment: There is an inclination to be eager to try new activities, try new foods, visit new places and experience different things. They find familiarity and routine boring.

• Intellectual Curiosity: As intellect and artistic interests are the two most important, central aspects of Openness to Experience such people are curious and open to new ideas.

• Tolerance for diversity: Values – the readiness to re-examine traditional social, religious, and political values and to challenge authority and convention.

Sample Openness items

Openness

• Believe in the importance of art.
• Have a vivid imagination.
• Tend to vote for liberal political candidates.
• Carry the conversation to a higher level.
• Enjoy hearing new ideas.
• Enjoy thinking about things.
• Can say things beautifully.
• Enjoy wild flights of fantasy.
• Get excited by new ideas has excellent ideas.
• Have a rich vocabulary and use difficult words.
• Are quick to understand things.

Closed

• Not interested in abstract ideas.
• Do not like art.
• Avoid philosophical discussions.
• Do not enjoy going to art museums.
• Tend to vote for conservative political candidates.
• Do not like poetry.
• Rarely look for a deeper meaning in things.
• Believe that too much tax money goes to support artists.
• Am not interested in theoretical discussions.
• Have difficulty understanding abstract ideas.
• Do not have a good imagination

Openness

Rate your openness to experience along the line from open to closed.

Open___________________________________________closed

Causes of Openness

Openness is heritable, like all of the major personality dimensions. One environmental cause of increased openness appears to be exposure to tertiary (College) education.

Correlates of Openness

Openness is often presented as healthier or more mature by psychologists. However, open and closed styles of thinking are useful in different environments. The intellectual style of the open person may serve a professor well, but research has shown that closed thinking is related to superior job performance in police work, sales, and a number of service occupations.

Biology of Openness

Higher levels of Openness have been linked to activity in the ascending dopaminergic system and the functions of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Openness is the only personality trait that correlates with neuropsychological tests of dorsolateral prefrontal cortical function, supporting the link between Openness and IQ.

Dominance

Submissiveness: Deferential, cooperative, avoids conflict, submissive, humble, obedient, easily led, docile, accommodating

• Wait for others to lead the way.
• Never challenge things.
• Let others make the decisions.
• Let myself be pushed around.

Dominance: Dominant, forceful, assertive, aggressive, competitive, stubborn, bossy (Dominance)

• Take charge.
• Want to be in charge.
• Say what I think.
• Am not afraid of providing criticism.
• Take control of things.
• Can take strong measures.

Use the descriptors above to rate how submissive or dominant you are most of the time.

Dominance

Submissive ___________________________________________ Dominant

Reasoning

Concrete thinking: lower general mental capacity, less intelligent, unable to handle abstract problems

• Consider myself an average person.
• Get confused easily.
• Know that I am not a special person.
• Have a poor vocabulary.
• Skip difficult words while reading.

Abstract-thinking: more intelligent, bright, higher general mental capacity, fast learner

• Make insightful remarks.
• Know the answers to many questions.
• Tend to analyze things.
• Use my brain.
• Learn quickly.
• Counter others’ arguments.
• Reflect on things before acting.
• Weigh the pros against the cons.

Use the descriptors above to rate how concrete or abstract a thinker you are most of the time.

Reasoning

Concrete ___________________________________________ Abstract

Liveliness (Serious vs. Lively)

Serious: Serious, restrained, prudent, taciturn, introspective, silent

• Seldom joke around.
• Don’t like crowded events.
• Am the last to laugh at a joke.
• Dislike loud music.

Lively: Lively, animated, spontaneous, enthusiastic, happy go lucky, cheerful, expressive, impulsive

• Am the life of the party.
• Love large parties.
• Joke around a lot.
• Enjoy being part of a loud crowd.
• Amuse my friends.
• Act wild and crazy.

Use the descriptors above to rate how serious or lively you are most of the time.



Liveliness

Serious___________________________________________Lively

Rule-Consciousness (Expedient vs. Rule-Conscious)

Expedient: Expedient, nonconforming, disregards rules, self indulgent  (Low Super Ego Strength)

• Resist authority.
• Break rules.
• Use swear words.
• Oppose authority.
• Know how to get around the rules.

Rule Conscious: Rule-conscious, dutiful, conscientious, conforming, moralistic, staid, rule bound (High Super Ego Strength)

• Believe laws should be strictly enforced.
• Try to follow the rules.
• Believe in one true religion.
• Respect authority.
• Like to stand during the national anthem.

Using the descriptors above rate yourself  as to where you are on the line expedient to rule conscious most of the time.

Rule Consiousness

Expedient___________________________________________Rule Conscious