The five broad personality traits described by the theory are extraversion (also often spelled extroversion), agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism.
Definition of Big Five Personality Traits:
The Five Factor Model breaks personality down into five components: Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Openness, and Stress Tolerance. Personality tests that are based on this model measure where an individual lies on the spectrum of each of the five traits.
In their research, they classified traits into five broad dimensions: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. You can remember them by using the acronyms OCEAN or CANOE. Openness - Describes an individual's openness to experience.
The Big Five personality dimensions are (1) extroversion, (2) agreeableness, (3) conscientiousness, (4) emotional stability, and (5) openness to experience.
Neuroticism, one of the Big 5 personality traits, is typically defined as a tendency toward anxiety, depression, self-doubt, and other negative feelings. All personality traits, including neuroticism, exist on a spectrum—some people are just much more neurotic than others.
The Openness trait assesses how open-minded, imaginative, creative, and insightful a person is. Those who are more open tend to be more willing to listen to multiple viewpoints or try new things. Those who are lower in openness tend to be averse to change and skeptical of new ideas.
Conscientiousness is a fundamental personality trait—one of the Big Five—that reflects the tendency to be responsible, organized, hard-working, goal-directed, and to adhere to norms and rules.
Neuroticism is the trait disposition to experience negative affects, including anger, anxiety, self‐consciousness, irritability, emotional instability, and depression1.
Agreeableness is the general concern for social harmony. Agreeable individuals value getting along with others. They are generally considerate, kind, generous, trusting and trustworthy, helpful, and willing to compromise their interests with others.
People high in agreeableness are more trusting, affectionate, altruistic, and generally displaying more prosocial behaviors than others. People high in this prosocial trait are particularly empathetic, showing great concern for the welfare of others, they are the first to help those in need.
Agreeableness is a personality trait that describes a person's ability to put others needs before their own. Being empathetic and finding pleasure in helping others and working with people who need more help is a particular strength of highly agreeable individuals.
Here's a very simple example: A person who is high in neuroticism and high in agreeableness has many negative emotions but is nonetheless a pleasant person who probably tries hard to please other people. His neuroticism may make him clingy, maybe even annoying, but it doesn't negatively affect other people very much.
People who are low in Agreeableness are less likely to get along with others, trust others, or be sympathetic to the needs of those around them. They tend to be less moved by their emotions or perceptive to the needs of others, though they may still feel an instinct to care for close loved ones.
They generally have an optimistic view of human nature and get along well with others. A person who scores low on agreeableness may put their own interests above those of others. They tend to be distant, unfriendly, and uncooperative.
It's a test that can be used to measure a person's most important personality characteristics and which roles are the best suited to them. Recruiters can also use it to find people who have the personality, as well as the skills, to fit the roles that they are hiring for.
Individuals who are high on neuroticism tend to be sensitive, apprehensive and prone to worrying. They may be impulsive, pessimistic, or struggle to cope with stress. Individuals who are high in neuroticism tend to feel emotions intensely and get upset easily.
People with avoidant personality disorder have chronic feelings of inadequacy and are highly sensitive to being negatively judged by others. Though they would like to interact with others, they tend to avoid social interaction due to the intense fear of being rejected by others.
Emotionally stable persons tolerate minor stresses and strains of day to day living without becoming emotionally upset, anxious, nervous, tense, or angry. They are able to maintain composure under minor emotional stress.
In particular, they talk about the "Big Five": openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. Evidence suggests that these traits aren't fixed at all, and some research shows you can intentionally change these personality traits.
Staying away from procrastination and preferring to complete assignments much ahead of time is one of the most prominent examples of conscientiousness in the workplace. These are the people who've never failed to meet a deadline. Conscientious people are strict followers of rules and regulations.
Openness is how open-minded, imaginative, creative and insightful a person is or can be. More open minded people tend to prefer variety, seek new experiences and are curious and perceptive to their environment.
The Conscientiousness trait (efficient/organized vs. easygoing/careless) denotes a tendency to be organized and dependable, to show self-discipline, to aim for achievement, and to prefer planned rather than spontaneous behavior.
Those who are low in Conscientiousness tend to avoid planning ahead. They may have difficulty pursuing long-term goals because they are easily distracted and tend to follow their impulses. They may struggle with self-discipline in general. Other people may see them as flaky, irresponsible, or unpredictable.