What sort of a person are you? Not to be rude, but really: there’s something odd about the fact that your personality cannot be easily assessed. A medical doctor can easily diagnosed you if you have a fever, or treat you of a cold. But how can you measure your personality? There’s a personality test that could help you know you. Let’s take a dive in the ‘OCEAN.’ This is the Big Five Personality Traits.
Related media: The Big 5 OCEAN Traits Explained – Personality Quizzes
There’s An OCEAN In You
The Big Five Personality Test comprises of the five scientifically proven personality traits: Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion (and Introversion), Agreeableness, and Neuroticism; or simply remember the acronym ‘OCEAN.’ It is the five-point personality profile professional clinical psychologists use to assess the psychological states of their patients.
Each of these traits come together and make up total psychological personality. Let’s digest each trait to help you understand them better.
- Openness to experience: This is used to describe human personality which has six dimensions, including active imagination, aesthetic sensitivity, attentiveness to inner feelings, preference for variety, and intellectual curiosity.
- Conscientiousness: This is the personality trait of being careful, or diligent. It implies a desire to do a task well, and to take obligations to others seriously. Conscientious people tend to be efficient and organized as opposed to easy-going and disorderly.
- Extraversion and Introversion: The traits of extraversion and introversion are a central dimension in some human personality theories. Both terms were popularized by Carl Jung, which helps in understanding and psychological usage differ from his original intent.
- Agreeableness: This is a personality trait manifesting itself in individual behavioral characteristics that are perceived as kind, sympathetic, cooperative, warm, and considerate.
- Neuroticism: This is part of the higher-order personality traits in the study of psychology. Individuals are more likely than average to be moody and to experience such feelings as anxiety, worry, fear, anger, frustration, envy, jealousy, guilt, depressed mood, and loneliness.
Take A Dive In The OCEAN
The International Personality Item Pool can help you find out exactly where your personality place on the board. However, there are two versions of the test: The 300-point test, and the 120-point test. John Johnson, a psychology professor at Pennsylvania State University, who put forth this personality test, suggests that the 300-point test is perhaps more accurate, but warns that it could take you up to 40 minutes, and worse, website might crash. So you’d want to try the 120-point test instead, since it takes only 15 minutes tops if your internet connection is in good condition.
One hundred twenty questions sounds like a lot. The points are based on short statements about things you often (and not) do, such as “do you keep your promises,” and “do you go on binges.” You get to answer the questions on a scale ranging from “very inaccurate” to “accurate” depending on what applies to you. When your results are in, you’ll be ranked exactly on (you guessed it) how open you are to experiences, how conscientious you are, how extroverted you are, how agreeable you are, and how neurotic you are.
What’s Beneath Your OCEAN?
Here’s the thing: The test is not assessing you on just the Big Five. Each personality traits has sub-traits as well. For instance, under Extraversion, you’re being assessed on things like “assertiveness,” “friendliness,” and “cheerfulness.” Agreeableness includes “trust,” “morality,” and “modesty.” And Neuroticism, our dark-horse personality trait, includes “anxiety,” “anger,” “depression,” and “self-consciousness.”
And least we forget, the test isn’t really a true judgment of your worth or quality as a person. For instance, if you score low on “morality,” that doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. You might be more guarded than others, or you’re less open with the truth than the average person. After all, its just a test, and don’t get really infested with it that much. But we’re not discouraging you from taking the test. Go ahead if you think so.
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Written by: Nana Kwadwo, Mon, Apr 22, 2019.
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