Big Five

Personality test has evolved since the early thoughts and thinking of Freud. Big Five has taken up the competition with the MBTI about being the most popular/progressive personality test.

Big Five Personality dimensions

The Big Five personality dimensions is summarized below:

•    Openness - open-minded, an interest in art, emotional, adventurous, new ideas and curiosity.

•    Conscientiousness - typically self-disciplined, result oriented and structured, tradition and dutiful.

•    Extraversion - high energy level, people person, extrovert and gets stimulated by being around others.

•    Agreeableness - compassionate, cooperative, ability to forgive and being pragmatic, lets get the thing done.

•    Neuroticism - sensible, vulnerable, in extreme: emotional unstable and neurotic.

The big five model tests helps you identify your personality dimensions and explore your strength and weaknesses. You must be honest while answering the questions because feedback is given only with your answers.

Feedback based on big five model is generally given in percentile scores signifying the presence of each of the factor in your whole personality.

Average score: Big Five Personality

Studies suggest that that the average score on the Big Five dimensions is as follows:

•    Openness: 57%

•    Extraversion: 54%

•    Conscientiousness: 49%

•    Neuroticism: 48%

•    Agreeableness: 42%

Big Five History

Big Five has many mothers/fathers - among others: H. S. Odbert, Raymond Cattell, Ernest Tupes, Raymond Christal, Walter Mischel, Lewis Goldberg, Sir Francis Galton and Gordon Allport.

Psychologists have analyzed several thousands of people asking them hundreds of questions. The results led to the formation of five general personality dimmensions/traits: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism.

Discussion & Critique of the Big Five

Critics argue that there are limitations to the construct of the Big Five as an explanatory or predictive tool. It is argued that the Big Five does not explain all of human personality.

Another frequent criticism is that the Big Five is not theory-driven. It is merely a data-driven investigation of certain descriptors that tend to cluster together under factor analysis.

The big five model is itself interrelated. Positive and negative correlations exist between the factors that form the model. There are people who say that the model does not suffice for further analysis of persons according to psychology. However, the big five model does give you a good overall introduction about your personality.