It's one of the five traits that make up the Big Five personality inventory— and while the inventory is not without its critics, it's often held up as the gold standard of personality measure. The other four traits include:. Agreeableness tends to increase gradually until adulthood. It's natural for kids and teens to go through periods of low agreeableness, such as during puberty.
Even then, though, some tweens will be more agreeable than others when dealing with the challenges in their environment. Agreeableness includes attributes such as trust, altruism, kindness, affection, and other prosocial behaviors.
A person who has strong leanings toward being agreeable is very people-oriented. He or she will have excellent social skills, enjoy group interactions, shows affection easily, and find it easy to collaborate with others. Those people who score low for this trait generally find it difficult to interact well with others, avoid socializing in groups, tend to distrust others, and have poor social skills. Most people fall somewhere between the two extremes.
Of course, it is always a plus to have the capacity to collaborate, socialize, and build positive relationships with others. And "agreeable" people are likely to do well in fields in which these skills are important. Agreeableness, however, can have its drawbacks. Agreeable people, for example, may find it very difficult to work alone, analyze the validity of arguments, make difficult decisions, or give bad news. As a result, a low level of agreeableness may make it easier to succeed in some fields.
The degree to which a person presents particular traits does depend upon innate personality, but it also depends a great deal upon circumstances. Even the most agreeable person may become less agreeable when faced with direct competition for critical resources or important opportunities.
On the other hand, research suggests that it is possible to increase agreeableness through:. It may not be surprising that very young children are, in general, more self-centered and less agreeable than adults. It may be that adults' experience with the ups and downs of life make them more empathetic to others' pain. A third explanation may be that we learn, over time, that most people are more likely to accede to our requests if we first build a trusting relationship.
CANOE for conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness, and extraversion is another commonly used acronym. It is important to note that each of the five personality factors represents a range between two extremes. For example, extraversion represents a continuum between extreme extraversion and extreme introversion. In the real world, most people lie somewhere in between the two polar ends of each dimension. These five categories are usually described as follows. This trait features characteristics such as imagination and insight.
They are curious about the world and other people and eager to learn new things and enjoy new experiences. People who are high in this trait tend to be more adventurous and creative.
People low in this trait are often much more traditional and may struggle with abstract thinking. Very creative. Standard features of this dimension include high levels of thoughtfulness, good impulse control, and goal-directed behaviors.
They plan ahead, think about how their behavior affects others, and are mindful of deadlines. Procrastinates important tasks. Extraversion or extroversion is characterized by excitability, sociability, talkativeness, assertiveness, and high amounts of emotional expressiveness. Being around other people helps them feel energized and excited. People who are low in extraversion or introverted tend to be more reserved and have less energy to expend in social settings.
Social events can feel draining and introverts often require a period of solitude and quiet in order to "recharge. This personality dimension includes attributes such as trust, altruism , kindness, affection, and other prosocial behaviors. Feels empathy and concern for other people. Neuroticism is a trait characterized by sadness, moodiness, and emotional instability.
Those low in this trait tend to be more stable and emotionally resilient. McCrae and his colleagues have also found that the big five traits are also remarkably universal. One study that looked at people from more than 50 different cultures found that the five dimensions could be accurately used to describe personality.
Based on this research, many psychologists now believe that the five personality dimensions are not only universal; they also have biological origins.
Psychologist David Buss has proposed that an evolutionary explanation for these five core personality traits, suggesting that these personality traits represent the most important qualities that shape our social landscape. Research suggests that both biological and environmental influences play a role in shaping our personalities.
Twin studies suggest that both nature and nurture play a role in the development of each of the five personality factors. One study of the genetic and environmental underpinnings of the five traits looked at pairs of identical twins and pairs of fraternal twins. The findings suggested that the heritability of each trait was 53 percent for extraversion, 41 percent for agreeableness, 44 percent for conscientiousness, 41 percent for neuroticism, and 61 for openness.
Longitudinal studies also suggest that these big five personality traits tend to be relatively stable over the course of adulthood. One study of working-age adults found that personality tended to be stable over a four-year period and displayed little change as a result of adverse life events.
Studies have shown that maturation may have an impact on the five traits. As people age, they tend to become less extraverted, less neurotic, and less open to the experience.
Agreeableness and conscientiousness, on the other hand, tend to increase as people grow older. Always remember that behavior involves an interaction between a person's underlying personality and situational variables. The situation that a person finds himself or herself plays a major role in how the person reacts.
Studies from different countries also support the idea of a strong genetic basis for the Big Five personality traits Riemann et al. Differences in the Big Five personality traits between genders have been observed, but these differences are small compared to differences between individuals within the same gender.
Costa et al. Women reported themselves to be higher in Neuroticism, Agreeableness, Warmth a facet of Extraversion , and Openness to Feelings compared to men. Men reported themselves to be higher in Assertiveness a facet of Extraversion and Openness to Ideas. Another interesting finding was that bigger gender differences were reported in Western, industrialized countries. Researchers proposed that the most plausible reason for this finding was attribution processes.
They surmised that actions of women in individualistic countries would be more likely to be attributed to her personality whereas actions of women in collectivistic countries would be more likely to be attributed to their compliance with gender role norms. In marriages where one partner scores lower than the other on agreeableness, stability, and openness, there is likely to be marital dissatisfaction Myers, Neuroticism seems to be a risk factor for many health problems, including depression, schizophrenia, diabetes, asthma, irritable bowel syndrome, and heart disease Lahey, People high in neuroticism are particularly vulnerable to mood disorders such as depression.
There is evidence to suggest that conscientiousness is a protective factor against health diseases. Researchers believe that such is due to conscientious people having regular and well-structured lives, as well as the impulse control to follow diets, treatment plans, etc.
A high score on conscientiousness predicts better high school and university grades Myers, A high score of conscientiousness has been shown to relate to high work performance across all dimensions. The other traits have been shown to predict more specific aspects of job performance. For instance, agreeableness and neuroticism predict better performance in jobs where teamwork is involved.
However, agreeableness is negatively related to individual proactivity. Openness to experience is positively related to individual proactivity but negatively related to team efficiency Neal et al. The Big Five was developed to organize personality traits rather than as a comprehensive theory of personality. It also does not sufficiently provide a causal reason for human behavior.
Although the Big Five has been tested in many countries and its existence is generally supported by findings McCrae, , there have been some studies that do not support its model. Most previous studies have tested the presence of the Big Five in urbanized, literate populations. A study by Gurven et al. They administered a item Big Five Inventory but found that the participants did not sort the items in consistency with the Big Five traits. More research in illiterate and non-industrialized populations is needed to clarify such discrepancies.
A common criticism of the Big Five is that each trait is too broad. There is also an argument from psychologists that more than five traits are required to encompass the entirety of personality. Annabelle Lim is a second-year student majoring in psychology and minoring in educational studies at Harvard College. She is interested in the intersections between psychology and education, as well as psychology and the law.
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Journal of personality and social psychology, 2 , — Jang, K. Heritability of facet-level traits in a cross-cultural twin sample: Support for a hierarchical model of personality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74 6 , — John, O. The Big-Five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives. John Eds. New York: Guilford Press. Lahey B.
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