Exploring Personality Traits: The Big 5 or OCEANs 5
Mental health illustrations by Storyset
Do you believe in generalizations? Do you think it is possible to make general statements about people in a group and have validity to your claims?
For example, are women more emotional than men? Are men more aggressive? Are Americans more open-minded than Nigerians, or are Northern Nigerians even more close-minded? Can you say Christians are more open-minded than Muslim people, or is it like comparing apples to oranges?
To me, the answer to all of these questions is yes, except for the last one. If we can’t see characteristics in people and compare them, there is no science in behavior and no categorization. The problem with behavioral science is that there are so many factors that come into play in behavior that people either get overwhelmed by the discussion or simply give up on the validity.
This tends to happen when I am discussing gender differences with my sister or female colleagues, but they are gradually coming around. I tell my sister that men are more aggressive than women, and in fact, it is so obvious that men make up the majority of prisoners. She agrees, but when I explain that women tend to experience more negative emotions than men, she asks how.
Then, she'll bring up women she knows who are less emotional than most men, and defend her position until the conversation ends with her being emotional and not wanting to talk about it.
So, with this topic, I know people tend to get critical, but that shouldn't stop the discussions around it.
The Big 5 or OCEANs 5
Mental health illustrations by Storyset
The Big 5 personality traits, also known as the Five-Factor Model (FFM), is the backbone for explaining and compartmentalizing personality. The acronym for the different personality traits is OCEAN, but I added the 5 at the back so it would sound like “Ocean's Eleven” after the American heist movie (not like I am particularly a fan).
The OCEAN acronym stands for Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. The quality I was trying to explain to my sister is called Neuroticism, and it has to do with the amount of negative emotion a person experiences per unit of stress.
I argue with my colleagues (who are doctors) all the time about the personalities that are more likely to become doctors, engineers, and nurses.
It is borderline nerve-wracking that they cannot see what I am trying to show them. Will you be able to see it, or will you get caught up with how well it applies to you?
Openness
Mental health illustrations by Storyset
People who are more open-minded or rank higher in openness tend to be more creative, curious, and willing to explore new ideas and experiences. They also tend to be less judgmental towards the beliefs and thoughts of others.
Without delving too deeply, those who would fit into this category would be artists of every kind. At least they would rank higher than the general population.
I think I would fit perfectly into this category. In general, I also think psychiatrists would fit perfectly into this field as they have to deal with conditions unconventionally at times.
I also have a very expressive artistic side that you can scroll down my blog to find out more about if you are interested.
Conscientiousness
Mental health illustrations by Storyset
This trait is associated with self-discipline, organization, and a strong sense of responsibility.
Just looking at this criterion for this category, I can already sense that surgeons would fit into this perfectly. At the same time, *I am not one to be top-notch with any of *that, which is weird seeing as my blog is all about discipline.
I think this is why I feel like sometimes I am preaching to the choir with a lot of my posts about discipline. People probably get this more than me.
There is probably nothing wrong with making your weaknesses strengths in that case while knowing where you'd do better in.
Extraversion
Mental health illustrations by Storyset
This trait is associated with sociability and the tendency to seek out stimulation and excitement.
In this regard, I also lack this ability. My two closest friends probably rank higher in this, and they can spend hours a day talking about their lives. I'll get burnt out, have headaches, and want to sleep after some time.
Does it mean I don't love them? No, I don't have their energy. It is probably why we became very close too.
My dad is also like this, and he has very few close friends. They talk from time to time too. He just likes staying exactly where he is and socializes with family.
Agreeableness
Mental health illustrations by Storyset
This trait is associated with empathy, cooperativeness, and a desire to maintain harmonious relationships with others. These types of people have a higher tendency to be more compassionate and considerate and make compromises to avoid conflict.
Generally speaking, women tend to be more likely to fit this role more than men, but it is not by a lot.
It's more like 60% of women are more agreeable than the general population, while 40% of men are more agreeable than the general population.
Stats like this give way to a lot of middle ground between the sexes and the tendency to have a huge population of people to point out as examples when comparing sexes.
Several meta-analyses done confirm this.
The discussions around this topic in the Red Pill (manosphere) community have been so flawed and tend to presume that most women and men can never be on the same level of agreeableness. While in reality there will be many cases of overlap between the sexes.
This, in itself, is a topic worth diving into separately, and I will have to make time for it.
Neuroticism
Mental health illustrations by Storyset
This is associated with negative emotions such as anxiety, depression, and anger, and those who are higher in these emotions are more sensitive to stress and may experience stronger emotional reactions to challenging situations.
This is another area where there seems to be an overlap between the sexes, but there are more women who are neurotic than men. In a study done among college students in Indonesia, they found that women scored higher in total than men by more than 10% according to their scoring system. But 10% is not a lot, although it is statistically significant.
What does all this mean? Well, I think it has some merits for you if you know the situations you work best in.
You can send me a message on WhatsApp at +2348134530293, and we can have a conversation, or you can speak with a licensed therapist.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Big 5 or OCEANs 5 provide a useful framework for understanding and compartmentalizing personality traits. While it is possible to make generalizations about certain traits and how they manifest in different individuals and groups, it is important to remember that there will always be exceptions and variations.
Furthermore, it is important to approach discussions around personality traits with an open mind and a willingness to learn from others. It can be easy to get caught up in personal biases and experiences, but being receptive to new ideas and perspectives can broaden our understanding of human behavior and personality.
Overall, the Big 5 personality traits provide a valuable starting point for understanding personality, but it is up to each individual to explore their own unique traits and characteristics. So, let's keep the conversation going and continue to learn more about ourselves and others.
Inkscape.org
Do you agree that generalizations about people in a group can have validity to some extent? Why or why not? Have you heard of the Big 5 personality traits before? Which of the OCEAN traits do you think you identify with the most?
Do you think the personality traits described in the post are useful for categorizing people, or are they too broad to be meaningful? What do you think about the idea that certain professions or fields attract people with certain personality traits? Have you noticed any patterns in your own profession or social circles?
How do you think gender differences and generalizations about gender play into the discussion of personality traits? Do you think there are any traits that are more common among one gender than the other?
References
- How Univ How Universal is the Big Fiv ersal is the Big Five? Testing the Fiv esting the Five-Factor Model of or Model of
Personality V ersonality Variation Among F ariation Among Forager-Farmers in the Bolivian armers in the Bolivian
Amazon - Gender Differences in Neuroticism on College Students
- What Are The Big 5 Personality Traits?
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Sometimes you will hear scientists use the phrase, "you can't do just one thing". Meaning, if you change one variable, something else will change. And you don't need to change it in actual fact: you can do it in imagination. For example, if you change "man" to "woman", it's unlikely that will be the only thing that you will change. If we have the ability to tell that a large group of people are women, and another large group of people are men, it's highly unlikely that is the only thing in which they are different. And that is in fact the case: there is a large literature exploring - and finding - large sex differences.
But we live in an age where people so much want to deny nature and differences, that they're even denying that biological sex is real! They think it's a social construction.
This information is being buried the under the rug these days or denied its validity... level of dissonance people experience defending lies is unusual enough in terms of experience. which ok but the truth is the truth even if no one acknowledges it....
My problem is that the mental health and behavioral science faculties in most institutions are being willfully ignorant