What are the key characteristics of someone with the personality dimension of high agreeableness?
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Personality is thought of by most people in terms of traits and researchers have investigated whether any traits stand up to scientific scrutiny and if some traits were associated with effective leadership. Research findings have been distilled into five general dimensions that describe personality. These are often called the Big Five personality dimensions, which describe an individual’s extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience. Each dimension contains a wide range of specific traits, for example, all of the personality traits that you would use to describe a teacher, friend, or boss could be categorised into one of the Big Five dimensions. These factors represent a continuum, in that a person may have a low, moderate, or high degree of each of the dimensions. Show
Extroversion is made up of traits and characteristics that influence behaviour in group settings. Extroversion refers to the degree to which a person is outgoing, sociable, talkative, and comfortable meeting and talking to new people. This dimension also includes the characteristic of dominance. A person with a high degree of dominance likes to be in control and have influence over others. These people often are quite self confident seek out positions of authority and are competitive and assertive. They like to be in charge of others or have responsibility for others; it is, therefore, obvious that both dominance and extroversion could be valuable for a leader. However, not all effective leaders necessarily have a high degree of these characteristics, Therefore the quality of extroversion is not as significant as is often presumed and a high degree of dominance could even be detrimental to effective leadership if not tempered by other qualities, such as agreeableness or emotional stability. Agreeableness refers to the degree to which a person is able to get along with others by being good-natured, cooperative, forgiving, compassionate, understanding, and trusting. A leader who scores high on agreeableness seems warm and approachable, whereas one who is low on this dimension may seem cold, distant, and insensitive. Leaders are making a concerted effort to present a friendlier face to employees, the public, and shareholders. Conscientiousness refers to the degree to which a person is responsible, dependable, persistent, and achievement-oriented. A conscientious person is focused on a few goals, which he or she pursues in a purposeful way, whereas a less conscientious person tends to be easily distracted and impulsive. Recent research suggests that traits of conscientiousness are also more important than those of extroversion for effective leadership. Emotional stability refers to the degree to which a person is well adjusted, calm, and secure. A leader, who is emotionally stable handles stress well, is able to handle criticism, and generally doesn’t make mistakes or failures personally. Leaders with emotional stability typically develop positive relationships and can also improve relationships among others. Leaders who have a low degree of emotional stability are likely to become tense, anxious, or depressed. They generally have lower self-confidence and may explode in emotional outbursts when stressed or criticised. Openness to experience is the degree to which a person has a broad range of interests and is imaginative, creative, and willing to consider new ideas. These people are intellectually curious and often seek out new experiences through travel, the arts, movies, reading widely, or other activities. People lower in this dimension tend to have narrower interests and stick to the tried-and-true ways of doing things. Open-mindedness is important to leaders because leadership is about change rather than stability. The intellectual property of JD The Big Five (also called Five Factor) trait model of personality is the most widely accepted personality theory in the scientific community. Although it is not as well understood among laypeople as systems like Myers-Briggs personality typing, it is generally believed to be the most scientifically sound way of conceptualizing the differences between people. The Big Five is so named because the model proposes that human personality can be measured along five major dimensions, each of which is distinct and independent from the others. The Big Five model is also sometimes called OCEAN or CANOE, both acronyms of the five personality traits. In the Big Five model, people are understood to have varying levels of key personality factors which drive our thoughts and behavior. Although personality traits cannot specifically predict behavior, differences in the Big Five factors help us to understand why people may react differently, behave differently, and see things differently from others in the same situation. The Big Five is a trait model of personality, rather than a type model. Most popular ways of describing personality talk about personality types, such as Type A or Type B personalities, or Myers & Briggs' INFPs and ESTJs. Although type models are easy to understand, they are not scientifically sound, as people don't neatly sort into categories. The Big Five describes people in terms of traits on a spectrum, and as such, is a much more valid and evidence-based means of understanding personality. In the Big Five model, the five dimensions of personality are: OpennessNot to be confused with one's tendency to be open and disclose their thoughts and feelings, Openness in the context of the Big Five refers more specifically to Openness to Experience, or openness to considering new ideas. This trait has also been called "Intellect" by some researchers, but this terminology has been largely abandoned because it implies that people high in Openness are more intelligent, which is not necessarily true. Openness describes a person's tendency to think abstractly. Those who are high in Openness tend to be creative, adventurous, and intellectual. They enjoy playing with ideas and discovering novel experiences. Those who are low in Openness tend to be practical, traditional, and focused on the concrete. They tend to avoid the unknown and follow traditional ways. In the brain, Openness seems to be related to the degree to which certain brain regions are interconnected. Those high in Openness seem to have more connection between disparate brain regions, which may explain why they are more likely to see connections where others do not. ConscientiousnessConscientiousness describes a person's level of goal orientation and persistence. Those who are high in Conscientiousness are organized and determined, and are able to forego immediate gratification for the sake of long-term achievement. Those who are low in this trait are impulsive and easily sidetracked. In the brain, Conscientiousness is associated with frontal lobe activity. The frontal lobe can be thought of as the "executive brain," moderating and regulating the more animal and instinctual impulses from other areas of the brain. For example, while we might instinctually want to eat a piece of cake that's in front of us, the frontal lobe steps in and says "no, that's not healthy, and it doesn't fit in with our diet goals." People who are high in Conscientiousness are more likely to use this brain region to control their impulses and keep themselves on track. ExtraversionExtraversion describes a person’s inclination to seek stimulation from the outside world, especially in the form of attention from other people. Extraverts engage actively with others to earn friendship, admiration, power, status, excitement, and romance. Introverts, on the other hand, conserve their energy, and do not work as hard to earn these social rewards. In the brain, Extraversion seems to be related to dopamine activity. Dopamine can be thought of as the "reward" neurotransmitter, and is the main chemical associated with our instinct to pursue a goal. The classic example is a rat in a maze, whose brain pumps out dopamine as he frantically seeks the cheese. Extraverts tend to have more dopamine activity, indicating that they are more responsive to the potential for a reward. Introverts have less dopamine activity, and so are less likely to put themselves out to chase down rewards. AgreeablenessAgreeableness describes the extent to which a person prioritizes the needs of others over their own needs. People who are high in Agreeableness experience a great deal of empathy and tend to get pleasure out of serving and taking care of others. People who are low in Agreeableness tend to experience less empathy and put their own concerns ahead of others. In the brain, high Agreeableness has been associated with increased activity in the superior temporal gyrus, a region responsible for language processing and the recognition of emotions in others. NeuroticismNeuroticism describes a person's tendency to respond to stressors with negative emotions, including fear, sadness, anxiety, guilt, and shame. This trait can be thought of as an alarm system. People experience negative emotions as a sign that something is wrong in the world. Fear is a response to danger, guilt a response to having done something wrong. However, not everyone has the same reaction to a given situation. High Neuroticism scorers are more likely to react to a situation with strong negative emotions. Low Neuroticism scorers are more likely to brush off their misfortune and move on. In the brain, Neuroticism appears to relate to the interconnection of several regions, including regions involved in processing negative stimuli (such as angry faces or aggressive dogs) and dealing with negative emotions. One study found an association between high Neuroticism and altered serotonin processing in the brain. How the Big Five Traits Describe PersonalityIndividuals are typically described in terms of having high, average, or low levels of the five personality factors. Each factor is independent from the others, so someone might be high in Extraversion and low in Agreeableness. To gain a full picture of an individual using the Big Five model, it's necessary to know how they measure up on each of the five dimensions. You can measure your own levels of the Big Five personality traits with a Big Five personality test. History of the Big FiveThe Big Five model has its roots in a theory called the lexical hypothesis—the idea that we can create a sort of taxonomy of individual differences by examining the language we use to describe each other. Early researchers took an inventory of words that describe personality traits, such as "friendly," "helpful," "aggressive," and "creative." They then attempted to organize these words into related clusters. For instance, a person who's described as friendly is also likely to be described as gregarious, talkative, and outgoing. Researchers consistently found that trait-related adjectives tended to cluster into five groups, corresponding to the five traits in the Big Five. Today, the Big Five model is the basis of most modern personality research, and as such has been used to illuminate everything from how much of our personality is inherited to which personality factors correlate with income. SourcesPersonality: What Makes You the Way You Are Handbook of Personality: Theory and Research What are characteristics of those who score high in agreeableness?Agreeableness is a personality trait that describes a person's ability to put others needs before their own. Those who are more agreeable are more likely to be empathetic and find pleasure in helping others and working with people who need more help.
What are characteristics of agreeableness?When it comes to personality traits, if you're someone that has scored high in agreeableness, you're likely popular and tend to make friends easily. You also may be seen as trustworthy, altruistic, honest, modest, empathetic, and cooperative.
What is the Big Five trait of agreeableness?The agreeableness trait reflects individual differences in 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.
What are the characteristics of a person who scores low on agreeableness?People who are low in Agreeableness tend to experience less empathy and put their own concerns ahead of others. Low scorers are often described as hostile, competitive, and antagonistic. They tend to have more conflictual relationships and often fall out with people.
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