The Big 5 Trait Test
“Which Disney princess are you?”, “Which Hogwarts house do you belong to?”, “What does your horoscope say about you?”. You can find these types of quizzes everywhere from gossip magazines like cosmopolitan to pop news websites like Buzzfeed. But why are these fun quizzes so popular, and what are they actually telling us? In an age of self-image, tailored social media profiles, and selfies people are more obsessed about themselves than ever. People want to know more about me, me, and me. If the quiz tells you that you belong in house Gryffindor, then you “know” that you’re a brave individual who’d stick up for your friends. If you’re placed in Slytherin, then you “know” that you have ruthless ambition and might be able to talk to snakes. At the core of all these “tests” is an unveiling one’s personality. Despite the prevalence of these creative quizzes, there is a standardized, reliable test available to assess personality: the Big Five Trait test.
Developed by McAdams, the Big 5 refers to the 5 main personality traits recognized by personality psychologists. They are Openness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. Openness defined as receptiveness to new ideas and experiences. Conscientiousness defined as one’s inclination towards organization, persistence, and goal directed behavior. Extroversion defined as being outgoing, sociable, assertive. Agreeableness defined as concern for others, empathy, warm interpersonal interactions. Neuroticism defined as an anticipation of negative emotions and anxiety.
These traits weren’t randomly chosen for their significance. Through lexical and factor analysis, McAdams took all English words that describe personality (~18000 words), narrowed that list down to only include stable traits (~5000 words), factored out synonyms (~180 words), and finally merged terms related by underlying themes to form 5 basic dimensions of personality. Interestingly, the Big 5 remains consistent even when factor analysis is applied to other languages. This suggests that the test is measuring universal human personality traits present irrespective of culture.
The Big 5 test itself consists of several multiple choice survey questions that elucidate whether you are considered high or low for a certain trait. A person’s responses are compared to the standard distribution of the area in which the person is living, therefore where one places on their big 5 traits is relative to the people around them. For example in the USA people tend to score higher on extroversion in comparison to people from other countries. Therefore you can be considered average on extroversion when compared to US residents, but at the same time can be considered above average on extroversion if compared to Japanese residents (who generally score lower as a society in extroversion).
What makes the Big 5 interesting to look at is the fact that it has some accuracy in predicting life outcomes. The trait neuroticism, for example, is known to be associated with higher divorce rates while the trait extroversion is associated with overall happiness. Additionally, the Big 5 are generally observed to be stable throughout one’s lifetime, with the exception of early adolescence and early adulthood. Both of these time periods in one’s life can see large changes in one’s life, and is seen as a period of lability during which one can alter certain aspects of one’s personality. In addition to these associations, researchers are finding that the Big 5 have implications on several other aspects of a person’s life as well.
While the Big 5 Trait test may not be as fun as finding out which Disney character you most resemble, it gives a lot more information and in the field of human personality research, is one of the premier ways in which psychologists can assess a person’s personality. While it may not capture the individual complexities of an individual’s personal narrative, it’s a good start in knowing about a person and the results you get can tell you a lot about what to expect in your future.
