Personality and Happiness: The “Big Five”

 Meehl’s prediction about the relationship of positive affectivity to the personality trait of

extraversion has been borne out by subsequent research. Studies also find a strong tie

between negative affectivity and neuroticism. Extraversion and neuroticism are two

factors in what is called the Big Five Theory, or fivefactor model of personality. Before

examining the connection of affectivity to personality, we will summarize the five-factor

model.

 Over the last three decades, personality researchers have accumulated an impressive

amount of evidence that five relatively independent factors describe the essential features

of individual personality (John & Srivastava, 1999; McCrae & Allik, 2002). The five

factors are very stable across a person’s lifetime and have been validated in cultures

around the world (McCrae & Costa, 1997; McCrae & Terracciano, 2005).

 Each of the five global traits (extraversion, neuroticism, openness to experience,

agreeableness, and conscientiousness) is made up of more specific, subordinate traits. A

commonly used questionnaire measure assesses six facets for each of the five global trait

dimensions (Costa & McCrae, 1992; McCrae, Costa, & Martin, 2005).

 Extraversion

Extraverted people are sociable, outgoing, and actively engaged with the world. More

specific traits of extraversion include characteristics like personal warmth, gregariousness,

assertiveness, excitement seeking, and frequent positive emotions. Introversion, which is at the

opposite end of this dimension and is indicated by a low score on the extraversion scale,

describes people who are relatively detached from others, withdrawn, unassertive, contemplative,

and reserved in their emotional expression.

  Neuroticism

People high in neuroticism tend to be tense, anxious, moody, and more emotionally reactive

to events than most people. They experience more frequent negative emotions like anger and

depression, and are more impulsive, self-conscious, and vulnerable. Emotional stability is the

opposite of neuroticism and is characterized by calmness, emotional control, feelings of security,

low reactivity, and relative freedom from persistent negative feelings.

 Agreeableness

Agreeableness reflects a person’s concern with getting along and cooperating with others,

even if it means compromising their own interests. Specific traits related to agreeableness

include being trusting, straightforward, helpful, compliant, modest, and tender-minded (in the

sense of believing in the honesty and basic goodness of other people). Antagonism or

disagreeableness is at the opposite end of this continuum and is characterized by suspicion and

distrust of others, and a conniving, selfish, non-compliant, hard-hearted, and cynical stance

toward others.

 Conscientiousness

Conscientiousness refers to people’s level of discipline, self-control, and organization.

Highly conscientious people are organized, competent, self-disciplined, deliberative, persistent,

and dutiful, and have strong strivings for achievement. At the opposite end of this continuum,

undirectedness is characterized by less competence, lack of achievement orientation,

disorganization, impulsivity, carelessness, and neglectfulness.

  Openness to Experience

Openness to experience describes the difference between people who are imaginative and

creative and those who are more conventional and down-to-earth. Openness to experience

includes specific traits related to fantasy, preference for variety and novelty, aesthetics

(appreciation of art and beauty), and independence. Conversely, non-openness is characterized

by practical-mindedness, preference for routine over variety, preference for the straightforward

over the complex, and greater conformity. After examining descriptions of the five factors, you

may wonder if that is all there is to your personality. Do these five factors adequately describe

the many features of your personality? Two things are worth keeping in mind. First, when

personality researchers measure a large number of traits within a population of people, they do

indeed find that most traits are related to one of the Big Five. That is, no matter what they assess,

the same underlying five-part structure emerges. Second, each dimension is made up of a number

of more specific traits that help capture people’s unique personalities. If you are curious about

your own Big Five scores, you might want to look at one of several versions of the five-factor

questionnaire currently on the Internet. If you do a Google search using the term “Big Five

Personality test,” you can take a selftest and see how your own personality would be described in

terms of a Big Five profile.

Each of the Big Five personality traits has been found to be highly heritable. Adoption

and twin studies show heritability estimates between 0.40 and 0.60 (Bouchard, 2004; Loehlin,

1992; Loehlin, McCrae, Costa, & John, 1998; Lykken & Tellegen, 1996; Tellegen et al., 1988;

Yamagata et al., 2006). On average, about 50% of the variance in personality traits within a

group of people are attributable to genetic differences. Together with studies finding a genetic
basis for affectivity, these results point to the powerful role of heritability in determining

people’s overall and long-term levels of happiness and well-being.