Neuroticism boldly contrasts with the other personality traits in the Five Factor Model for personality (Openness, Agreeableness, Extraversion, Contentiousness, and Neuroticism). An individual being high in any of the other four traits could hardly be considered pathological. For example, high levels of agreeableness, within reason, would probably be considered to be a positive and healthy characteristic. However, the discussion regarding neuroticism certainly takes a darker turn. Gunthert, Cohen, and Armeli (1999) in their study, operationally define neuroticism as a predisposition to experience negative affect (negative emotional systems). Lahey (2009) defines it slightly differently, as the tendency to “respond with negative emotions to threat, frustration, or loss.” More generally, the personality trait is characterized by anxiety, angry hostility, depression, self-consciousness, impulsiveness, and vulnerability (Cervone & Pervin, 2010). Neuroticism has critical implications outside of personality psychology. Some researchers suggest that neuroticism is significantly correlated with both physical and mental health issues more so than any other personality trait variable. This increased risk is not just for a particular group of pathologies; neuroticism has been linked to Axis I and II disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) across the board (Lahey, 2009). In some occupational performance studies, negative affect was negatively related to job performance (Kaplan, Bradley, Luchman, & Haynes, 2009). This may be extrapolated to individuals high in neuroticism, as it the trait is the predisposition for the experience of negative affect. Research on daily stress and coping showed th...
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...itive and negative affectivity in job performance: A meta-analytic investigation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94(1), 162-176. doi:10.1037/a0013115
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In the field of Psychology, more specifically health-behavioral research, there has been resounding interest in the structure and measurement of, what the psychological community refers to as, affect. Affect refers to how we, as humans, “experience emotion” and can be broken down into two dominant affective state dimensions, positive and negative affect (Hogg, Abrams, & Martin, 2010)(Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988). According to Watson, Clark, & Tellegen (1988), positive affect (PA) refers to how enthusiastic and active a person is and negative affect (NA) refers to a general dimension of distress and displeasure. Tellegen (1985) claims that not only do these terms refer to affective state, but also affective trait dimensions, indicating that, “Trait PA and NA roughly correspond to the personality factors of extraversion and neuroticism,” respectively. While many PA and NA scales have been developed, however, these scales were unable to develop items for PA and NA that were statistically independent of each other. In an attempt to operationalize the orthogonal dimensions of positive and negative affect, Watson, Clark & and Tellegen (1988) developed The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (i.e. PANAS). In the following review, I will evaluate and critique the PANAS, as a measure of trait affect, focusing on the reliability and validity of scores, test content, and the manner in which it is used.
Ms. M’s results suggested that she does not trust her environment. Her mistrust is also directed towards other people because she is uncertain how other people will react to her. Therefore, she exudes a lot of effort towards safeguarding her behavior when around other people. However, the amount of effort she puts forth negatively affects her self-perception, as she has a pessimistic view of herself. The pessimism and mistrust towards her environment also negatively affect her problem solving and decision making
Twenge, J. M., & Campbell, K. W. (2016). Personality Psychology: Understanding Yourself and Others. Boston:
How do you measure personality? In order to understand how to measure personality, it is important to first understand what exactly personality is. As defined by Laura King in The Science of Psychology, personality is a pattern of enduring, distinctive thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that characterize the way an individual adapts to the world (2017). Personality is a very complex and complicated area of psychology, so much so that many theories and perspectives have been developed in an attempt to explain it. One of the most prominent models to explain personality was developed by W.T. Norman. His Five Factor Model of Personality categorizes personality into five main dimensions known as traits, and these traits include: Openness, Conscientiousness,
five factor theory is a fairly recent proposal and has its basis in earlier work,
The Neuroticism-Extraversion-Openness Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) is a widely used personality inventory. It has sixty questions using a Likert scale that measures five personality traits: OCEAN – openness (to experience,), conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. My overall results from the NEO-FFI were low in neuroticism, low in extraversion, high in openness, average in agreeableness, and high in conscientiousness. Likewise, my results were fairly consistent with what I had originally perceived my scores to be. Overall, I do agree with my results since there were many consistencies I recognized. Yet, at the same time, my behavior could fall into both categories of high and low compared to the norms. Additionally,
Personality Theories The Big Five Approach plays a major role in the process of understanding and analyzing a child’s outcome, as well as any adjustment issues that may occur during a child’s development. Along with these accomplishments, the Big Five approach has proven to be able to cover children, adolescents, and adults under one spectrum (Van den Akker et al., 2013). The article, “The development of personality extremity from childhood to adolescence: relations to internalizing and externalizing problems” provides an intense amount of information on personality theories and goes into depth about how personalities develop and how to distinguish between them as well. This study not only incorporated the study of personality extremity throughout childhood and adolescence, but the issues between personality extremities and personality adjustments as well (Van den Akker et al., 2013).
(1997). McRae et al. (1997) attempted to find if the Five-Factor Model was a universal constant in all cultures. They also attempted to see if cultural views would change how the five traits were viewed. The researchers collected data from 6 different translations of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory, this inventory looks for universal trait dimensions in a variety of languages. These 6 translations were then compared to the American counterpart. It was found that while some cultures did differ slightly in their view of the five traits found in the Five-Factor Model in comparison to Americans, the traits were still universal. All six translations found the big five traits of extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and opens to experience to be
According to the findings of the Five Factor Model of personality, I have a relatively balanced score on a number of the key traits. For example, on the continuum of extroversion versus introversion, I scored moderately high in both categories, indicating that I am comfortable being around other people and also being alone. I also scored moderate on the quality of contentiousness, indicating I am always struggling between being organized and disorganized, which is also true. I scored extremely high on agreeableness, indicating that I am basically a trusting and friendly person. In general, I believe this speaks well of my mental health. But I scored high for the trait of neuroticism, which indicates that I can be emotional and insecure (i.e., I worry a great deal). I also ranked high on the trait of openness, on seeking out new experiences and being open-minded. This indicates that I am open to new ideas and enjoy creative and novel things.
Schultz D. & Schultz S. (2008). Karen Horney: Neurotic Needs and Trends. In D. Schultz & S Schultz (Eds.) Theories of Personality (pp. 158 – 180).
Matthews, G., Deary, I. J., & Whiteman, M. C. (2009). Personality traits. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
The Analysis of the Five Factor Model In this essay, first the Five Factor Model (FFM) will be described. Secondly, psychologists for and against the model will be looked at. Following this, the stability of traits will be looked at, both longitudinal and cross situational. Finally, the application of the model within and outside psychology will be evaluated to show support that the FFM provides a solid foundation for an adequate personality psychology.
Friedman, H. S., & Schustack, M. W. (2012). Personality: Classic theories and modern research (5th ed). Boston , MA, USA: Pearson
The Five-Factor Model of Personality gives an insight to psychologists when dealing with patients and test subjects. Due to this theory, research psychologist are able to research personality more accurately and uphold a better understanding when discussing the reasoning behind certain pre-disposed tendencies. Also, counselors which practice different types of therapy are enabled to learn details concerning their patient that can assist in the treatment of that specific patient. There have been multiple disputes in regards to the validity of the Five-Factor Model of Personality theory. Many skeptics believe that there are too many variations that come into play when dealing with personality in order to accurately depict and diagnose a 100% accurate declaration of ones’ characteristics (McCrae, 1991). The issue with relying on the model in order to declare one’s characteristics is that there is often overlap between the degrees of high and low (Popkins, 1998). Although this is a valid statement, the model is a significant role in sorting through the variations to achieve a probable consensus. Therefore, the model cannot achieve a result without any probable cause for doubt but generally will provide a clear depiction of ones’ traits and
Personality is the study of an individual’s unique and relatively stable patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving over time and across situations and it is what distinguishes one individual from another. In the past changes in personality were thought to have only occurred in the developmental stages of childhood and solidifies in adolescence. After the teenage years it was thought to be set like plaster or the change seen to be inconsequential or absent( Srivastava, John, Gosling, and Potter, 2003). However, recent studies have suggested that changes in personality traits continue to occur throughout an individual’s lifespan due to multiple reasons.