Amanda and the Big Five

The “Big Five” factors are today one of the most-used scales for measuring personality; these factors are conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness, and extraversion. However, despite the widespread use of this scale, it is still debated whether or not it, or any personality test, can truly offer a complete picture of a person. To test this, I will use one of my best friends, Amanda, as an example.

The first criterion, conscientiousness, differs from the common usage of the word. It is defined as being disciplined, careful, organized, and dutiful, and having a propensity to aim for achievement. The other end of the spectrum includes being disorganized, impulsive, and careless. Amanda tends to be high-achieving, but this is mostly due to the fact that she is intelligent. When it comes to things for which she actually has to study, she lacks some discipline, although not as much as some others I know. She does, however, have a significant sense of duty toward her family and friends. Her level of carefulness depends on the situation. For instance, she is meticulous in her photography, but one of the most terrifying drivers with whom I have ever ridden. Taking all of these things into account, on a conscientiousness scale of 1 to 10 (10 being very conscientious and 1 being not at all), I would give Amanda a 5.

The next scale, agreeableness, is also different than how people use the word in everyday conversation. We tend to think of it as non-argumentative, but for the Big Five personality factors, it connotes compassion, trust, helpfulness, and cooperativeness, versus ruthlessness, suspiciousness, defiance, and stubbornness. Amanda is known by her friends for being somewhat stubborn, but not all the time...

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...sion on one end and extreme introversion on the other, and most people fall all along the middle of this line. Amanda likes to be loud and the center of attention. She has casual parties often, and when she relaxes, she usually does so with her friends. However, once in a while she also craves solitude and peace, and she would prefer to treat sick animals over sick people, so on the extraversion scale (10 being the height of extraversion), I would assign her an 8.

The Big Five personality scale says quite a bit about my friend, but as any close friend could tell you, this is not all there is to a person.

Works Cited

Myers, David G. Psychology. Ninth ed. Holland: Worth, 2010. Print.

"Early Adolescent Development, Ages 11 to 14 Years." WebMD Children's Health Center - Kids Health

and Safety Information for a Healthy Child. 10 Feb. 2010. Web. 27 Mar. 2011.