Openness to Experience

Openness to Experience, according to the NEO-PI-R, describes individuals who tend to be proactive, daring, creative, and sensitive, and who tend to explore the unknown.

Individuals with a larger score on this trait are also more likely to be creative, curious, intelligent, logical, and imaginative, and have broad interest areas (Digman, 1990;

Ghorpade, Lackritz, & Singh, 2007; McCrae & John, 1992; Pervin & John, 2001).

Individuals who score low on Openness to Experience are described as being conservative, having narrower interests, and being more down to earth (Digman, 1990;

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Ghorpade et al., 2007; McCrae & John, 1992; Pervin & John, 2001).

Costa and McCrae (1992a) defined the six facets to describe Openness to Experience in the NEO-PI-R as fantasy, ideas, actions, values, feelings, and aesthetics. Fantasy measures imagination and creativity. Ideas measures openness to new ideas, learning, and growing knowledge (Costa & McCrae, 1992a). Action refers to openness to new experiences. Values measures openness to exploring and testing existing values, norms and religions. Feelings refer to the openness of evaluating one’s feelings and emotions.

Aesthetics measures interests in art and culture (Costa & McCrae, 1992a).

Openness to Experience, according to the BTI, has five facets. These include aesthetics, actions, values, ideas, and imagination. Aesthetics (similar to aesthetics in the NEO-PI-R) refers to an individual that sees the beauty in objects and enjoys music, poetry, and art, without necessarily being artistically talented (Taylor, 2004). Actions (similar to actions in the NEO-PI-R) refer to an individual that is open to trying new activities. Values (similar to values in the NEO-PI-R) refer to the degree to which an individual is open to re-think religious, social, and political values without conforming to authority. Ideas (similar to ideas in the NEO-PI-R) refer to the likeliness to which an individual enjoys intellectually challenging him- or herself and is open to unconventional ideas.

Imagination (similar to fantasy in the NEO-PI-R) refers to the likeliness to which an individual is creative and enjoys fantasies (Taylor, 2004).

2.9.6 Agreeableness

In terms of the NEO-PI-R, Graziano and Eisenberg (1997) describe an individual who scores high on Agreeableness to possess traits such as being likable, friendly, and compliant (Graziano & Eisenberg, 1997). Digman (1990) describes those who score high on Agreeableness to be more humane, because these individuals are more likely to be nurtured, thoughtful, selfless, and emotionally supportive. Heaven, Ciarrochi, Leeson, and Barkus (2013) describe an individual who scores high on Agreeableness to be more soft-hearted, trusting, loving, straightforward, forgiving, and good-natured. In contrast,

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according to Digman (1990), those who score lower on Agreeableness are likely to be self-centred, envious, and malicious. Heaven et al. (2013) suggest that individuals who score low on Agreeableness may be cynical, suspicious, rude, manipulative, uncooperative, and irritable.

Costa and McCrae (1992a) defined the six facets to describe Agreeableness in the NEO-PI-R as straightforwardness, trust, altruism, modesty, tender-mindedness, and compliance. Straightforwardness refers to one’s level of honesty (Costa & McCrae, 1992a). Trust refers to individual’s views on others and their perceptions of how trustworthy others are. Altruism measures generosity and being concerned with helping others. Modesty measures the level of humility of an individual. Tender-mindedness is a measure of how compassionate someone is. Compliance refers to the ability to forgive others (Costa & McCrae, 1992a).

Agreeableness, according to the BTI, has five facets. These include straightforwardness, compliance, modesty, tender-mindedness, and prosocial tendencies (Taylor, 2004).

Straightforwardness (similar to straightforwardness in the NEO-PI-R) refers to the degree to which an individual is honest, genuine, and forthright. Compliance (similar to compliance in the NEO-PI-R) refers to the degree to which an individual complies with others and constrains aggression and anger towards others. Modesty (similar to modesty in the NEO-PI-R) refers to the humbleness of an individual. Tender-mindedness (similar to tender-mindedness in the NEO-PI-R) refers to the degree of sympathy that an individual has for others. Prosocial tendencies (similar to altruism in the NEO-PI-R) refer to an individual that is kind, caring and considerate (Taylor, 2004).

2.9.7 Conscientiousness

According to the NEO-PI-R, those scoring high on Conscientiousness are perceived to be motivated, determined, and reliable, and have goal-driven behaviour (Periard & Burns, 2014). According to McCrae and John (1992), Conscientiousness can therefore be seen as describing a personality dimension that distinguishes between individuals that are good

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versus bad. This factor distinguishes between individual differences, whereas McCrae and Costa (1987) suggest that individuals with a larger score on Conscientiousness are likely to be thorough, neat, organised, and hard-working. Pervin and John (2001) describe an individual who scores high on Conscientiousness as organised, self-disciplined, ambitious, persevering, and hardworking. On the other hand, McCrae and Costa (1987) describe those who score low on Conscientiousness as more disorganised, untidy, and unenthusiastic. Pervin and John (2001) suggest that an individual who scores low on Conscientiousness is more unreliable, careless, lazy, self-indulgent, and purposeless.

Costa and McCrae (1992a) define the six facets to describe Conscientiousness in the NEO-PI-R as self-discipline, competence, dutifulness, order, deliberation, and achievement-striving. Self-discipline refers to the degree to which a person completes tasks once started even if faced with a certain level of difficulty. Competence refers to a person’s level of efficacy. Dutifulness measures the degree of an individual’s compliance to ethical procedures and moral responsibilities (Costa & McCrae, 1992a). Order refers to how neat, organised, and orderly an individual is. Deliberation refers to careful consideration before making decisions, and achievement-striving measures how determined an individual is to reach goals (Costa & McCrae, 1992a).

Conscientiousness, according to the BTI, has five facets. These include order, self-discipline, dutifulness, effort, and prudence (Taylor, 2004). Order (similar to order in the NEO-PI-R) measures one’s ability to keep things neat and organised, to put things back in place, and to work systematically. Self-discipline (similar to self-discipline in the NEO-PI-R) refers to the ability of an individual to complete tasks once started and to self-motivate when faced with difficult or demanding tasks. Dutifulness (similar to dutifulness in the NEO-PI-R) refers to an individual that is likely to be reliable, to follow principles, and to accomplish moral or ethical duties. Effort (similar to achievement striving in the NEO-PI-R) refers to an individual who sets goals and is hard-working. Prudence (similar to deliberation in the NEO-PI-R) refers to an individual that is likely to think things through, referring back to facts before acting (Taylor, 2004).

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