The Big Five Personality Theory

The Big Five Model, also known as the Five-Factor Model (FFM), was developed by McCrae and Costa (1987, p. 81). The FFM presents a hierarchical model (Burns, et al., 2017, p. 213). Its framework identifies five personality traits (neuroticism, extroversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness) that can be used to establish differences between individuals (John and Srivastava, 1999, p. 102). This model aids scientific understanding of personality differences between different groups of individuals and has been proven useful in studies examining people’s personality in different fields and across cultures. Its main advantage lies in its robustness. It has been validated across instruments, observers and different types of studies (Cortina, et al., 1992, p. 119). This section discusses this model without connecting it to intercultural competence, which will be achieved in the following section.

The trait of neuroticism is important, because it is the leading cause of negative affectivity. Low emotional stability or high neuroticism is characterised as a tendency to feel negative emotions, including anger and depression. These emotions can arise from a negative perception of surroundings. Neurotic traits may lead individuals to interpret neutral situations as threats or to exaggerate minor frustrations. Individuals with high neuroticism scores also experience difficulties controlling their emotions (Terracciano, et al., 2008, p. 621). Individuals who score low on neuroticism tend to be emotionally stable with low anxiety. They also tend to be better problem solvers and less responsive to external stress factors (Costa and McCrae, 1992a, p. 654). Individuals who score high on extroversion have well-developed social skills and tend to be enthusiastic, assertive and ambitious (Hogan, 2005, p. 331). They enjoy being with other people and have a great deal of energy. As a result, these individuals tend to experience positive emotions

regarding different or challenging situations, which affects their decision making (Connolly and Viswesvaran, 2000, p. 265). Individuals who score low on extroversion have low energy and tend to be quiet. They do not like drawing attention to themselves and find it challenging to integrate into new social situations. Consequentially, they prefer to be alone (Matthews and Deary, 1998, p. 4).

Individuals who are open to experience are imaginative, cultured, original, creative, intellectually curious and art- and beauty-oriented. Individuals who score low on this trait are close-minded with narrow interests, and they tend to resist change and prefer to handle complex situations in a straightforward and obvious way (Costa and McCrae, 1992a, p. 653).

The trait of agreeableness is defined in terms of likability or friendliness (Hogan, 2005, p. 333). Individuals who score high on this trait tend to be flexible, broad-minded, cooperative, sensitive and warm (Costa and McCrae, 1992a, p. 655). These individuals forgive others to maintain friendly relationships and avoid disruptions. Highly agreeable individuals concern themselves with cooperation and social integration while believing that others are trustworthy. As these individuals have positive affectivity, they can accommodate different social situations and establish rapport with others. Individuals who score low in agreeableness tend to be less concerned about others, less willing to cooperate and less interested in the concerns of their social group (Hogan, 2005, p. 333).

Finally, the trait of conscientiousness has been equated with dependability (Hogan, 2005, p. 332). This trait is associated with educational success, as individuals with this trait tend to be hard workers who are motivated to succeed. They tend to be reliable, organised and dutiful. Digman (1990, p. 417) views conscientiousness as necessary for attaining work-related and educational goals. Costa and McCrae (1992a, p. 654) note that conscientious individuals avoid causing trouble and aim for high standards of performance in a work environment. They tend to follow regulations and practise self-discipline to improve their work performance. Individuals who score low on

conscientiousness tend to worry less about their work and do not necessarily follow work-related rules and regulations.

Various authors support the claim that Big Five personality traits are universal characteristics. For instance, McCrae and Costa (1997, p. 509) argue that FFM occurs in every culture. Other studies show recurring phenomena, despite differences in language, history, religion or culture (e.g. Costa, Terracciano and McCrae, 2001, p. 22). Another shows that the expression of these traits is consistent across situations (Cobb-Clark and Schurer, 2012, p. 13), which refutes some basic postulates of trait activation theory. All these findings suggest that a basic feature of human beings is the presence of these personality traits. John and Srivastava (1999, p. 113) summarise the Big Five Trait taxonomy, presented in Table 2.1.

Table 2.1 Basic features of personality traits

Neuroticism Extroversion Openness Agreeableness Conscientiousness

Low High Low High Low High Low High Low High

Stable Tense Quiet Talkative Common-_place Wide _interests Fault - _finding Sympathetic Careless Organised Calm Anxious Reserved Assertive Narrow _interests Imaginative Cold Kind Disorderly Thorough Contented Nervous Shy Active Simple Intelligent Unfriendly Appreciative Frivolous Planful Unemotional Moody Silent Energetic Shallow Original Quarrelsome Affectionate Irresponsible Efficient

Worrying Withdrawn Outgoing Unintelligent Insightful Hard _hearted Soft-hearted Slipshod Responsible

Touchy Retiring Outspoken Curious Unkind Warm Undependable Reliable

Fearful Dominant Sophisticated Cruel Generous Forgetful Dependable

Highly strung Forceful Artistic Stern Trusting Conscientious

Self-pitying Enthusiastic Inventive Thankless Helpful Precise

Temperamental Show-off Sharp witted Stingy Forgiving Practical

Unstable Sociable Ingenious Pleasant Deliberate

Self-punishing Spunky Witty Good-_natured Painstaking

Despondent Adventurous Resourceful Friendly Cautious

Emotional Noisy Wise Cooperative

Bossy Logical Gentle

Civilised Unselfish

Foresighted Praising

Polished Sensitive

The FFM originally was implemented in studies with undergraduate psychology students. Thus, the validity of the model depended on the assumption that the sample was representative of the wider population. In recent decades, however, it has been used extensively enough to guarantee that the model is well-suited for assessing the personality of university students, including international students (McCrae, Costa and Martin., 2005, p. 261). It is commonly argued that the Revised NEO Personality Inventory developed by Costa and McCrae (1995, p. 21) for assessing the Big Five is one of the most thoroughly validated instruments for assessing international students studying in different countries (Miller, et al., 2017, p. 335). In fact, the FFM is considered the most well-developed and well-researched model of personality (Barrick and Mount, 2012, p. 227).

The FFM does not fully cover personal qualities, such as motivation and needs (Costa and McCrae, 1992a, p. 655), so it is not suitable for measuring people’s motivational tendencies. Nevertheless, its ability to capture people’s personality cannot be overestimated. The FFM is useful in identifying different personality dimensions using self-ratings and peer-ratings. Hence, the model can produce a general picture of individuals by identifying their personality dimensions, thus providing a broad explanation of their personality traits. For all these reasons, including the superiority of this model over the trait activation theory (Tett and Burnett, 2003, p. 505), the present research uses the FFM to explore international students’ personality traits.