Andre
Personality is the unique characteristic of how you think, feel, and behave. Your personality embraces your opinions, attitudes, and moods and shines through when you interact with other people. It is a mixture of behavioral characters that you have inherited and acquired.
In short, personality helps distinguish you from another person because everyone develops a personality according to their social and natural environment.
What Makes You Who You Are?
All of us have an idea of our personality type, such as friendly, shy, bubbly, thick-skinned, or sensitive. Psychologists who tease you with the science of knowing who you are – actually define your personality by identifying individual differences you display while talking and behaving.
There are several ways to measure your personality; however, psychologists have mostly hanged their coats on the idea of trying to neatly categorize humanity into types. They now focus on your personality traits instead.
What are the Personality Traits?
There are five main ingredients to what defines your personality. According to Scientific American, these “Big Five” were developed back in the 70s by Robert R. McCrae and Paul Costa from National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Lewis Goldberg and Warren Norman from the University of Oregon and University of Michigan.
The Big Five of Personality
The big five are openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. We all possess these big five in different proportions that makes our personalities unique. Let us dive a little deeper into these big fives.
- Agreeableness
Agreeableness depicts the extent of how warm and kind you are as a person. The more agreeable you are, the more people will find you trustworthy, compassionate, and helpful. On the other hand, disagreeable people are suspicious of others, feel threatened, and are cold and uncooperative.
Being envious is another trait of a disagreeable person. According to Science Advances, people with envious personality traits feel more threatened by someone else’s success.
2. Conscientiousness
Conscientious individuals are organized with a very firm sense of duty. They are responsible, disciplined, dependable, and goal-oriented. It is highly unlikely that a person with a conscientious personality trait will jet off on a travel plan in a spur of a moment – they are planners.
In contrast, people will lower conscientiousness are more freewheeling and spontaneous. They may come across as careless at times, but it is not all that bad as it seems.
3. Extroversion
Extrovert and introvert – ever heard of these terms?
Introversion and extroversion are the two most recognizable or observable personality traits out of the Big Five.
An extrovert individual loves to be the center of attention and is a social butterfly. They are sociable, chatty, and love to draw energy from the crowd. If you are an extrovert, you are more likely cheerful and assertive in your social interactions.
Introverts are the exact opposite. They love their alone time because their minds process socializing differently. However, introversion is mistakenly confused with shyness when they are not the same at all.
Shyness has its roots in fear of social situations and interactions or one’s inability to fulfill social demands. In contrast, introverts can be as charming as you can get at the parties – however, they prefer sailing solo or in smaller groups.
4. Neuroticism
Remember George Constanza of the popular sitcom “Seinfeld?” Well, look further if you want to understand neuroticism. George’s character was famous for his bouts of neuroses, and the show blamed it on his dysfunctional parents.
He worried about everything, obsessed over diseases and germs. He even resigned from a job because his anxiety for not having private bathroom access was too overwhelming for him. Well, that was extreme on the neuroticism scale, but the trait is real.
People with high neuroticism are frequent worriers and are prone to slip into depression and anxiety easily. Even when everything is going perfectly well, neurotic individuals will find something to worry about.
You would not believe, according to The Guardian, neurotic people with decent salaries got raises, and the extra money caused them to be less happy.
In contrast, people with lower neuroticism are even-kneeled and emotionally stable. Unfortunately, neuroticism is one personality trait linked with severe outcomes. Neurotic people die younger and can turn to alcohol and tobacco abuse to calm their nerves.
5. Openness
Openness is an umbrella term used for “openness to experiences.” If you are a person with high openness, you enjoy adventures. You are curious by nature and appreciate imagination, art, and new things. As an open individual, your slogan is “Variety Spices up the Life.”
On the other hand, people with lower openness are creatures of habit. They prefer their routine, avoid new experiences, and most likely not crazy about adventures either.
Although changing your personality is a tough process, openness is one personality trait subject to change depending on your age and circumstances.
Other Personality Traits
Intuition and senses are how to gather both physical and emotional information from the world around you. Feeling and thinking are what helps you make decisions. Where logic rules your thoughts, feelings tend to follow your heart.
If you are the thinking type, you are more likely to prefer decisive actions, whereas perceiving individuals are open to options.
Can You Change Your Personality?
After reading this article, you may be wondering – “Can I change my personality?” Well, the answer is – Maybe.
A journal Psychological Bulletin published a study in 2017 that found that personality can be altered via therapy or intervention. However, if you want to change the personality of your child, spouse, or parent tomorrow – (which many of us may want to) – I would not hold my breath for it.
That said – if you are focused on improving a certain aspect of your personality and willing to take a systemic approach, you have higher chances of succeeding. However, as I said earlier, do not expect an overnight miracle and be patient. You may have a long road ahead, but consistency with patience and the right help is the key.
Probably speaking to a professional mental health expert such as a therapist is your best bet. They will sit with you, hear your story as to why you believe you need to change a certain personality trait, and propose a way forward.
