Big five personality traits

Welcome. Today, we’re exploring one of the most influential frameworks in psychology: the Big Five Personality Traits. These five core dimensions help us understand and predict human behaviour, both in personal life and in organizational settings. The Big Five framework is widely accepted, largely because it captures the broad structure of personality in just five factors. These traits are not just theoretical—they are supported by decades of research, and are found to persist across cultures and age groups. Understanding the Big Five is crucial for leaders, colleagues, and anyone aiming to work effectively with others. The Big Five traits are: Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. Openness captures imagination and curiosity. Conscientiousness reflects self-discipline and reliability. Extraversion relates to sociability and assertiveness. Agreeableness describes how compassionate and cooperative a person is. Neuroticism measures emotional stability—higher scores mean more anxiety, while lower scores indicate more calmness. These dimensions exist on a continuum, with individuals often scoring high on some traits and low on others. In organizational behaviour, the Big Five provide valuable insight. Conscientiousness is consistently linked to job performance; employers value dependability and hard work. Emotional stability, or low neuroticism, is crucial for coping with workplace stress, especially in leadership. Extraversion predicts success in social roles,