The Big Five Personality Traits: Conscientiousness

Are you the sort of person who won’t stop working until the task at hand is complete? Are you generally well organised and reliable? Is it important for you to excel in your studies and career? If so, you might be high in the personality trait of conscientiousness.

Conscientiousness is one of the Big Five Personality Traits and the second which we will focus on in this series on personality. People who are considered to be high on the trait of conscientiousness are typically characterised as being organised, self-disciplined, hardworking and having a drive to achieve. These people are usually ambitious and goal oriented in their work and academic endeavours. People high on conscientiousness tend to enjoy feeling busy and working towards a desired outcome, with these actions often giving them a sense of fulfilment. However this trait is broad and should be considered in part through its lower order traits as defined by the NEO Personality Inventory.

Competence: People who are high on this facet tend to view themselves as capable, sensible and effective. They generally have confidence in their abilities to deal with the challenges of life. Higher scores on competence are also generally related to higher self-esteem and an internal locus of control (believing that you have control of your life rather than external events having control over your successes and failures). People lower in competence, might have a pessimistic opinion of themselves and their abilities; they may feel that they are unprepared or unable to face challenges.

Order: This facet refers to people who are neat and tidy. People high in this trait tend to keep their belongings in their place and are considered to be organised. On the extreme end of the spectrum however, this facet may be a contributing factor of obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. People lower in order on the other hand, might be unorganised and approach tasks in an unstructured manner.

Dutifulness: This refers to one’s tendency to highly value and abide by their ethical principles and moral obligations across different situations and circumstances in life. People lower on dutifulness tend to hold less values around these concepts and may as a result appear to be less dependable.

Achievement Striving: This facet tends to be what comes to most people’s mind when they consider the trait of conscientiousness. People high in achievement striving have high aspiration levels and work very hard to reach their goals. These people tend to have a concrete understand of where they are heading in life and are purposeful in getting there. However, it is also the case that many people who score highly on this facet often become overly absorbed in work and may neglect other aspects of their life such as their health or social life. People who score lower in achievement striving are not as driven to succeed and might lack direction or ambition in life.

Self-Discipline: Self-discipline refers to ones ability to carry tasks through to completion, irrespective of distractions, challenges or boredom. These people are self-driven and do not need motivation or encouragement from external sources – they can source this from within. People who score lower on self-discipline might procrastinate more often and can become easily discouraged from minor challenges or setbacks.

Deliberation: Higher scores on deliberation represent people who tend to think carefully before acting; these people are not impulsive and take the time to weigh up the pros and cons of their decisions. People lower in deliberation tend to act quickly and without as much conscious thought or consideration of their behaviours.

Is conscientiousness related to success?

Conscientiousness is the personality trait that has shown the clearest association with career success. Studies have shown a link between this personality trait and productive workplace behaviours including being more reliable, motivated and harder working – often leading to workplace advances. People higher in this trait also tend to procrastinate less and take less days off.

Is conscientiousness related to health?

Some studies suggest that conscientiousness is linked with an increase in longevity and health. This is often due to the fact that people who score higher on this trait tend to think carefully about their behaviours in regards to their health, often tending to avoid behaviours such as drug and alcohol use, disordered eating, lack of exercise, risky sexual behaviour, tobacco use, risky driving, suicide and violence. This may be due to the impulse control that conscientious people tend to have.

Are there gender differences in conscientiousness?

While some of the other personality traits have slight variations between genders, in general there are do not seem to be significant gender differences between genders for the trait of conscientiousness.

Does conscientiousness change over time?

While there has been some debate over this, in general conscientiousness does tend to increase over time. In general, conscientiousness tends to reach its lowest point in adolescents and will typically increase from then on.Do you feel that you tend to be higher or lower on this trait? What are your thoughts on this trait and its implications in the real world? Let us know in the comments below.