Critical Thinking Question

Introduction

The personality type of an individuals has since time immemorial been recognized as a great determinant of how an individual reacts to various situations within their surrounding environment. However, in these personality types lie the big five personality traits including extraversion, consciousness, agreeability, neuroticism and the ones openness to experience. This particular paper focuses on describing my personality traits.

How would you rate yourself in the ‘Big five’ personality trait?

I have a higher extraversion since I am social; get along with strangers, positive about life and always full of energy. My level of agreeableness, however, is moderate. This in turn determines my level of trust, kindness and affection. My consciousness level is also moderate as I do not dwell so much on some details, though I do take into account the major issues. On the other hand, neuroticism is a trait that is actually low in me, especially given the fact that I can control my emotions and am not always moody. I have high levels of openness. This is because I have a wide range of interest in most things. By being open I am exposed to a lot of ideas and interests, as suggested by Ashton (2013).

Can your personality be accurately described in this way?

My personality can be described in this way to a larger extent but not all the time. This is because sometimes some of my personality traits do change based occasionally based on particular factors, including some environmental factors, health factors or even my attitude towards the situation at hand. It is not all the times that I, with my extraversion trait, am highly sociable. There are instances when I reveal my true self to the chosen few while also hiding some traits to fit somewhere perfectly. People may thus find it difficult to describe my true personality accurately. Sometimes factors such as health may cause my attitude to change to low moods; hence no longer the person with high energy and spirits as would be expected of an extraversion trait. Similarly, the fact that my extraversion characteristic controls most of my take toward many things does not mean that I am always out there for anything. In fact, I differ on this since I often close myself to things and people that I think take advantage of my character.

What important aspect of you seems left out of such a description?

An important aspect that seems to have been left out in the description is the fact that I tend to be more serious most of the time. I tend to prefer practical and applicable talks rather than empty words or fictions. I similarly prefer truth to lies and would rather suffer the consequences of speaking the truth than letting a lies torment my consciousness.

If you and a close friend or a family member were to describe your personality on which characteristics would you be likely to disagree? Why?

The most probable trait that would always bring disagreements between me and my friend during the description of my personality is that of openness. While I have a higher level of openness, my friend tends to think that am reserved on most issues, believing that with the higher level of openness I claim to have I should be able to join and engage in every activity and opportunity presented to me. However, I am quite selective on what I get into.

Are there traits on which you think this other person might actually be more accurate than you in describing your personality might? If so why?

Yes, I believe the friend does quite well in describing my neuroticism. While I tend to consider the way I react to situations on a wholesome way, he seems to delve into details on how I reach such conclusions, and often claim that I have low neuroticism due to the fact that I have a higher self esteem and optimism. The friend describes me as even-tempered and calm, something which I can not refute.

Conclusion

From the above analysis, it is evident that a person often has the big five personality traits within his/her personality type but to varying degrees. Based on the highlighted facts, my personality is basically a combination made up of high extraversion, moderate agreeability and consciousness, low neuroticism, and higher openness. However, the exhibition of such personality traits is also subject to other factors such as environment and health.

Reference

Ashton, M. C. (2013). Individual differences and personality. Amsterdam: Academic Press.

Passer, M. & Smith, R. (2009). Psychology: the science of mind and behaviour. McGraw-Hill

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