In an experiment, psychologist Bertram R. Forer (1949) asked participants whether the following statements apply to them:

1. They are more self-critical.
2. Sometimes you doubt whether they've made the right decision.
3. You prefer a certain amount of variety and are dissatisfied when restrictions restrict you.
4. They have found that it is not wise to make their private feelings public.

It turned out that every statement at least 90% of the test subjects agreed. Forer had therefore found characteristics in which almost all people were similar. But how do we find out what is Distinguish people?

This question is addressed by personality research since the beginning of the 20th century. There are various approaches, the most well-founded and well-proven theory is Big five model.

How did the Big Five come about?

The basic assumption of early personality research was that relevant property terms in lingua are represented. As early as 1936, Allport & Odbert extracted all words from an English dictionary that differentiate one person's behavior from the behavior of others. The result of their analysis consisted of 18,000 words! Allport himself referred to this as a “semantic nightmare” (Allport, 1937).

Little by little, this list was reduced further and further. In different languages, this process took place independently of each other. It was then checked whether adjectives were added to higher-level dimensions can summarize. For example, imagine that you find the following adjectives:

• organizes
• purposeful
• uncluttered
• reliably
• responsibly
• ambitious
• studious
• self-disciplined

Although there are eight different characteristics, they are interrelated. And if seven statements apply to one person, then most likely the eighth as well. All words describe the extent to which people controlled action are able to. These are examples of statements that include the factor conscientiousness form. In addition to conscientiousness, four other factors were found.

What are the five personality factors?

The following five factors were found in various languages and samples as a result of the lexical analyses described above:

English name:

• Openness to Experience
• Conscientiousness
• Extraversion
• Agreeableness
• Neuroticism

German name:

• Openness to new experiences
• conscientiousness
• Extraversion
• tolerability
• Emotion control

Openness to new experiences (openness)

As the name suggests, openness to new experiences describes the tendency of people to behave more experimentally and to search for new experiences or experiences instead of behaving more traditionally and relying on tried and tested and familiar things. More traditional people are the best choice for down-to-earth jobs in which the tasks to be fulfilled are clearly defined. They feel particularly comfortable with familiar things and routines and really enjoy the predictability of the next tasks, as they prefer to think concretely rather than creatively. This makes them ideal for administrative, structured and repetitive work activities. As a result of their quest for new experiences, more experimental people feel particularly comfortable in creative activities or an environment with high complexity and diversity. Their first choice is often dynamic environments characterized by growth and innovation. Constantly changing work activities that require flexibility and creativity, for example, usually require more experimental people.

Conscientiousness

Conscientiousness is described as a person's tendency to act in a controlled and systematic way rather than spontaneously and pragmatically. More pragmatic people prefer to let things unfold and think in an action-oriented way rather than plan a lot. They make their decisions more spontaneously and feel most comfortable with activities where everything does not have to be perfect and worked out in detail, but where the focus is on the big picture. More systematic people approach tasks in a very structured and organized way. That is why they prefer environments that require systematic and detailed work. They are particularly able to get involved in administrative, legal or even technical activities where attention to detail is paramount.

Extraversion (Extraversion)

Extraversion describes a person's tendency to behave more energetically and to prefer a diverse social environment rather than to behave more cautiously and to feel comfortable in a quiet environment and with being alone. More reserved people feel most comfortable with few, profound social interactions. This is why they flourish in jobs where you are more likely to work alone in a concentrated environment and are not surrounded by ever new people every day, for example in science or development. More energetic people flourish in social interactions and seek contact with other people. In these situations, they are often very active and also assertive, making them well suited for activities involving diverse and changing employee or customer contact.

Compatibility (agreeableness)

Agreeableness is often described as a person's tendency to behave in a more relationship-oriented manner and seek social harmony rather than to behave more objectively and strive for individual results. More subject-oriented people can be described as competitive and ambitious. As a result, they fit perfectly into activities that either aim for individual results or require a certain degree of dominance. If the position therefore focuses on individual performance rather than on teamwork, subject-oriented people are often suitable, for example in the police or in administrative work. More relationship-oriented people are born team players. They flourish in jobs that require a high level of collaboration and social skills. They always strive for social harmony and are therefore often very suitable for social activities and environments with diverse contacts, for example in teaching or nursing professions.

Emotion control (Neuroticism)

Emotion control describes a person's tendency to behave in a more emotion-controlled manner and to show emotions in an extremely controlled manner rather than to behave more emotionally and to let emotions run wild more often. More emotion-controlled people have a firm grip on their emotions. This makes them particularly suitable for activities that require a high level of stress tolerance. They cannot be upset, but they are also not easy to understand and sometimes appear distant. They are therefore the best choice for jobs where you often have to keep cool in the event of unpredictability and emergencies, such as in the medical or legal sector. More emotion-driven people are very sensitive to anxiety and stress. This can prove to be an advantage in certain activities. Their natural need to avoid stress and uncertainty makes them particularly suitable for jobs where all future unpredictability and emergencies must be considered in advance, such as administrative jobs.

What insights can be drawn from personality analysis?

The “Big Five” model therefore consists of five factors that represent different characteristics in which people differ from one another. What can you use this for?

The expression of a person on every single facet of the Big Five can predict their behavior across different domains. Some examples include:

• Health behavior (e.g. Booth-Kewley & Vickers Jr, 1994)
• Crime (e.g. Heaven, 1996)
• academic performance (e.g. Noftle & Robins, 2007)
• social skills (e.g. Schneider, Ackerman & Kanfer, 1996) ‍

Another well-founded application of the Big Five is the Predicting professional performance.
A few well-researched examples:

People with a pronounced openness achieve higher performance on average in tasks that require creativity (e.g. McCrae, 1987), extroverts are more suitable for jobs in management or sales (Barrick & Mount, 1991) and tolerability goes hand in hand with better performance in jobs that require a lot of teamwork (e.g. Bradley et al., 2013).

The Big Five model can therefore be used to predict professional performance in various contexts. There is no such thing as the best person who fills all positions perfectly. Rather, it depends on The right balance between the applicant's personality and the requirements of the job. If you maximize this fit, employees can maximum potential Make use of it.

How is personality measured?

Would you like to capture the personality of your applicants? Aivy is happy to help you with this!

Our mini game “Self-knowledge” offers users the opportunity to brief self-assessment find out their individual characteristics on all five personality dimensions.

Sources

• Assouline, M., & Meir, E.I. (1987). Meta-analysis of the relationship between congruence and well-being measures. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 31 (3), 319-332.
• Holland, J.L. (1996). Exploring careers with a typology: What we have learned and some new directions. American psychologist, 51 (4), 397.
• Holland, J.L. (1997). Making Vocational Choices: A Theory of Vocational Personalities and Work Environments. Psychological Assessment Resources.