Which theory proposes five major dimensions of personality, commonly labeled extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience?

Which theory proposes five major dimensions of personality, commonly labeled extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience?

• A. Big Five theory
• B. Psychoanalytic theory
• C. Trait theory
• D. Humanistic psychology

Answer: (A)

Personality can be described with five broad dimensions, known as the Big Five. These five factors are extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience. The model comes from examining a vast array of trait terms and using factor analysis, revealing that these five factors consistently emerge across cultures and languages. Each dimension taps a stable pattern of thinking, feeling, and behaving: extraversion relates to sociability and energy; neuroticism to emotional stability; agreeableness to cooperativeness and trust; conscientiousness to organization and reliability; openness to experience to curiosity and imagination. This clear, replicable structure—five enduring dispositions people tend to differ on—is what makes this theory the best fit for the described dimensions. In contrast, psychoanalytic theory centers on unconscious conflicts, humanistic psychology on personal growth and self-actualization, and trait theory is a broad approach to stable traits but does not specify these exact five dimensions.

Personality can be described with five broad dimensions, known as the Big Five. These five factors are extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience. The model comes from examining a vast array of trait terms and using factor analysis, revealing that these five factors consistently emerge across cultures and languages. Each dimension taps a stable pattern of thinking, feeling, and behaving: extraversion relates to sociability and energy; neuroticism to emotional stability; agreeableness to cooperativeness and trust; conscientiousness to organization and reliability; openness to experience to curiosity and imagination. This clear, replicable structure—five enduring dispositions people tend to differ on—is what makes this theory the best fit for the described dimensions. In contrast, psychoanalytic theory centers on unconscious conflicts, humanistic psychology on personal growth and self-actualization, and trait theory is a broad approach to stable traits but does not specify these exact five dimensions.