Question from a reader: ‘I spent Christmas Day with my father. That was not a success. I have asked myself several times during and afterwards: what do you have to understand about someone to understand them?’
My answer was short: ‘His personality!’ His response was one word longer: “Please explain.” Hereby.
Evolution loves diversity and that is why we do not land on this planet as blank slates but with a considerable variety of personality traits. This also allows us to fulfill a wide variety of social roles.
Depending on the nature and strength of those traits, we are better at or have more talent (or not) for perceiving, interpreting and responding effectively to certain situations.
More than a century of psychological research has shown which are the most important of these. That is a five, therefore also referred to as the big five partly because in addition to upbringing and environment, heredity is also an important factor.
The 5 personality traits
Although there is still no complete agreement in psychology on what exactly these traits should be called, we can generally describe them as (see Nettle, 2007):
Extraversion : a dimension that runs from social/sociable, active, talkative, spontaneous, humorous and adventurous on the one hand to withdrawn, closed, taciturn, inhibited and cautious on the other.
Goodness: a dimension that goes from good-natured, gentle, cooperative and helpful on the one hand to touchy, suspicious, bossy and stubborn on the other.
Care: a dimension that runs from careful, disciplined, responsible and serious on the one hand to disorganised, nonchalant, undisciplined and frivolous on the other.
Emotional Stability: a dimension that runs from unperturbed, calm, controlled and not quick to complain on the one hand to nervous, anxious, panicky and quick to complain on the other hand.
Be open to new experiences: a dimension that runs from imaginative, creative and intellectually developed on the one hand, to narrow-minded, simplistic and down-to-earth on the other.
Due to our position on the big five are we, for example, more closed or more spontaneous than others, more shy or more social, are we more likely to panic or react calmly, are we more nonchalant or more careful than others, or more kind or more vicious, and so on.
Let’s take a measure of Donald Trump
Let’s take Donald Trump for a moment big five -mate. Based on a solution developed by a colleague and me big five questionnaire used in previous research, I rate Trump as extremely extroverted, extremely stubborn, more than average careless, conservative and emotionally unstable.
It is mainly those two extreme positions, extremely extroverted and extremely stubborn, that dominate his interactions with others and the world. Extremely extroverted means that he is socially hyperactive, in a way that incessantly commands reactions from others: attention, fear, criticism and admiration.
Couple this with his extreme stubbornness, his uncontrollable tendency to act very unpleasantly towards others, his emotional lability and his motto the only sin is not to win .
Can you become president with such a personality? Trump: “If I can do it once, I can do it a second time.” Get used to it…