The Big Five model describes personality using five broad traits: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism, often remembered as OCEAN. Everyone sits somewhere on a scale for each trait rather than in a box, so your personality is described by five scores, not one type. It is the model most widely used in personality research, and many workplace personality questionnaires measure traits that map closely onto it.
You can see how your own answers form a profile with a free personality test, which uses the agree and disagree statements that Big Five style questionnaires are built from.
Where the Big Five model came from
The Big Five grew out of a simple idea: if a trait matters in everyday life, people will have words for it. Researchers collected the thousands of words used to describe people, such as “talkative”, “careful” and “anxious”, and used statistics to see which ones tend to go together. Over several decades, separate research groups kept finding the same five broad clusters.
That is why the model has a few names. The Big Five, the five factor model and OCEAN all refer to the same five traits. It is a description of how personality varies between people, rather than a theory about where personality comes from.
The five traits explained
Openness to experience is about curiosity and imagination. People higher in openness tend to enjoy new ideas, art and variety. People lower in openness tend to prefer the familiar, the practical and the proven.
Conscientiousness is about organisation, dependability and drive. People higher in conscientiousness tend to plan ahead, follow through and pay attention to detail. People lower in it tend to be more flexible, spontaneous and relaxed about rules.
Extraversion is about where you get your energy and how much you seek out company. People higher in extraversion tend to be talkative, sociable and assertive. People lower in it, often called introverts, tend to be quieter, more reserved and happier with time alone.
Agreeableness is about how you approach other people. People higher in agreeableness tend to be cooperative, trusting and considerate. People lower in it tend to be more direct, sceptical and comfortable with disagreement.
Neuroticism is about how strongly you react to stress and negative feelings. People higher in neuroticism tend to worry more and feel setbacks more keenly. People lower in it tend to be calm and even tempered. Many workplace tests turn this scale round and call it emotional stability or resilience.
Big Five personality traits chart
| Trait | Higher scores tend to mean | Lower scores tend to mean | At work, it often shows in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Openness | Curious, imaginative, open to change | Practical, conventional, prefers routine | How you respond to new methods and ideas |
| Conscientiousness | Organised, reliable, goal driven | Flexible, spontaneous, less structured | Planning, follow-through, attention to detail |
| Extraversion | Sociable, energetic, assertive | Reserved, reflective, independent | Networking, presenting, leading groups |
| Agreeableness | Cooperative, trusting, tactful | Direct, sceptical, competitive | Teamwork, negotiation, handling conflict |
| Neuroticism | Sensitive to stress, cautious | Calm, steady, resilient | How you handle pressure and setbacks |
Neither end of any scale is good or bad in itself. A lower agreeableness score can suit a negotiator, and a higher openness score can be a poor fit for a role that values doing things the same way every time.
Each trait has narrower facets
Each of the five broad traits is made up of narrower parts, often called facets. Conscientiousness, for example, covers being orderly, dutiful, self-disciplined and driven to achieve. Two people with the same overall conscientiousness score can differ on the facets: one may be very tidy but not especially ambitious, and the other the reverse. Detailed reports usually show facet scores as well as the five main ones.
What is the Big Five personality test?
A Big Five test is a questionnaire of short statements, such as “I make plans and stick to them”, that you rate on a scale, usually from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Each statement belongs to one trait, and your answers to all the statements for a trait are combined into a score.
Some statements are worded the other way, such as “I often leave tasks unfinished”. For these, agreeing counts against the trait, so the score is reversed before it is added up. On a five-point scale, you reverse an answer by taking it away from 6.
Worked example. Four conscientiousness statements, rated from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree):
- “I make plans and stick to them.” Answer: 4. Scores 4.
- “I pay close attention to detail.” Answer: 5. Scores 5.
- “I often leave tasks unfinished.” Answer: 2. This is reversed, so it scores 6 − 2 = 4.
- “I tend to be disorganised.” Answer: 1. This is reversed, so it scores 6 − 1 = 5.
The total is 4 + 5 + 4 + 5 = 18 out of a possible 20, an average of 4.5 per statement. That is a high conscientiousness score on these four statements. A real test uses many more statements for each trait and compares your score with a large group of people who took the same test.
Big Five personality test PDFs
Researchers have published free, public domain sets of Big Five statements, which is why printable versions turn up online. A paper version works, but you have to score it yourself, including the reversed statements, and you will not have a comparison group to tell you whether your score is high or low. An online test does the scoring and the comparison for you.
Big Five vs Myers-Briggs
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator sorts people into 16 types. The Big Five gives a score on each of five scales. Four of the Myers-Briggs pairs line up roughly with Big Five traits, such as Extraversion with Extraversion and Judging with Conscientiousness, but the Big Five keeps the detail of how far along each scale you are. It also includes Neuroticism, which the Myers-Briggs model does not measure.
The Big Five at work
Many employer personality questionnaires are built on the Big Five or measure traits that closely overlap with it, even if they use different names such as “detail conscious” or “resilient”. Across many studies, conscientiousness is the trait most consistently linked with doing well at work, in a wide range of jobs. The other traits matter more in some roles than others. Extraversion often matters more in sales and leadership, for example.
If you are taking one of these questionnaires for a job, the advice is to answer honestly and consistently. How to pass a personality test at work explains how, and what a personality test is compares the Big Five with other models.
To see what a Big Five style profile looks like for you, take a practice personality test.
