Trait and Skill Aspects of Personality - Research Paper Example

The following are five traits included in the Big Five theory of personality: extraversion, agreeableness, openness, neuroticism and conscientiousness. Extraversion Extraversion is in line with to whom or where an individual most likely gets his or her energy. People who are extroverts get their energy from creating interaction with others while those who are introverts find the real source of energy from within themselves. It is implied that individuals who are extroverts are known to be energetic, talkative and assertive. Agreeableness Agreeableness is another personality trait in the Big Five theory stating that these people are friendly, cooperative and even have strong compassion for others’ cause. Conversely, people who are more distant or in solitary condition are less agreeable. Agreeableness can be depicted on a person’s sympathetic, kind, appreciative, and affectionate behaviors. Openness to experience There are people who are open to variety of new experiences. These individuals find joy in them. They have wide interests on new experiences, imaginative, intelligent and seek for originality. In other words, these individuals want to explore their world and learn from it. It is through achieving new experiences they could learn and appreciate the importance of being imaginative or creative along the process. Neuroticism Emotional stability is very important to be measured of a person and including his or her negative emotions. These components are integral parts of neuroticism as dimension of the Big Five theory. A high neuroticism score in the personality test suggests that a person is highly unstable emotionally and full of negative emotions. Individuals having this trait are found moody and tense. Conscientiousness There are individuals who are reliable and prompt. They are highly organized, thorough, planful and efficient. These individuals have high level of conscientiousness. They are dependable and the trait of high conscientiousness makes them one of the best choices of an organization. Limitations It is claimed that there are different kinds of traits that are basics to understanding personality. In fact, the debate regarding this is ongoing (Feldman, 2003). This remarkably put the Big Five theory in question whether the five dimensions of basic traits in it are representative enough to determine the human’s basic personality traits. This is a specific consideration because the theory is dependent only on what are observable personality traits, but without consideration of those which are not implicitly observed or have to be discovered yet. In this case, a rater might be biased at some point because of subjective observation. The Big Five theory may be subjective in nature if it has to be applied based on physical observation alone. Furthermore, the Big Five theory which consists of five generic dimensions may limit the opportunity to explain the detailed personality due to its characteristic of being so broad about the personality descriptions (John, Robins, & Pervin, 2008). In other words, its broad context may subject a special case to various interpretations, biases and so on. #2 The chosen three from Henry Murray’s needs are ambition, materialistic and power needs. Ambition needs Ambition needs can be categorized into three essential components: achievement, exhibition and recognition (Cherry, 2011). People are bombarded with different situations in life, but in the midst of them, they are still eager to find for success. Perhaps, these motivated them at some certain level. They also wanted to achieve accomplishment. However, they need to essentially address some obstacles and overcome them prior to the fulfillment of their ambition needs, specifically in their goal to achieve for something. Other people want to make a difference and they find it interesting to shock or thrill others which basically has become the bottom line of exhibition. Some other people wanted to be recognized and that is the reason why they constantly display their achievements and gain a remarkable social status. Materialistic needs The next kind of needs is materialistic. These needs are manifested through an individual’s acquiring, constructing, ordering and retaining things (Cherry, 2011). As it can be observed, common to people are their capability to obtain, create, make and retain things. These are significant manifestations that an individual has certain or specific needs for material things in life. Power needs The need for power is common to every walk of life. This need is manifested through abasement, autonomy, aggression, blame avoidance, deference, and dominance (Cherry, 2011). In the case of autonomy for instance, an individual may try to resist or become independent. In situations like this, power is substantially lacking that is why most organizations try to eliminate the spirit of resistance and independence in their entire system. Dominance on the other hand is about controlling others. This remarkably reflects the presence of power, but an individual needs to work out for this at certain degree. Controlling others is gained in various ways such as gaining friends, inflicting force or fear and so on. Occupation A certain occupation that could satisfy some need for power is a supervisory position. In this occupation, an individual is expected to dominate over the other in terms of implementing and running things within the organization. A supervisor is expected to take the lead, or be extra vigilant about any hint of resistance because it may substantially threaten his or her power. In this case, power is something like to be worked out and it may be too demanding at some point. A supervisor needs to significantly showcase his or her power in order to implement things towards specific goals. Thus, having this power may at some point provide satisfaction on his or her part because it is through it that the entire implementation process is successful in obtaining a remarkable output or result. Trouble A certain need for ambition in an occupational role may be detrimental to a person. For example, such person in order to be recognized needs to constantly display his or her achievements to gain certain social status. However, there is another consideration that needs to be taken into account prior to his or her success to it. Personal goals are said to be significant sources of conflicts at work (Boppel, 2010). This means there might be a conflict of interests due to personal reasons. A competition for certain position may be a source of conflict knowing that there is a possibility that people who wanted to occupy it may substantially do some remarkable approaches that may be bad or good at certain degree. #3 I would like to take the case of Oprah Winfrey. Long before in our society, women were regarded unequal to men. In fact, men were considered more intellectual and powerful than women. The real proofs were evident on the society dominated by men. In politics, men substantially occupied almost all the positions with corresponding high authority such as the head of the State. For instance, the United States in its entire history has never elected a woman president. In business, the list of multibillionaire’s names is flooded by men’s. However, Oprah was a remarkable exception. She is an epitome of a modern woman who has proven that women can substantially be equal with men. In fact, the latest trend today is regarding woman as equal to man in various aspects. Women today are able to experience economic opportunities, sexual freedom and equality with men in many areas compared in 1930s (Murrin et al., 2010). There is a remarkable change indeed and in our time this is further exemplified in the case of Oprah and those women who have equivalent traits like her, and specific level of needs based on Murray’s theory of needs. In my point of choosing to understand Oprah, I would like to apply the theory of Big Five traits and Murray’s concept of human needs. Oprah was once a woman who does not accept too much power and responsibility (Dalton, Hoyle, & Watts, 2010), but now I find her extrovert and a leader which can be clearly manifested how she has become excellently assertive and with power in her talk shows. I find her powerful. Not only that, the thought of conversing with her is highly exciting knowing that she can be so daring or provocative at some point. She does not care about what anybody would say, for as long as she has her point. In other words, Oprah’s traits have specific portion in the Big Five traits model. Using this model, it would not be hard at all to understand who Oprah Winfrey is. This model helps us understand Oprah in great detail. Although we know her based on how we heard her talked and saw how she moved, the point of Big Five traits is to give us more meaningful insights about the uniqueness of Oprah that we would come to the point of knowing it among ourselves why she behaves the way she does (negatively or positively) yet still be admired by billions of people. However, the model can only be used based on our perception about her and nothing beyond that. I also find Oprah a very ambitious woman. Based on the theory of needs of Murray, she has actually certain needs for material things and integrated with them is a remarkable fame. These are exactly what she experiences and enjoys right now as one of the most powerful women in the world today. Oprah has the potential to obtain, create, make, retain things and influence people. These can be elaborately observed from her notable achievements in life. She eventually started from scratch and how did she acquire everything she has now? Common sense would tell us that she actually obtained, created, made everything herself and took control of the situation. Therefore, the theory of Murray is sufficient to give us a general view or background on how Oprah was able to achieve things she has now with her. References Boppel, M. (2010). From Grey to Silver: Managing the Demographic Change Successfully. New York: Springer. Cherry, K. (2011). Murray’s Theory of Psychogenic Needs. Retrieved October 20, 2011 from http:// psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/a/psychogenic.htm Dalton, M., Hoyle, D. G., & Watts, M. W. (2010). Human Relations (4th ed.). Ohio: Cengage Learning. Feldman, R. S. (2003). Essentials of Understanding Psychology (5th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. John, O. P., Robins, R. W., & Pervin, L. A. (2008). Handbook of personality: theory and research (3rd ed.). New York: Guildford Press. Murrin, J. M., Johnson, P. E., McPherson, J. M., Gerstle, G., Fahs, A., and Rosenberg, E. S. (2010). Liberty, Equality, Power: A History of the American People: Since 1863 (5th ed.). Massachusetts: Cengage Learning. Read More