Personality: Big Five Factor and Self-Monitoring Scale - Essay Example

Personality: Big Five Factor and Self-Monitoring Scale Understanding one’s personality has always been an interesting aspect for individuals. Everyone wants to know how others perceive him/her and how they feel in his/her company. Most significant is the fact that all, individuals would want to know what behavior to exude in different social forums or environmental contexts, to avoid offending others. This need is natural for every individual and cannot just be wished away. Thus, in an attempt to help individuals to assess themselves in the light of others, several tests have been developed, which individuals can undertake to understand their parameters of socialization and appearance to others. This discussion seeks to investigate two different personally evaluation tests, namely the Big Five Factor Personally test, and Self-Monitoring Scale test, with a view to assessing how effective they are, in determining the character traits of individuals, any viable criticisms that the tests deserve, as well as analyzing any dangers and benefits associated with them. While there are some individuals who are highly concerned with how others perceive them, other individuals rarely care what other people think of them, as long as they act in a way that feels comfortable for them (Furham, 1989). The self-monitoring test is designed to help individuals assess the impressions that they make on others, while on social or public forums. The individuals who are highly concerned with their expressive controls tend to monitor themselves closely, to ensure that they present themselves in a way that meets the expectations of the others, according to their own judgment of other peoples’ preferred behavioral disposition (Carducci, 2006). On the other hand, those who are less concerned with the perceptions of others on them, tend to be less concerned about their expressive controls, as long as they feel that they their internal states; mainly determined by their beliefs and attitudes and are congruent with their physical presentation (Hill & Gick, 2011). Under the self-monitoring tests, the high scores in self-monitors indicate that individuals highly projects their images in an attempt to impress others, while those with low self-monitors show low expressive controls, which indicates that the individuals present themselves in a manner they are comfortable with. The Big Five Factor Personally test is yet another test that assesses the personality of an individual, based on some predetermined five fundamental behavioral aspects, to determine an individual’s real personality. Since “personality information could predict impression management behaviors” adopted by individuals (Osborn, Field, H. & Veres, 1989), these tests were designed to measure an individual’s personality and character traits, based on some predetermined parameters. There are various criticisms to both the Big Five Factor Personally test and Self-Monitoring Scale test. First, the self-monitoring test is criticized for lack of empirical linkages in the character traits of the individuals, often leading to a lack of clear understanding of the nature of the personality, since at times both the highly expressive controlled and the lowly expressive controls may fail to be differentiated. The concept of self-monitoring has been constantly attacked, “for its poor discriminant validity” (Furnham, 1989). The existing measures of psychological constructs may fail to identify the individual characteristics well, since an individual can pose a character trait that seems to emanate from their personal belief, attitude and disposition in public, yet it could be influenced by the desire to impress the others. Therefore, it fails to give a valid character description of an individual, since “there may be some conceptual overlap with other constructs” (Furnham, 1989). It is this overlap of the constructs that undermines the validity of the self-monitoring test. The Big Five Factor Personally test is criticized for a limited scope in defining the individual traits, since the Five-point parameters do not wholesomely explain all of human characteristics (Carducci, 2006). The religiousness of an individual, his/her ability to be manipulated, his/her sense of humor and honesty are just but a few character traits that cannot be effectively represented by the parameters applied in the Big Five Factor Personally test (Hill & Gick, 2011). Another criticism is that the Big Five Factor Personally test is not pitched on any theoretical framework, but only operates on the basis of empirical studies, which may necessary have no theoretical background (Matthews, Deary & Whiteman, 2003). While there is no dispute that the Five-factor do exist, there is no explanation as to underlying causes that are behind them. This serves to put the validity of the test into question (Sharpe, Martin & Roth, 2011). The completion of both the Big Five Factor Personally test and Self-Monitoring Scale test gave some personality descriptions. Having scored highly in the self-monitoring test, at 21/25; the indication was that my behaviors highly change in different environmental contexts, and that I tend to have different public and private personalities; meaning that I apply the high expressive controls so as to impress others. This character trait matched well with the high score in extraversion, under the Big Five Factor Personally test, which indicated that I enjoy the company of others, I am sociable and friendly. This match can simply be explained to mean that I try to fit into the perceptions that others have of me, so that we can freely interact, socialize and form friendships. The high score in self-monitoring test also indicated that I tend to be better in jobs that influence others, such as marketing, hiring and sales, and that I can make to be a good manager. The same trait is matched by the high score in agreeableness, an indication that I tend to be courteous to other people, and a low score in neuroticism; meaning I am calm and relaxed, both under the Big Five Factor Personally test (Hill & Gick, 2011). The benefit of these personality tests is that, they help an individual to understand who they are in terms of presenting themselves to others (Osborn, Field, H. & Veres, 1989, 2006). However, the dangers associated with these personality tests are; they are only valid to a certain extent, considering that the self-monitoring test may fail to give a clear personality, due to an overlap of constructs, while the Big Five Factor Personally test does not give a wholesome personality evaluation (Furham, 1989). This means that the tests cannot be fully relied on, lest they mislead individuals regarding their personalities. Conclusion The Big Five Factor Personally test and Self-Monitoring Scale test are personality tests that help individuals to establish their personal character. However, while they may be accurate to some extents, they are not wholesomely valid, owing to some shortcomings associated with them. The tests cannot be wholesomely dismissed, since they exude some degree of precision, while assessing the personality types. References Carducci, B. J. (2006). The psychology of personality. Oxford: Blackwell. Furham, A. (1989). Personality correlates of self-monitoring: The relationship between extraversion, neuroticism, type a behavior and snyder’s self-monitoring construct. Personal individual Difference, 10(1), 35-42. Hill, E. & Gick, M. (2011).The big five and cervical screening barriers: Evidence for the influence of conscientiousness, extraversion and openness. Personality and Individual Differences 50, 662–667. Matthews, G., Deary, I. J., & Whiteman, M. C. (2003). Personality traits. Cambridge [u.a.: Cambridge Univ. Press. Osborn, S., Field, H. & Veres, J. (1989).Introversion-Extraversion, Self-Monitoring, and Applicant Performance in a Situational Panel Interview: A Field Study. Journal of Business and Psychology, 13(2), 143-156. Sharpe, J., Martin, N. & Roth, K. (2011).Optimism and the Big Five factors of personality: Beyond Neuroticism and Extraversion. Personality and Individual Differences, 51. 946–951. Read More