Advantages and Disadvantages of the Big Five Compared to Examining Specific Traits - Essay Example

? Advantages and Disadvantages of the Big Five Compared To Examining Specific Traits Advantages and Disadvantages of the Big Five Compared To Examining Specific Traits Understanding personality is complex and calls for application of certain models in getting an insight to personality. Some studies use specific traits to examine personality while others use the big five model to examine various personality traits. Indeed, many researchers and studies relied on the big five-factor model to carry out research on psychology studies in the recent past. As such, there have been questions to the use of the big five-factor model over examining a specific trait in such psychology studies. The controversy has led to different views on the benefits and demerits of using the big five-factor model over examining a specific trait. The big five-personality trait also known as five-factor model is considerably a generalization of personality traits. The big five-personality trait uses five broad dimensions to describe personality. The five dimensions include extraversion, neuroticism, openness, conscientiousness, and agreeableness. The extraversion trait reflects positive attributes such as, sociability, assertiveness, and excitability. The neuroticism trait depicts negative emotions such as anger and depression. On the other hand, the openness trait encompasses creativity, curiosity, and insightfulness. Ultimately, the conscientiousness trait highlights the goal oriented behavior and thoughtfulness among individuals. According to various studies, the big five model has an advantage over the use of specific traits to examine personality because the model is universal and can accurately and clearly define specific characteristics in a given population. Indeed, the big five model would have given a specific and clear direction on the aspects of impulsive behaviour which predict disordered eating in the appetite research (Appetite research, 2008). Actually, in this study, which seemingly used the specific traits to examine personality, the researchers implicated impulsivity as a personality trait associated with obesity, binge eating and restrained eating. However, the study established that impulsivity has multiple dimensions and it was thus unclear which aspects of impulsive behaviour best predict disordered eating (Appetite research, 2008). Such uncertainty and ambiguity was also present in another study that used specific traits to treat college women at risk for bulimia (Kaminski & McNamara, 1996). The big five model would solve such an ambiguity as it can establish the specific aspect of impulsive behavior, which predicts disordered eating using the five dimensions of the big five model. The application of the five dimensions helps in establishing the specific personality traits in clear and accurate manner. Moreover, the big five model has an advantage of being compatible with other features which seek to examine a certain personality trait. Indeed, the study examining the relationship between burnout as measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory and the Big Five personality factors confirms this advantage (Bakker et al, 2006). The study established that emotional stability predicted emotional exhaustion and that emotional stability, extraversion, and intellect/autonomy predicted depersonalization. Notably, extraversion is a big five dimension that is compatible with the Maslach Burnout Inventory in this context. Moreover, the study established that extraversion and emotional stability predicted personal accomplishment, which further confirms the compatibility nature of the big-five model (Bakker et al, 2006). Additionally, in another study big-five traits, which included conscientiousness, emotional stability, extraversion, and openness, correlated significantly and positively with life satisfaction, which is a personality (Lounsbury et al, 2009). Indeed, the study equally established a correlation between volunteering and the dimensions of agreeableness and extraversion where volunteer food preparers were more agreeable depicting the compatibility nature of the big-five model (Bakker et al, 2006). Such compatibility was also present in the study on the relationship between the big five-factor model personality traits and universal-diverse orientation (UDO). In this study, the analyses established significant relationships between UDO and one of the Big Five personality traits (Openness to Experience) in counselor trainees (Thompson et al, 2002). The big-five traits have the capacity to predict specific personal traits and the variance in such traits while compared to the use specific traits to examine personality. The study on the relationship between the Big Five personality traits, self-esteem that is a specific trait and life satisfaction in Iran, which is a personality, confirms this advantage. Indeed, the study revealed that the Big Five personality traits explained about 25% of the variance in life satisfaction scores (Joshanloo & Afshari, 2011). Moreover, the study on the relationship of the big-five traits of personality and general mental ability with career success depicts the ability of the model to establish variance in personality. Indeed, this study established that the big-five model could reduce or categorize virtually all personality measures where the model contributed unique variance in explaining career success (Timothy et al, 1999). This depicts the ability of the model to establish variances among personalities. Moreover, the study revealed that extraversion and neuroticism were the strongest predictors of life satisfaction. However, the study established the disadvantage of the big-five model since not all traits in the model could predict personality (Joshanloo & Afshari, 2011). In fact, in this context, the use of a specific trait supersedes the two big-five traits in predicting personality. The study also depicts the demerit of the model in mediating the influence of a personality over the use of a specific trait (Joshanloo & Afshari, 2011). The big-five model is cross-culturally applicable due to its universality. A study that sought to establish whether the Big Five model of personality is applicable to the Malay culture confirms this advantage. Indeed, the study established that the Big Five factors of Costa and McCrae exist in the Malay personality structure (Mastor et al, 2000). This was in agreement with other studies that explored the application of the Big Five model of personality in different cultures. Indeed, studies like the one on the impacts of cultural dimensions on healthy diet through public self-consciousness formed the most basic dimensions of personality, such as the Big Five personality traits (Sun et al, 2009). Such studies derived an affirmative deduction for all five factors on the application of the model in different cultures. The use of specific traits can actually not apply in different cultures. This confirms the universality and application of the model across different cultures. However, not all traits in the model received a clear replication across different cultures with the Openness to actions and values facets manifesting poor replication (Mastor et al, 2000). The big-five model could also convergence with other structural models. Indeed, the study on the Big-Five Trait Taxonomy established that the Big Five dimensions have the same conceptual status as other personality constructs where all the Big Five factors show substantial and about equal heritabilities regardless of their methods of measurement (John & Srivastava, 1999). Moreover, the Big Five taxonomy has the benefit of capturing the commonalities among most of the existing systems of personality traits, which consequently provides an integrative descriptive model for research. Nevertheless, there is less agreement on the third dimension of the big-five model, which suffices in various guises, such as Control and Super-Ego Strength in contrast with Impulsivity, Psychoticism, and Play Orientation (John & Srivastava, 1999). References Appetite research; new appetite research from university of Sussex described. (2008). Food Weekly Focus, , 83. Bakker, A. B., Karen I Van, D. Z., Lewig, K. A., & Dollard, M. F. (2006). 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