Big five Personality Traits

“The Big Five” are personality traits that are seen in middle-aged men and women in how he or she acts during this change. First, the neuroticism individuals who are high on this trait are those who are worrying, temperamental, self-pitying, self-conscious, emotional and vulnerable. Those who are low on this trait are calm, even-tempered, self-content, comfortable, unemotional, and hardy. This type of personality is those who don’t understand how to deal with the stage of the midlife changes. Extroversion is the next trait. The individuals who are high on this trait are affectionate, talkative, active, fun-loving, and passionate. This person is very loving and cares much for those around him or her. While those who are low are reserved, quiet, passive, sober, and emotionally unreactive. This person excludes himself from others and shows little emotion. Next, the openness to experience individuals who are high on this trait is imaginative, creative, original, curious, and liberal. Individuals who are low are down-to-earth, uncreative, conventional, uncurious, and conservative. These people are the majority of the middle-aged people by experiencing times of both the high and low side. Agreeableness individuals who are high on this trait are soft-hearted, trusting, generous, acquiescent, lenient, and good-natured. These people are willing to give when someone is in need and are very enjoyable to be around. Those who are low on this trait are ruthless, suspicious, stingy, antagonistic, critical, and irritable. They are just the opposite and are not fun to be around and are not willing to help out. Last, conscientiousness individuals who are high on this trait are conscientious, hard-working, well-organized, punctual, ambitious, and preserving. Those on the low side are negligent, lazy, aimless, and nonpersistent. Many people in the middle age step are at the low side of these traits but as the change comes to an end, they try to get back to the high side of the trait. “Longitudinal and cross-sectional studies of men and women in many countries varying widely in cultural traditions reveal the agreeableness and conscientiousness increase from the teenage years through middle age, whereas neuroticism declines, the extroversion and openness to experience do not change or decrease slightly, changes that reflect ‘settling down’ and greater maturity” (McCrae & Costa, 2006). Herbst performed a study that showed that 52% of people asked about their personality said that it changed, 39% changed a little, and 9% changed a lot (et al. 2000).
Works Cited
Herbst, J.H. (2000). Self-perceptions of change and stability in personality at midlife. The UNC alumni heart study. Assessment, 7, 379-388.
McCrae, R., & Costa, P.T., Jr. (2006). Cross-cultural perspectives on adult personality trait development. In D.K. Mroczek & T.D. Little (Eds.) Handbook of personality development (pp. 129-146). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Lesson 9 Part A Works Cited
Menon, U. (2001). Middle adulthood in cultural perspective: The imagined and the experienced in three cultures. In M.E. Lachman (Ed.), Handbook of middle development (pp. 40-74). New York: Wiley.
Ryff, C.D., & Singer, B.H. (2005). Social environments and the genetics of aging: Advancing knowledge of protecting health mechanisms. Journal of Gerontology.

Cited: Menon, U. (2001). Middle adulthood in cultural perspective: The imagined and the experienced in three cultures. In M.E. Lachman (Ed.), Handbook of middle development (pp. 40-74). New York: Wiley. Ryff, C.D., & Singer, B.H. (2005). Social environments and the genetics of aging: Advancing knowledge of protecting health mechanisms. Journal of Gerontology.