Conscientiousness

Conscientiousness is the trait of being painstaking and careful, or the quality of acting according to the dictates of one's conscience. It includes such elements as self-discipline, carefulness, thoroughness, organization, deliberation (the tendency to think carefully before acting), and need for achievement. It is an aspect of what has traditionally been called character. Conscientious individuals are generally hard working and reliable. When taken to an extreme, they may also be workaholics, perfectionists, and compulsive in their behavior. People who are low on conscientiousness are not necessarily lazy or immoral, but they tend to be more laid back, less goal oriented, and less driven by success.

Personality models

Conscientiousness is one of five superordinate traits in the "Big Five model" of personality which also consists of extraversion, neuroticism, openness to experience, and agreeableness. Two personality tests that assess these traits are Costa and McCrae's NEO PI-R^[1] and Goldberg's NEO-IPIP. According to these models, conscientiousness is considered to be a continuous dimension of personality, rather than a categorical "type" of person. Scores on conscientiousness follow a normal distribution.

Conscientiousness is related to impulse control, but it should not be confused with the problems of impulse control found in neuroticism. People high on neurotic impulsiveness find it difficult to resist temptation or delay gratification. Individuals who are low on conscientious self-discipline are unable to motivate themselves to perform a task that they would like to accomplish. These are conceptually similar but empirically distinct.^[2]

The trait cluster of conscientiousness overlaps with other models of personality, such as C. Robert Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory, in which it is called self-directedness. It also includes the specific traits of rule consciousness and perfectionism in Cattell's 16 PF model. Many of the behaviors associated with conscientiousness fall under the broad category of emotional intelligence.^[3] Traits associated with conscientiousness are frequently assessed by self-report integrity tests given by various corporations to prospective employees.

Behavior

People who score high on the trait of conscientiousness tend to be more organized and less cluttered in their homes and offices. For example, their books tend to be neatly shelved in alphabetical order, or categorized by topic, rather than scattered around the room. Their clothes tend to be folded and arranged in drawers or closets instead of lying on the floor. The presence of planners and to-do lists are also signs of conscientiousness. Their homes tend to have better lighting than the homes of people who are low on this trait.^[4]

Conscientiousness is related to successful academic performance in students. Low levels of conscientiousness are strongly associated with procrastination.^[5] A considerable amount of research indicates that conscientiousness is one of the best predictors of performance in the workplace,^[6] and indeed that after general mental ability is taken into account, the other four of the Big Five personality traits do not aid in predicting career success.^[7]:169 Conscientious employees are generally more reliable, more motivated, and harder working. Furthermore, conscientiousness is the only personality trait that correlates with performance across all categories of jobs. However, agreeableness and emotional stability may also be important, particularly in jobs that involve a significant amount of social interaction.^[8]

Although conscientiousness is generally seen as a positive trait to possess, recent research has suggested that in some situations it may be harmful for well-being. In a prospective study of 9570 individuals over four years, highly conscientiousness people suffered more than twice as much if they became unemployed.^[9] The authors suggested this may be due to conscientious people making different attributions about why they became unemployed, or through experiencing stronger reactions following failure. This finding is consistent with perspectives which see no trait as inherently positive or negative, but rather the consequences of the trait being dependant on the situation and concomitant goals and motivations.^[10]

Geography

Average levels of conscientiousness vary by state in the United States. People living in the central part of the country, including the states of Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Missouri tend to have higher scores on average than people living in other regions. People in the southwestern states of New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona also have relatively high average scores on conscientiousness. Among the eastern states, Florida is the only one that scores in the top ten for this personality trait. The four states with the lowest scores on conscientiousness on average were, in descending order, Rhode Island, Hawaii, Maine, and Alaska.^[11]

See also

• Personality psychology
• Scruples

References

1. ^ Costa, P. T. & McCrae, R. R. (1992). NEO personality Inventory professional manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.
2. ^ Costa, P. T. & McCrae, R. R. (1992). NEO personality Inventory professional manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.
3. ^ Daniel Goleman (1997). Emotional Intelligence. New York: Bantam. 
4. ^ Gosling, S. (2008). Snoop: What your stuff says about you?. New York: Basic Books.
5. ^ Dewitt, S., & Schouwenburg, H. C. (2002). Procrastination, temptations, and incentives: The struggle between the present and the future in procrastinators and the punctual. European Journal of Personality, 16, Issue 6, 469-489.
6. ^ J. F. Salgado (February 1997). "The five factor model of personality and job performance in the European community". Journal of Applied Psychology 82 (1): 30–43. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.82.1.30. PMID 9119797. 
7. ^ Schmidt, Frank L.; Hunter, John (2004). "General Mental Ability in the World of Work: Occupational Attainment and Job Performance". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 86 (1): 162–173. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.86.1.162. PMID 14717634. http://faculty.washington.edu/mdj3/MGMT580/Readings/Week%202/Schmidt.pdf. Retrieved 2010-07-12. 
8. ^ M. K. Mount, M. R. Barrick and G. L. Stewart (1998). "Five-factor model of personality and Performance in jobs involving interpersonal interactions". Human Performance 11 (2): 145–165. doi:10.1207/s15327043hup1102&3_3. 
9. ^ Boyce, C. J., & Wood, A., M., & Brown, G. D. A. (in press). The dark side of conscientiousness: Conscientious people experience greater drops in life satisfaction following unemployment.Journal of Research in Personality
10. ^ Wood, A. M., & Tarrier, N. (in press). Positive Clinical Psychology: A new vision and strategy for integrated research and practice.Clinical Psychology Review
11. ^ Stephanie Simon (2008-09-23). "The United States of Mind. Researchers Identify Regional Personality Traits Across America". WSJ.com. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122211987961064719.html?mod=yhoofront.  Original research article: Peter J. Rentfrow, Samuel D. Gosling and Jeff Potter (2008). "A Theory of the Emergence, Persistence, and Expression of Geographic Variation in Psychological Characteristics". Perspectives on Psychological Science 3 (5): 339–369. doi:10.1111/j.1745-6924.2008.00084.x. http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121394239/abstract.