Neuroticism

Neuroticism gauges “emotional stability” (Costa, McCrae, 1992, para. 1) and people who have high levels of neuroticism tend to be sensitive and nervous. Low levels describe people to be secure and confident. Extraversion gauges a person’s level of comfort with interpersonal relationships. Extraverted individuals are very social and person oriented. Individuals who are on the low end of extraversion, or introverts are likely to be reserved and withdrawn. Openness to change is an “individual’s rigidity to beliefs and range of interests” (Cook, 2007, para. 6). People who are high on the openness to change level are very curious and are interested in a wide range of subjects. The low end of openness describes individuals to be inartistic, conventional, and down to earth. Agreeableness is a person’s ability to get along with others. High agreeableness will manifest itself into behaviors such as being helpful, caring, and honest. Low agreeableness will manifest itself as very volatile behaviors. Individuals with low agreeableness are likely to have cynical beliefs and tend to be irritable and act vengeful. Conscientiousness is the number of goals a person chooses to focus on. Those who are conscientious are very neat, attentive to detail, and are reliable. The low end of conscientiousness will manifest itself into a person being careless, lazy, and unreliable.

Locus of ControlAnother trait that affects behavior is locus of control. Locus of control is defined as the “extent to which a person feels able to control his own life concerned with a person’s internal/external orientation” (Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, 2005, p. 79). There are two types of loci, internal and external. People with an internal locus of control believe that they are in control of their own lives and destinies. Individuals with a high locus are prone to stress and are less effective in groups, but they have high job performance. Schermerhorn, Hunt, and Osborn (2005) say that internals...