Many psychologists believe that human characters can be described according to five basic dimensions of personality. These five dimensions, known as the “Big 5” personality traits, can predict how stress sensitive you are, which has been confirmed with cortisol measurements in the blood.
The Big Five personality traits
The five primary personality traits in the Big Five classification are extraversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness and neuroticism. If you know what each personality trait is and what it means to score high or low for any of these traits can help you understand your own personality better. The Big Five can also help you to understand others better if you can score them for the five traits and see where they fall on the continuum of each trait.
A brief history of the Big Five model
Psychologists have been concerned with the question of how many personality traits may exist. Each has come up with a different number, ranging from as little as three to as much as 4,000. Obviously, a list of 4,000 is too long to work with, and a list of three may be too simple. The Big Five personality traits model came out as a solution, with many psychologists and researchers supporting the belief that there are indeed five core personality traits.
The Big Five model describes personality traits between extremes
First off, it is crucial to keep in mind that each of the five main personality traits concerns a range between two extremes. Extraversion, for instance, is a continuum that ranges from severe extraversion to extreme introversion. Most people will get a score for extraversion that is somewhere in the middle of the range.
Although the five core personality traits are well supported by a large body of scientific literature, not every researcher and psychologist agrees. Personality traits can also be classified in other ways than that proposed in the Big Five. What is important for stress is that each classification has elements of active and passive behavior to deal with problems in them. In general, active behavior often leads to taking control over the stressful situation, and this leads to the reduction of stress.
The core personality traits of the Big Five are typically described as follows.
Extraversion. Extraversion is a personality trait characterized by high levels of emotional expressiveness, talkativeness, friendliness and excitability. Extraverted persons are social and outgoing, and gain energy from being with others. They truly enjoy being around other people. Those who score low on this personality trait are introverted, the opposite of extraverted. Introverts typically exhibit greater reserve to others. They are less able to let themselves go in social situations, and social meetings can be exhausting. Introverts need some time alone, and appreciate quiet environments to recharge their batteries.
Agreeableness. Trustworthiness, benevolence, friendliness, affection, and other prosocial traits are included in this personality feature. Individuals with high levels of agreeableness are more likely to be cooperative, whereas those with low levels of this personality trait are more likely to be aggressive and occasionally even manipulative.
Openness to new experiences. Imagination and insight are key characteristics of this personality trait. People who score high in openness have generally a broad range of interests, are curious, interested in other people and eager to learn and experience new things. A low score implies struggling with abstract thinking, and a lesser likelihood to accept and deal with change. People who are low in this personality trait are usually more traditional and conservative.
Conscientiousness. Typical characteristics of conscientiousness are high levels of thoughtfulness, a good control of impulses, and goal-directed behaviors. People who score high on this personality trait tend to be well-organized and pay attention to details. Consequently, they plan ahead and respect deadlines. They also think about how their behavior influences others. Not surprisingly, a low score on conscientiousness means the opposite: less structure (not to say chaotic), procrastination, and a disrespect of deadlines.
Neuroticism. Neuroticism is also known as negative emotionality, due to the many characteristics of negative mood: sadness, moodiness, and emotional instability. People who score high on neuroticisms are more likely to experience mood swings, anxiety, irritability and sadness. A low score on neuroticism means emotional stability.
Stability of the Big Five personality traits
The Big Five personality traits have been found in more than 50 different cultures. They thus seem to be universal, and may even have a biological basis, reflecting the most important personality qualities that determine how we thrive in our society.
As stable as personality traits seem to be, they can be influenced by genetic and environmental factors. A scientific study on identical and fraternal twins has revealed that personality traits are heritable for 41-61%. Furthermore, personality traits are stable during adulthood. Even adverse life events have little influence. However, with aging, people tend to become less extraverted, neurotic, and open to experience. Agreeableness and conscientiousness tend to increase with age.
The Big Five personality traits and stress
A number of personality traits influence stress sensitivity. For example, if you score high on neuroticism, you have a higher chance of depression, fear and feelings of guilt, and you are more sensitive to stress. In general, you will experience ordinary daily problems as stressful and you will have relatively more difficulty coping with setbacks than people who score high on emotional stability.
The perfectionists, represented in the conscientiousness trait, often suffer from work pressure and stress, because they carry out all their work accurately and to the very last detail. Also, they are afraid of making mistakes. They therefore control their work all the time, and lose unnecessarily much time. An interesting result of scientific research is that perfectionism correlates with higher concentrations of the stress hormone cortisol in the blood during acute stress. This is confirmation that perfectionism makes you vulnerable to stress.
Particular emotional people are those who score high on both neuroticism and extraversion, while satisfied and happy people usually score low on neuroticism and high on extraversion. A high score on both neuroticism and introversion usually characterizes individuals who are often anxious. These examples show that your personality is a unique mix of the five personality traits, each of which is present to a certain degree.
The relationship between the five personality traits and stress reactions have been studied in the laboratory. Participants underwent a stress-evoking task, such as a mathematical task or giving a presentation before a jury. Interestingly, participants who scored high on neuroticism found the tasks more stressful and difficult than people who scored high on other personality traits, but not neuroticism. They also had less of a feeling that they could exercise control over the tasks. Lack of control is a well-known stressor. Those who scored high on both openness and extraversion found the tasks not that stressful and easy to do. They felt they had some control over the tasks.
Concerning the stress reactions in the body, it turned out that participants with a high score on neuroticism, who experienced the tasks as stressful, showed surprisingly the lowest increase in the blood of the stress hormone cortisol. The opposite was also found: the heart rate accelerated (part of the sympathetic stress response) and cortisol in the blood increased in participants who scored high on the personality traits agreeableness and openness. These participants did not experience the tasks as stressful, but had the strongest stress reactions.
These observations tell us two things about stress and personality. The first is that it is important to have good stress reactions to deal with a stressor (the tasks in the study in this case). A healthy stress response is a good thing: they help to solve problems and to reduce stress rapidly. This is the biological basis of why people with high scores on openness and agreeableness are less sensitive to stress. The second is that the weak cortisol response in people with a high score on neuroticism reflects their general high stress levels. Because they see the hassles of everyday life as problematic and stressful, their cortisol production is constantly too high. Their control mechanism, by which cortisol tells the brain to stop its own production, doesn’t work properly. This leads to exhaustion of the adrenal glands, where cortisol is made. Therefore, they are unable to launch a good cortisol response when needed to solve a problem.
The personality traits according to the Big Five model are not only predictive for the physiological stress reactions, but also for the strategy people use during stress. For example, a high score for the traits extraversion, conscientiousness and openness predicts an active approach to deal with stressors (the problems that give stress). An active approach helps to adapt to change, for example when you move to a new work environment or during reorganizations.
Extraversion is associated with problem solving and seeking help with friends, family or colleagues. When extraverts deal with a stressor, they tend not to think about the negative aspects, which makes the problem less stressful. People who score high on neuroticism, on the other hand, generally have more trouble solving problems when they are stressed. They unconsciously allow more negative thoughts. They find it often difficult to accept stressful situations. They often look for help with friends and family, or distractions so that they do not have to think about the stressor. A high score for conscientiousness or openness indicates that someone will actively look for solutions to solve the problem. Agreeableness stimulates the use of support from the social network.
The link between the Big Five personality traits and stress has recently again been demonstrated. Neuroticism predicted stress and feelings of loneliness during the COVID pandemic.
Stress management on the basis of personality profile
As twin research has shown that between 41 and 61% of personality and the strategy followed during stress are genetically determined, an important part of personality traits are therefore not anchored in our DNA. There is apparently still room for conscious choice when deciding on some active or passive way to deal with a stressor. Although personality traits are generally quite stable, certain aspects of them can be influenced to some extent. It is therefore possible to change people’s behavior in such a way that they experience less stress when facing problems.
For example, scientists are currently studying whether psychotherapy can help to reduce stress among perfectionists. One of the therapies involved is cognitive behavioral therapy. This widely used therapy assumes that it is not the stressful events themselves that determine how you would react during stress, but how you think about the stressful event. The idea is that you stop thinking negatively about the stressor. One approach to achieve this is to reframe the stress from a problem to a challenge. A challenge gives a much more positive feeling than a problem, because a challenge implies that you would be able to overcome it with time and effort.
For perfectionists, the negative thoughts often relate to making mistakes at work. During cognitive behavioral therapy, the perfectionist will learn that making mistakes is normal, something that everybody does from time to time. This makes it easier to accept mistakes, and to deliver work with a few minor flaws in it. It is not always necessary that the work is 100% correct. Sometimes it is more important to deliver on time, respecting a deadline, but with 98% accuracy. Perfectionists can thus save time, so that they will have less time pressure to complete their tasks.
There are several ways to use your knowledge about personality traits, not only your own but also those of your colleagues or family members. You will come to a better understanding of your own behavior and that of others, and, alone or with professional help (including with articles on the stressinsight website and with the videos in our membership area), you can start working on certain aspects of your personality traits to make you less sensitive to stress.
