advance and thinking carefully before acting. Theirs is a life clearly di -
rected along the paths they choose to pursue.
Making Distinctions
It is not difficult to see the relationships among traits within a single do -
main. But it can be difficult to make the distinctions between and
among domains that the facts demand. Human beings have a tendencyto evaluate ideas and organize them in terms of good and bad. It is easyto see Neuroticism as bad and Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness,and Conscientiousness as good, and then to assume that individualshigh in Neuroticism are likely to be introverted, closed, antagonistic,and unreliable. It doesn’t work that way . The five factors are indepen -
dent; consequently , an individual high in Neuroticism is as likely to be
introverted as extraverted, closed as open. Five dimensions cannot becollapsed into one without serious distortions.
One way to make the necessary conceptual distinctions is to con-
centrate on the opposite poles, the low ends, of the traits we are discuss-ing. Introverts are cold but not hostile; loners but not self-conscious;not particularly cheerful, but not necessarily depressed either. Individ-uals who are closed to experience are not necessarily maladjusted; infact, they are somewhat less likely to experience violent emotions byvirtue of their lesser sensitivity to emotions of all kinds. They may notcare to travel to strange places and meet unusual people, but they arejust as likely as open people to seek excitement and crowds of people—as long as both are of the familiar variety .
There is another mistake in contrasting “good” and “bad” dimen -
sions of personality: We may be mistaken about which is which. From
the individual’s point of view , there are distinct advantages to beingwell-adjusted and extraverted. Such people usually report themselves tothe happiest, most satisfied with life (Costa & McCrae, 1980a). But alltraits have passed the evolutionary test of survival, and from society’spoint of view all kinds of people are necessary: those who work wellwith others and those who can finish a task on their own; those whocome up with creative new ways of doing things and those who main -
tain the best solutions of the past. There are probably even advantages
to found in Neuroticism, since a society of extremely easygoing individ -
uals might not compete well with other societies of suspicious and hos -
tile individuals. Cultures need members fit for war as well as peace,Measuring Personality 51