fei75766_ch13_408-434.indd 418  02/06/20 01:05 PM
Part IV    Dispositional Theories418
Openness to experience distinguishes people whoprefer variety from those who
haveaneed forclosure andwhogaincomfort intheirassociation withfamiliar peo-
pleandthings. People whoconsistently seekoutdifferent andvaried experiences 
would score highonopenness toexperience. Forexample, theyenjoy trying new
menu items atarestaurant ortheylikesearching fornewandexciting restaurants. In
contrast, people whoarenotopen toexperiences willstickwithafamiliar item, one
theyknow theywillenjoy. People highonopenness alsotendtoquestion traditional 
values, whereas those lowonopenness tendtosupport traditional values andtopre-
serve afixed styleofliving. Insummary, people highonopenness aregenerally cre-
ative, imaginative, curious, andliberal andhaveapreference forvariety. Bycontrast, 
those whoscore lowonopenness toexperience aretypically conventional, down-to-
earth, conservative, andlacking incuriosity.
TheAgreeableness Scale distinguishes softhearted people from ruthless ones. 
People whoscore inthedirection ofagreeableness tendtobetrusting, generous, yield-
ing,acceptant, andgood-natured. Those whoscore intheother direction aregenerally 
suspicious, stingy, unfriendly, irritable, andcritical ofother people. 
Thefifthfactor— conscientiousness —describes people whoareordered, controlled, 
organized, ambitious, achievement focused, andself-disciplined. In general, people 
whoscore highonCarehardworking, conscientious, punctual, and persevering. 
Incontrast, people whoscore lowonconscientiousness tendtobe disorganized, 
negligent, lazy,andaimless andarelikely togiveupwhen aproject becomes dif-
ficult. Together these dimensions make upthepersonality traits ofthefive-factor 
model, often referred toasthe“BigFive” (Goldberg, 1981).
Evolution of the Five-Factor Theory
Originally, thefivefactors constituted nothing more thanataxonomy, aclassification 
ofbasic personality traits. Bythelate1980s, Costa andMcCrae became confident 
thattheyandother researchers hadfound astable structure ofpersonality. Thatis,
theyhadanswered thefirstcentral question ofpersonality: What isthestructure of
personality? Thisadvance wasanimportant milestone forpersonality traits. Thefield
nowhadacommonly agreed-on language fordescribing personality, anditwasin
fivedimensions. Describing personality traits, however, isnotthesame asexplain -
ingthem. Forexplanation, scientists need theory, andthatwasthenextproject for
McCrae andCosta. 
McCrae andCosta (1996) objected toearlier theories asrelying tooheavily on
clinical experiences andonarmchair speculation. Bythe1980s, theriftbetween clas-
sicaltheories andmodern research-based theories hadbecome quite pronounced. It
hadbecome clear tothem that“theoldtheories cannot simply beabandoned: They 
must bereplaced byanewgeneration oftheories thatgrow outoftheconceptual 
insights ofthepastandtheempirical findings ofcontemporary research” (p.53).
Indeed, thistension between theoldandnewwasoneofthedriving forces behind 
Costa andMcCrae’s development ofanalternative theory, onethatwent beyond the
five-factor taxonomy.
What thenisthealternative? What could amodern traittheory dothatwas
missing fromtheclassic theories? According toMcCrae andCosta, firstandforemost, Final PDF to printer