By Gabriele Bammer
Personality is one of the most evident ways in which people differ. A useful way of coming to terms with this aspect of diversity is to focus on traits that predict behaviour. The HEXACO model is considered to be valid across cultures and focuses on 6 traits:
- Honesty-Humility
- Emotionality
- eXtraversion
- Agreeableness
- Conscientiousness
- Openness to experience.
Honesty-Humility
This trait describes the degree to which a person:
- manipulates others for personal gain, including through flattery
- is tempted to break the rules for personal profit
- is motivated by material gain and interested in lavish wealth and luxuries
- has a sense of self-importance and entitlement to elevated social status.
Emotionality
This trait describes the degree to which a person:
- is deterred by the prospect of physical harm
- experiences anxiety in response to life’s stresses
- needs emotional support from others
- feels empathy and sentimental attachment with others.
eXtraversion
This trait describes the degree to which a person:
- feels positively about themselves
- feels awkward when they are the centre of social attention or feels confident when leading or addressing groups of people
- enjoys social gatherings and interactions
- experiences positive feelings of enthusiasm and energy.
Agreeableness
This trait describes the degree to which a person:
- forgives wrongs or holds grudges
- is critical of the short-comings of others
- is willing to compromise and co-operate
- can control their temper.
Conscientiousness
This trait describes the degree to which a person:
- organizes their time and physical surroundings
- works in a disciplined way towards their goals rather than avoiding difficult tasks or challenging goals
- strives for accuracy and perfection in their tasks
- deliberates carefully when making decisions rather than making them on impulse.
Openness to experience
This trait describes the degree to which a person:
- becomes absorbed in the beauty of art and nature
- is inquisitive about various domains of knowledge
- uses their imagination freely in everyday life
- takes an interest in unusual ideas or people.
Personality differences and how problems are framed, understood and responded to
Although personality is not generally thought of as a factor in how researchers and stakeholders approach problems, it may well have some effects. For example, those who are open to unusual ideas and inquisitive about other areas of knowledge may well approach the research differently from those who are not.
Differences in personality and how well those contributing to the research work together
So-called personality clashes are one of the factors getting in the way of researchers and stakeholders working together effectively. These can have multiple origins, for example, stemming from differences in: levels of conscientiousness in doing the work, willingness to compromise, being critical of others, and levels of self-importance.
An appreciation of differences in personality can also be an asset to working together. An example is when tasks are matched to strengths. For instance if aspects of a project involve some physical risks, these might be best undertaken by those who score low on emotionality. Another way in which differences can be an asset is when team members with particular strengths coach those who want to improve their skills. For instance, extraverts, as well as introverts who have learnt to improve their public speaking, may be able to provide tips to and coach others.
Anything to add?
Do you have additional perspectives to share about the role of understanding personality in research on complex societal and environmental problems?
Particularly welcome are examples from your research about how personality was relevant and how you incorporated personality differences in your work.
If you are new to this topic, is there anything else on understanding personality that would be useful?
Sources and references:
The main source is the revised HEXACO personality inventory by Kibeom Lee and Michael Aston presented at https://hexaco.org/scaledescriptions. They have drawn on the work of others, which is cited in their articles on the same website.
I have expressed the six scales as gradients, rather than following the original in contrasting the attributes of those with high scores against the attributes of those with low scores.
Biography: Gabriele Bammer PhD is Professor of Integration and Implementation Sciences (i2S) at the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health at The Australian National University in Canberra. i2S provides theory and methods for tackling complex societal and environmental problems, especially for synthesis of disciplinary and stakeholder knowledge, understanding and managing diverse unknowns, and providing integrated research support for policy and practice change. She is also a member of blog partner PopulationHealthXchange.
The Understanding Diversity Primer comprises the following blog posts:
Published:
1. Why diversity? (April 21, 2022)
2. Mental models (April 28, 2022)
3. Perceptions of good research (May 5, 2022)
4. Power (May 12, 2022)
5. Values (May 19, 2022)
6. Interests (May 26, 2022)
7. Culture (June 2, 2022)
This blog post:
8. Personality (June 9, 2022)
Still to come:
9. Team roles (June 16, 2022)
10. Advanced considerations (June 23, 2022)