Personality Traits

Table of Contents

Personality Traits
The Five-Factor Model - The OCEAN model
Alter Ego
Some Good Old-Fashioned Personality Traits
Reading material
Tags

Personality Traits

Personality traits reflect people’s characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. Personality traits imply consistency and stability - someone who scores high on a specific trait like Extraversion is expected to be sociable in different situations and over time.

Look at the list of traits here: https://ideonomy.mit.edu/essays/traits.html

The Five-Factor Model - The OCEAN model

Trait psychology rests on the idea that people differ from one another in terms of where they stand on a set of basic trait dimensions that persist over time and across situations. The most widely used system of traits is called the Five-Factor Model.

This system includes five broad traits that can be remembered with the acronym OCEAN.

Openness,
Conscientiousness,
Extraversion,
Agreeableness, and
Neuroticism.

Alter Ego

The book “Alter Ego”.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40139225-the-alter-ego-effect

If you are usually a low energy guy, but you need to completely change who you are when you step on stage or when you need to give a presentation. And when you step off stage, you can go right back into who you were before. It’s a real phenomenon that he covers in this book.

Many celebrities create this personality, this persona that they turn on and off when they need to, depending on the situation. A famous one is Beyonce who had this alter ego, meaning a different identity called Sasha Fierce. She would be very anxious behind the scenes when she was going to perform at a concert, and she would feel really scared. So she created this personality called Sasha Fierce, who was this confident person who loved the crowd, would do amazing. People can say she could take it and when she came backstage, she turned back into herself. So many other celebrities did this exact same thing. Kobe Bryant did the same thing with the black mamba.

The reason this works is, it creates this separate identity that you have associated with certain characteristics. Let’s say, you don’t feel confident when you are on stage and you can’t speak confidently. You can’t be loud. The moment you create a different identity, it’s not you having to change yourself and all of a sudden, develop those qualities. This new identity already has those. So you just snap your fingers, turn into this person for that one hour, and then you go back to being yourself.

If I told you, for the next half an hour, just imitate this celebrity or imitate this person, just act like them, you would be able to act like them. But if someone criticized you and said, hey, I don’t like what you’re doing, I don’t like the way you talk, you wouldn’t feel offended or at least as offended, because it’s not really you. It’s not really the you that you’re used to. It’s this new identity. So in a way, it creates this shield where no matter what happens to you, no matter what people say, that shield, that mass, that identity, can protect you. That Alter Ego can protect you from that. And you feel like, hey, it’s not me they hate. It’s not me they’re judging. It’s this Alter Ego they’re judging. And this Alter Ego can handle that. So it’s really about identity change.

If you have a favorite speaker, like, Carla Harris, who, when she steps on stage and she just owns this stage. She has this 200% confidence. You can literally tell yourself, hey, this is your Carla Harris switch. Turn Carla Harris on and right before you step on stage, visualize Carla Harris speak, and step on stage, and you completely change as a person. It’s still you. You are not consciously trying to be someone else. It is just a subtle reminder that brings all the qualities that you need for that moment. And when you are off-stage, you can go right back into the person that you want to be.

You can develop different older egos depending on what you need. If you’re with your children, you could have one. If you’re with employees, you could have one. You’re at work, you’re at school, you could have a different one. So create the pockets of identities that make you feel safe, that make you feel confident around the skills and qualities that you need to have in that moment.

Some Good Old-Fashioned Personality Traits

https://www.yourtango.com/self/old-fashioned-personality-traits-sadly-gone-out-style

by Alexandra Blogier

These are highly valuable traits.

Thoughtfulness

Only thinking about yourself might benefit you in the short term, but the gains you make on your own usually won’t last for long.

Considering other people’s needs helps us build a sense of community. The people we extend care to become the people who are willing to care for us when we’re faced with hardship.

Showing that you care about others doesn’t have to be done with any grand, sweeping gesture. Ask your neighbors how they’re doing. Thank servers and retail workers when they help you out.
Altruism

Caring about others goes hand-in-hand with giving your time and energy to someone besides yourself. Centering your own needs is important, but only if you also help out people who are in need of support.

Modern society might value independence, but the truth is, we all need a little help at various points in our life.

Volunteering can benefit the people doing it just as much as the people receiving support. Donating your skills toward a cause you believe in can open your eyes to new perspectives. It can also boost your sense of confidence and self-worth, and help you feel connected to others in your community.
Humility

Being humble is one of the long-lost personality traits that should be emphasized more.

Exercising humility requires a person to have a strong sense of values that they choose to live by. Someone who shows humility knows how to think outside of their own experience and extend empathy and compassion to others, even when they don’t agree with them.

Research has shown that having a humble mindset can improve a person’s physical and mental health. The more humble a person is, the more they’re able to buffer against stressful life events, thus protecting their sense of well-being.
Inquisitiveness

Be genuinely curious about other people.

The art of having a successful conversation has less to do with what a person says and much more to do with what they don’t say. Being an avid, active listener demonstrates that you have a level of interest in other people, and aren’t only thinking about yourself.

By asking kind, intuitive questions, you can get to know someone on a deeper level, which can boost your sense of social satisfaction. Being a good friend means you have to pay attention to what people say, and being inquisitive is the first step.
Elegance

An elegant person is gracious and graceful. They know when to raise their voice to advocate for themselves and others, and they also know when to keep a low profile and not ruffle any feathers.

They’re put-together, classy, and have a strong sense of who they are and what they believe in. They don’t get tempted by passing fads. Their self-worth is always elevated and they know how to let their authentic self shine through.
Commitment

Committing to oneself and to others is part of building strong connections. It’s easy to waver when making decisions, and much more difficult to stick to what you said you’d do.

“Commitment is a cornerstone of human social life. Commitment fosters a sense of cooperation by “Making individuals willing to contribute to joint actions to which they wouldn’t be willing to contribute if they, and others, were not committed to doing so.”

Actions like offering to take on a project at work or baking for your child’s bake sale at school are examples of ways people commit to helping because others have committed, too.
Conscientiousness
Quietness

Being loud might seem like the right way to get people to notice you, but being the most magnetic person in the room can come from having quiet, confident energy, as well.

It’s not always about using your voice to get people to pay attention to you. Sometimes, giving off a calm vibe will draw more people to you.

Instead of talking about yourself all the time, listen to what others are saying. They’ll appreciate your soft open-mindedness, and you’ll both leave the interaction feeling like you made a valuable impression.
Accountability

People often struggle to admit when they’re in the wrong, which is why being accountable is such an old-fashioned yet valuable trait. Accountability is important in our personal relationships, and it’s also important in our professional lives.

A study looked at the concept of team accountability in the workplace, which they defined as “team members’ shared expectations of being held answerable for their common actions or decisions.”

The results of the study found that initial team accountability is strongly connected to the levels of trust, commitment, efficacy and emotional identification of the team. In teams that are already established, accountability increases the individual members’ shared effort and willingness to collaborate.

The more we hold ourselves accountable, the more we can hold others accountable, which boosts our ability to work well together.
Motivation

Having drive is an important part of making a strong impression. In our modern world, it’s easy to get distracted by screens and social media. Our ability to pay close attention and focus on the task at hand has sadly been decreasing as years have gone by.

The American Psychological Association shared that in 2004, the average attention span on any screen was two and a half minutes. By 2012, the average was 75 seconds. In the past five years, researchers have found that the average attention span is only 47 seconds long.

It’s no wonder that staying motivated is such a challenging task.

It might be tough to get started and require a change in your daily routine, but making a plan to stay focused and set your sights on the big picture will help your dreams come true.