The big five (OCEAN)

in progress

Timo Scheitinger

Summary / abstract

The OCEAN model, also called the five factor model or big five model, is an important component of modern personality theory in psychology. The model is composed of five main characteristics:

• Openness to experience
• Conscientiousness
• Extraversion
• Agreeableness
• Neuroticism

These characteristics vary from individual to individual and change only slightly over the course of a lifetime. Nevertheless, there are influences on the personality like genes and gender. Of course the character itself affects the environment as well and have an influence on the health, working life and relationship of the individuum. The outcome of an OCEAN model based test can be used in the program or project planning phase to delegate different tasks to the employees that fit the best.

Big idea

Definition of personality

“Personality refers to individual differences in characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving.” Moreover, the definition of personality in psychology is not fixed. There are several theories that attempt to define a person's personality. The OCEAN model is widely used to define traits.

History of development

As early as ancient Greece, people discussed personality and tried to explain it with models. Hippocrates tried a model with 2 opponents:

• Moist vs dry
• Hot vs cold

According to Hippocrates, these factors make up the temperament, and thus the character, of a person. Plato then came up with the idea of dividing the personality into factors, and thus his four-factor model came into being:

• Artistic
• Sensible
• Intuitive
• Reasoning

Aristotle, in turn, studied these models and came to the conclusion that the physical body of a person has a significant influence on personality. This was not seriously considered until the case of Phineas Gage. Phineas Gage, a railway worker in the 19th century, had a serious work accident while developing a new railway line. A blast misfired and a one-metre long iron rod with a diameter of 3.2 centimetres shot through his head.