My Big Five, here’s what I’ve discovered.

My results from the Big Five Locater self-assessment were interesting to read about. The test didn't give out any ranges with-in the middle, meaning either you were high or low, strong or weak. Having said that, I felt that my Extroversion, which I scored high on, was a surprising to me. I usually don't find myself to being assertive and talkative, but rather shy and quite, unless I’m introduced. The benefit to this is that I am a good listener. Going with the results provided here, I would guess that I'm working rather well on overcoming this, has it has stated here within this questionnaire, this could be a result of working 10 plus years of working retail too.

My Agreeableness score was high, meaning that I'm easy to work with as a team player, I'd agree with this - though I also don't mind working independently either.

The Emotional Stability area for my scored was strong. For myself, being a parent, this is an area that needs to be strong in order to bring up happy and positive kids, and I have three teenagers that rely on me for that, as well as, for my high score on conscientiousness. My husband laughed when he saw my score here and said, “Yep, that's you!” 

In the last area Openness to Experience, I was low. This is an area I never really gave any thought to. According to the questionnaire: I'm practical, conservative, have a depth of knowledge, efficient and expert and yet within the chapter material it states that I'm narrow-minded, not interested within the outside world and uncomfortable in unfamiliar surroundings and situations. To me these don't sound at all the same! I'm not sure that to think here about this (perhaps a book error), other than I find myself disagreeing with what the chapter material is saying about me. I find myself to be open-minded about a good many things. Even though I don't care to watch the news daily, it's not because I'm not interested about the outside world, it's just that for me, watching too much depressing news, troubles me too much. With the capability of the internet, I can pick and chose my news. I also enjoy traveling, trying some new things and learning about new cultures, so being uncomfortable in unfamiliar surroundings, also doesn't sound like a match either for me.

All in all, I think that knowing who you are is important, but I don't think that because someone’s questionnaire said that your this type of person or that type of person, that you now know and have a better understanding of who you are and what area's you can improve upon, you should have already know that before hand and how you react to others. I found that two different areas on this questionnaire were off a bit for me, which goes to show you that I already knew myself better than this questionnaire suggest. Not only that but we as humans are always learning, growing and changing in the process, so what maybe true of our personalities today, may not be the same later. I think our textbook stated (Interpersonal Skills in Organizations, page 8), it best when it said, "that personality are formed by social, cultural and environmental factors…it also stated that always trying to please everyone or conforming to gain everyone's approval…can be harmful to you in the long term." So I'm thinking about the wise words of…just be yourself and the best you can be, truly is the best advice one can receive.

If you would like to take a "Big Five" assessment I found a link: http://www.outofservice.com/bigfive/



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