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Personality: What Makes You the Way You Are
It is one of the great mysteries of human nature. Why are some people worriers, and others wanderers? Why are some people so easy-going and laid-back, while others are always looking for a fight?
Written by Daniel Nettle--author of the popular book Happiness--this brief volume takes the reader on an exhilarating tour of what modern science can tell us about human personality. Revealing that our personalities stem from our biological makeup, Nettle looks at the latest findings from genetics and brain science, and considers the evolutionary origins and consequences of different personalities. The heart of the book sheds light on the "big five": Extraversion, Neuroticism, Conscientious, Agreeableness, and Openness. Using a stimulating blend of true-life stories and scientific research, Nettle explains why we have something deep and consistent within us that determines the choices we make and situations we bring about. He addresses such questions as why members of the same family differ so markedly in their natures? What is the best personality to have--a bold one or a shy one, an aggressive one or a meek one? And are you stuck with your personality, or can you change it? Life, Nettle concludes, is partly the business of finding a niche where your personality works for you. "It is a question of choosing the right pond," he notes, "and being mindful of the dangers." There is no ideal personality to have. Every disposition brings both advantages and disadvantages.
Full of human wisdom as well as scientific insight, this book illuminates the pluses and minuses of personality, offering practical advice about living with the nature you were born with. It even includes a questionnaire so that you can assess yourself.
Written by Daniel Nettle--author of the popular book Happiness--this brief volume takes the reader on an exhilarating tour of what modern science can tell us about human personality. Revealing that our personalities stem from our biological makeup, Nettle looks at the latest findings from genetics and brain science, and considers the evolutionary origins and consequences of different personalities. The heart of the book sheds light on the "big five": Extraversion, Neuroticism, Conscientious, Agreeableness, and Openness. Using a stimulating blend of true-life stories and scientific research, Nettle explains why we have something deep and consistent within us that determines the choices we make and situations we bring about. He addresses such questions as why members of the same family differ so markedly in their natures? What is the best personality to have--a bold one or a shy one, an aggressive one or a meek one? And are you stuck with your personality, or can you change it? Life, Nettle concludes, is partly the business of finding a niche where your personality works for you. "It is a question of choosing the right pond," he notes, "and being mindful of the dangers." There is no ideal personality to have. Every disposition brings both advantages and disadvantages.
Full of human wisdom as well as scientific insight, this book illuminates the pluses and minuses of personality, offering practical advice about living with the nature you were born with. It even includes a questionnaire so that you can assess yourself.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published September 13, 2007
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October 2, 2017
همه ي انسانها در حدود ٩٥ درصد ژنومشان كاملا مشابه هم هستند. هرچند اين ٥درصد باقيمانده به حدي هست كه تفاوتهاي چشمگيري ايجاد ميكند اما محيط هم تاثير به سزايي در رفتار و ويژگي هاي انسان دارد. اين كتاب بيشتر درمورد تاثير ژنتيك صحبت كرده بود و خيلي مختصر به محيط پرداخته بود.
در مورد ژنتيك و موتاسيون ها و نحوه ي كاركرد ژنها و جمع آوري اطلاعات آماري در پژوهش ها اطلاعات خيلي خوبي بدست ميده وخيلي ميتونه مفيد باشه . البته بايد اينم بگم بيشتر اين موارد بارها در كتابهاي ديگر تكرار شده اند و مطالب جديدي نيستند اما به صورت جالبي جمع بندي شده بود در اين كتاب.
براي اثبات نظريه ها از نظريات داروين و انتخاب طبيعي بسيار بهره گرفته بود.درواقع ميتوان گفت نويسنده خود تحقيق زيادي براي كتاب انجام نداده بود ، بلكه از تحقيقات سايرين بيشتر بهره برده بود.
كتاب ، شخصيت انسان رو به ٥ دسته تقسيم ميكند:
١)برونگرايي : افرادي جاه طلب و فعال و پرانرژي و داراي احساسات مثبت هستند كه پاسخ شديد به مشوق ها نشان ميدهند، پاسخ شديد ناقل هاي دوپامين در مغز انها ديده ميشود، ژن D4DR بيشتري دارند كه دوپامين را كد ميكند. علاقه دارند كه شريك هاي جنسي زيادي داشته باشند. اهل ريسك هستند.
در مقابل درونگرايي يعني صبوري و خويشتن داري،بي تفاوتي، كناره گيري و دوري گزيني از جوايز اين دنيا، وابسته بودن. اين افراد احساسات مثبت كمتري دارند ولي اين به اين معني نيست كه احساسات منفي دارند.
در مورد برونگرايي جوري صحبت شده بود كه انگار صفتي غالب است اما به دليل مشكلاتي كه دارد پس از انتخاب طبيعي در كنارش درونگرايي هم باقي مانده و به طور كلي از بين نرفته است.
٢)روان رنجوري: اين دسته احساسات منفي بيشتري دارند، گاهي كاهش فعاليت و يا حجم آميگدال مشاهده ميشود، ممكن است مشكل در ژنهاي مربوط به سروتونين و كورتيزول وجود داشته باشد. تا حدودي با افسردگي مرتبط است اما در افسردگي برخلاف روانرنجوري ، احتمال بازگشت بيماري زياد است. بسيار آسيب پذير مي باشند. درجه ي خودشناسي كمي دارند. عدم ثبات در اهداف و تداركات زندگي در آنها ديده ميشود. به علت تجربه ي استرس زياد، در معرض ابتلا به بيماري هاي مزمن مي باشند.
البته نبايد اين نكته را ناديده گرفت كه روانرنجوري بعلت اضطراب و استرس ، به فرد اين امكان را ميدهد كه از رفتارهاي پرخطر بيشتر دوري كند پس رفتارهاي جامعه ستيزانه در اين گروه كمتر ديده مي شود همچنين تلاش و بصيرت بيشتري دارند. در تلاشند امور دنيارا تغيير دهند پس ابتكار و نوآوري بيشتري نشان مي دهند. معمولا تفكر ژرف تري نسبت به ساير افراد دارند.
٣)دورانديشان يا مديران : افرادي خويشتن دار، منضبط هستند و مكانيسم هاي كنترل و بازگرداني از پاداش اين افراد بسيار خوب عمل ميكند. (پس اگر فردي برونگرا باشد و طبق تمايل به پاداش، به مواد مخدر روي بياورد ، اگر شخصيتي دور انديش داشته باشد ممكن است خود را كنترل كرده و در دام اعتياد نيفتد!)لب قدامي مغز نقش مهمي در اين نوع شخصيت ايفا ميكند. نقطه ي مقابل دورانديشي ، تكانشگري است. اين افراد موفقيت شغلي بيشتري نشان مي دهند و در اهداف خود پايدارترند. پس اين افراد در محيط هاي شغلي افرادي موفق و كارامد محسوب ميشوند اما اگر محيط شغلي آنها غير قابل پيش بيني باشد ، دورانديشي غير سودمند است.
دسته اي از افراد دورانديشي مفرط يا OCPD دارند كه اين افراد براي تمام كارهاي خود برنامه ريزي ميكنند و بسيار حساس به اين برنامه ريزي هستند. در نتيجه در نظر ديگران، خشك و بي احساس و غير قابل تحمل و لجباز هستند. زندگي يكنواختي دارند. ممكن است دچار بي اشتهايي عصبي شوند و كمالگرايي به شدت در آنها ديده مي شود.
٤)سازگاران : افرادي قابل اعتماد و همدل هستند. اين افراد ، افرادي ياري دهنده، داراي ارتباط اجتماعي متوازن هستند و از حمايت اجتماعي لذت ميبرند. به ندرت خشمگين ميشوند.
نبود سازگاري ميتواند با پارانويا مرتبط باشد همچنين پايين بودن ميزان سازگاري نشانه ي جامعه ستيزي فرد ميتواند باشد. سازگاري در زنان بيشتر از مردان مشاهده ميشود.
سازگاري در تقابل با نظريه ي داروين ميباشد زيرا همدلي با هم نوع منابع در دستري خود فردا كاهش ميدهد.
٥)گشوده ذهن ها يا شاعران : مي تواند پيش بيني افراد براي مشاركت در فعاليت هاي فرهنگي (كتاب خواندن و تئاتر و فيلم ديدن)باشد. باورهاي ماوراءالطبيعه دارند و در بعضي موارد روانپريش ميباشند و شبه شيزوفرني گونه در آنها ديده مي شود. كارهاي خلاقانه انجام مي دهند. تجربه هاي نامتعارف(توهم و شبه توهم، پريشاني دريافتي و انديشه هاي مبتني بر جادو) در بيشتر آنها ديده ميشود. گرايش اين دسته به افكار معنوي بيشتر از سايرين است. باورهايي خلاف هنجارهاي جامعه دارند. تغيير شغل هم به وفور ديده مي شود. معمولا در انتخاب زوج مناسب تر عمل ميكنند.
و در آخر، شخصيت قابليت تغيير زياد ندارد هرچند با گذر عمر تغيير مختصري در آن ايجاد ميشود، اما ميتوان راه هاي بروز شخصيت را تغيير داد و با رفتارهاي كم خطري آن را بروز داد. (مثلا ورزشي كم خطر تر نسبت به موتورسواري براي فرد برونگرا)
پس بهتر است شخصيت خود را بشناسيم و هدف هاي خود را با راه هايي مرتبط با شخصيتمان عملي كنيم و معايب آن را به حداقل برسانيم.
در مورد ژنتيك و موتاسيون ها و نحوه ي كاركرد ژنها و جمع آوري اطلاعات آماري در پژوهش ها اطلاعات خيلي خوبي بدست ميده وخيلي ميتونه مفيد باشه . البته بايد اينم بگم بيشتر اين موارد بارها در كتابهاي ديگر تكرار شده اند و مطالب جديدي نيستند اما به صورت جالبي جمع بندي شده بود در اين كتاب.
براي اثبات نظريه ها از نظريات داروين و انتخاب طبيعي بسيار بهره گرفته بود.درواقع ميتوان گفت نويسنده خود تحقيق زيادي براي كتاب انجام نداده بود ، بلكه از تحقيقات سايرين بيشتر بهره برده بود.
كتاب ، شخصيت انسان رو به ٥ دسته تقسيم ميكند:
١)برونگرايي : افرادي جاه طلب و فعال و پرانرژي و داراي احساسات مثبت هستند كه پاسخ شديد به مشوق ها نشان ميدهند، پاسخ شديد ناقل هاي دوپامين در مغز انها ديده ميشود، ژن D4DR بيشتري دارند كه دوپامين را كد ميكند. علاقه دارند كه شريك هاي جنسي زيادي داشته باشند. اهل ريسك هستند.
در مقابل درونگرايي يعني صبوري و خويشتن داري،بي تفاوتي، كناره گيري و دوري گزيني از جوايز اين دنيا، وابسته بودن. اين افراد احساسات مثبت كمتري دارند ولي اين به اين معني نيست كه احساسات منفي دارند.
در مورد برونگرايي جوري صحبت شده بود كه انگار صفتي غالب است اما به دليل مشكلاتي كه دارد پس از انتخاب طبيعي در كنارش درونگرايي هم باقي مانده و به طور كلي از بين نرفته است.
٢)روان رنجوري: اين دسته احساسات منفي بيشتري دارند، گاهي كاهش فعاليت و يا حجم آميگدال مشاهده ميشود، ممكن است مشكل در ژنهاي مربوط به سروتونين و كورتيزول وجود داشته باشد. تا حدودي با افسردگي مرتبط است اما در افسردگي برخلاف روانرنجوري ، احتمال بازگشت بيماري زياد است. بسيار آسيب پذير مي باشند. درجه ي خودشناسي كمي دارند. عدم ثبات در اهداف و تداركات زندگي در آنها ديده ميشود. به علت تجربه ي استرس زياد، در معرض ابتلا به بيماري هاي مزمن مي باشند.
البته نبايد اين نكته را ناديده گرفت كه روانرنجوري بعلت اضطراب و استرس ، به فرد اين امكان را ميدهد كه از رفتارهاي پرخطر بيشتر دوري كند پس رفتارهاي جامعه ستيزانه در اين گروه كمتر ديده مي شود همچنين تلاش و بصيرت بيشتري دارند. در تلاشند امور دنيارا تغيير دهند پس ابتكار و نوآوري بيشتري نشان مي دهند. معمولا تفكر ژرف تري نسبت به ساير افراد دارند.
٣)دورانديشان يا مديران : افرادي خويشتن دار، منضبط هستند و مكانيسم هاي كنترل و بازگرداني از پاداش اين افراد بسيار خوب عمل ميكند. (پس اگر فردي برونگرا باشد و طبق تمايل به پاداش، به مواد مخدر روي بياورد ، اگر شخصيتي دور انديش داشته باشد ممكن است خود را كنترل كرده و در دام اعتياد نيفتد!)لب قدامي مغز نقش مهمي در اين نوع شخصيت ايفا ميكند. نقطه ي مقابل دورانديشي ، تكانشگري است. اين افراد موفقيت شغلي بيشتري نشان مي دهند و در اهداف خود پايدارترند. پس اين افراد در محيط هاي شغلي افرادي موفق و كارامد محسوب ميشوند اما اگر محيط شغلي آنها غير قابل پيش بيني باشد ، دورانديشي غير سودمند است.
دسته اي از افراد دورانديشي مفرط يا OCPD دارند كه اين افراد براي تمام كارهاي خود برنامه ريزي ميكنند و بسيار حساس به اين برنامه ريزي هستند. در نتيجه در نظر ديگران، خشك و بي احساس و غير قابل تحمل و لجباز هستند. زندگي يكنواختي دارند. ممكن است دچار بي اشتهايي عصبي شوند و كمالگرايي به شدت در آنها ديده مي شود.
٤)سازگاران : افرادي قابل اعتماد و همدل هستند. اين افراد ، افرادي ياري دهنده، داراي ارتباط اجتماعي متوازن هستند و از حمايت اجتماعي لذت ميبرند. به ندرت خشمگين ميشوند.
نبود سازگاري ميتواند با پارانويا مرتبط باشد همچنين پايين بودن ميزان سازگاري نشانه ي جامعه ستيزي فرد ميتواند باشد. سازگاري در زنان بيشتر از مردان مشاهده ميشود.
سازگاري در تقابل با نظريه ي داروين ميباشد زيرا همدلي با هم نوع منابع در دستري خود فردا كاهش ميدهد.
٥)گشوده ذهن ها يا شاعران : مي تواند پيش بيني افراد براي مشاركت در فعاليت هاي فرهنگي (كتاب خواندن و تئاتر و فيلم ديدن)باشد. باورهاي ماوراءالطبيعه دارند و در بعضي موارد روانپريش ميباشند و شبه شيزوفرني گونه در آنها ديده مي شود. كارهاي خلاقانه انجام مي دهند. تجربه هاي نامتعارف(توهم و شبه توهم، پريشاني دريافتي و انديشه هاي مبتني بر جادو) در بيشتر آنها ديده ميشود. گرايش اين دسته به افكار معنوي بيشتر از سايرين است. باورهايي خلاف هنجارهاي جامعه دارند. تغيير شغل هم به وفور ديده مي شود. معمولا در انتخاب زوج مناسب تر عمل ميكنند.
و در آخر، شخصيت قابليت تغيير زياد ندارد هرچند با گذر عمر تغيير مختصري در آن ايجاد ميشود، اما ميتوان راه هاي بروز شخصيت را تغيير داد و با رفتارهاي كم خطري آن را بروز داد. (مثلا ورزشي كم خطر تر نسبت به موتورسواري براي فرد برونگرا)
پس بهتر است شخصيت خود را بشناسيم و هدف هاي خود را با راه هايي مرتبط با شخصيتمان عملي كنيم و معايب آن را به حداقل برسانيم.
February 7, 2017
I want to like it but I can't. The concept was good, examples were there, but it didn't capture my attention. Seriously it's hard to finish. It's not like I don't read/like non - fiction. I do read & I like neuroscience perspectives & books but this one is not for me.
December 20, 2013
A great, easy-to-read book that delves deeper into the Big Five personality traits: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism (OCEAN). Daniel Nettle uses a blend of anecdotes and science - ranging from the evolutionary perspective to genetics to environmental factors - to explain each area of personality. He creates a solid argument concerning why he views the Big Five as a fluctuating selection type model (every place on the continuum of each trait has its pros and cons) as opposed to a fitness-indicator one (having a lot or a little of each trait is "black and white" good or bad).
One of the best parts of this book was Nettle's admittance of his uncertainty in some areas; his lack of pretension made his less-substantiated claims easier to swallow. As someone with more background in Myers-Briggs typology I learned a lot about each trait as well as intriguing information associated with each one - for example, as someone invested in eating disorders, I connected to how people high in conscientiousness had a higher rate of developing anorexia. While his argument about the dark side of agreeableness left a little to be desired, for the most part I agreed with his alignment with the fluctuating selection type model.
He ends the book on a high note with a strong recommendation that we search within ourselves to improve our personalities. Highly recommended for those who want to know more about the Big Five or just personality in general.
One of the best parts of this book was Nettle's admittance of his uncertainty in some areas; his lack of pretension made his less-substantiated claims easier to swallow. As someone with more background in Myers-Briggs typology I learned a lot about each trait as well as intriguing information associated with each one - for example, as someone invested in eating disorders, I connected to how people high in conscientiousness had a higher rate of developing anorexia. While his argument about the dark side of agreeableness left a little to be desired, for the most part I agreed with his alignment with the fluctuating selection type model.
He ends the book on a high note with a strong recommendation that we search within ourselves to improve our personalities. Highly recommended for those who want to know more about the Big Five or just personality in general.
August 21, 2019
این کتاب که به فارسی ( شناخت تیپ های شخصیتی) نام دارد درباره موضوع به اصطلاح big five است. شخصیت انسان دارای اندازه هایی از این ویژگی هاست که بسته به کم یا زیاد بودنشان به رفتارهای ما جهت میدهند از جمله: برونگرایی، روان رنجور بودن، دور اندیشی، سازگاری و گشاده ذهنی. در کل کتاب خیلی خوبی هستش چون بر خلاف کتاب های عامه پسندی که سعی دارن بدون در نظر گرفتن تفاوت های افراد روشی یکسان برای همه انسان ها برای رسیدن به موفقیت ارائه دهند سعی این نویسنده که یه روان شناس و محقق است در شناساندن انسان ها به خودشان است تا مطابق با ویژگی هایشان تصمیمات مناسب بگیرند.
درباره big five هم که تستش در اینرنت هست باید بگم که ظاهرا یه نظریه معتبر در روان شناسی هستش و محققین زیادی دربارش مقاله نوشتن البته هیچ کدومو نخوندم:)
درباره big five هم که تستش در اینرنت هست باید بگم که ظاهرا یه نظریه معتبر در روان شناسی هستش و محققین زیادی دربارش مقاله نوشتن البته هیچ کدومو نخوندم:)
April 8, 2015
I enjoyed reading this but thought it was an overly simplistic book, especially since the author seems to think that our personalities are a result merely of natural selection.
I did find the five "dimensions" of personality to be interesting:
Extraversion (outgoing vs. quiet), Neuroticism (prone to worry & stress vs. being "emotionally stable"), Conscientiousness (organized & self-directed vs. spontaneous & careless), Agreeableness (trusting & empathetic vs. uncooperative & hostile), Openness (creative & eccentric vs. practical & conventional)
Granted I am not a professional psychologist, psychiatrist, or neurologist, but the Myers-Briggs model makes more sense to me than Nettle's paradigm. However, I did find this author's exploration of the brain's links to our personality traits to be compelling. He believes that much of our personality is determined by our personal brain structure and levels of various neurotransmitters.
Overall, this was not a perfect read (since I didn't buy into his premise that we are merely a result of scientific evolution). I think that human beings are much more complex, but the author presented food for thought (which is, I think, what reading is all about).
I did find the five "dimensions" of personality to be interesting:
Extraversion (outgoing vs. quiet), Neuroticism (prone to worry & stress vs. being "emotionally stable"), Conscientiousness (organized & self-directed vs. spontaneous & careless), Agreeableness (trusting & empathetic vs. uncooperative & hostile), Openness (creative & eccentric vs. practical & conventional)
Granted I am not a professional psychologist, psychiatrist, or neurologist, but the Myers-Briggs model makes more sense to me than Nettle's paradigm. However, I did find this author's exploration of the brain's links to our personality traits to be compelling. He believes that much of our personality is determined by our personal brain structure and levels of various neurotransmitters.
Overall, this was not a perfect read (since I didn't buy into his premise that we are merely a result of scientific evolution). I think that human beings are much more complex, but the author presented food for thought (which is, I think, what reading is all about).
February 23, 2019
Great introduction to the Big Five personality factors. Nettle explains how the Big Five is the most accurate and scientific personality analysis available. He shows the mental states associated with each factor and what effects they might have on one's life. He uses the latest science to back up the idea that these traits are evolutionary in origin and shows why that would be.
Each trait is a scale from high to low. There are positives and negatives on each end of the scale for every factor. Nettle covers some of these but not both for every factor. I wish he had done all of them.
He includes a personality assessment but it is only 8 questions long. I took one online that had 100 questions and much more detailed results.
Nettle lays out the arguments about nature vs nurture and how these affect our personalities. He says genetics account for 50 percent of the difference in personality. He claims home environment contributes zero to personality differences but I don't understand his argument here. I'd have to read again to see if he's making sense there. Also, he's not clear on exactly what the source of the other 50 percent is. I don't know if it's his argument or if science is not sure or what.
He does state though that personality is not our whole psychological story. For one, it is only a tendency or pattern, and our personality can shift some depending on circumstances. Also he said there are two more levels beneath personality that also influence how we act. I forgot one already but the other is story. The stories we tell ourselves about ourselves and the world can have a major influence on our actions. So now I've started The Stories We Live by: Personal Myths and the Making of the Self and I look forward to The Cry for Myth. The idea that stories can have real power in the world is fascinating to me and I've been looking more and more into it.
Finally, Nettle talks about how to change aspects of personality or to work with them or to take advantage of them. This was great too, but sadly very short. I am sure he could produce a whole book to this effect and if he does, I will read it.
Each trait is a scale from high to low. There are positives and negatives on each end of the scale for every factor. Nettle covers some of these but not both for every factor. I wish he had done all of them.
He includes a personality assessment but it is only 8 questions long. I took one online that had 100 questions and much more detailed results.
Nettle lays out the arguments about nature vs nurture and how these affect our personalities. He says genetics account for 50 percent of the difference in personality. He claims home environment contributes zero to personality differences but I don't understand his argument here. I'd have to read again to see if he's making sense there. Also, he's not clear on exactly what the source of the other 50 percent is. I don't know if it's his argument or if science is not sure or what.
He does state though that personality is not our whole psychological story. For one, it is only a tendency or pattern, and our personality can shift some depending on circumstances. Also he said there are two more levels beneath personality that also influence how we act. I forgot one already but the other is story. The stories we tell ourselves about ourselves and the world can have a major influence on our actions. So now I've started The Stories We Live by: Personal Myths and the Making of the Self and I look forward to The Cry for Myth. The idea that stories can have real power in the world is fascinating to me and I've been looking more and more into it.
Finally, Nettle talks about how to change aspects of personality or to work with them or to take advantage of them. This was great too, but sadly very short. I am sure he could produce a whole book to this effect and if he does, I will read it.
September 29, 2017
Things I have learned...
-foxen are just friends you haven't met yet--NOT potential meals.
-thanks to a long family history of close contact with mental facilities/psychiatric services, my quasi-hallucinations and perceptual disturbances are just signs of high openness and not genetic schizophrenia.
-long lives the Queen of England.
-extraverts and optimists die sooner than those flakey, self-serving, anti-social cynics.
-I am basically the reincarnation of Allen Ginsberg. ("But he died AFTER you were born?" Cool, you know my birthdate, not my story.)
-just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get me.
-if you are highly empathetic you may also be a chimpanze. (Or was it Charles Darwin?)
-just because I have the same characteristics as Hannibal Lector does not mean I am Hannibal Lector.
My Big Five Scores (to explain above):
Extraversion: 3 (low score)
Neuroticism: 6 (low-medium score)
Conscientiousness: 10 (highest score)
Agreeableness: 7 (low score)
Openness: 15 (highest score)
I read personality books to understand the people around me, and also myself. This book is a wonderful primer to the world of personality SCIENCE. He spends a great deal of time on natural selection and how genetics affect our personality. So if you're into all that good stuff, this would be an excellent book for you.
(I suspect the only people who gave this book a bad review are either Tea Partiers, Bible-thumpers, and/or both.)
-foxen are just friends you haven't met yet--NOT potential meals.
-thanks to a long family history of close contact with mental facilities/psychiatric services, my quasi-hallucinations and perceptual disturbances are just signs of high openness and not genetic schizophrenia.
-long lives the Queen of England.
-extraverts and optimists die sooner than those flakey, self-serving, anti-social cynics.
-I am basically the reincarnation of Allen Ginsberg. ("But he died AFTER you were born?" Cool, you know my birthdate, not my story.)
-just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get me.
-if you are highly empathetic you may also be a chimpanze. (Or was it Charles Darwin?)
-just because I have the same characteristics as Hannibal Lector does not mean I am Hannibal Lector.
My Big Five Scores (to explain above):
Extraversion: 3 (low score)
Neuroticism: 6 (low-medium score)
Conscientiousness: 10 (highest score)
Agreeableness: 7 (low score)
Openness: 15 (highest score)
I read personality books to understand the people around me, and also myself. This book is a wonderful primer to the world of personality SCIENCE. He spends a great deal of time on natural selection and how genetics affect our personality. So if you're into all that good stuff, this would be an excellent book for you.
(I suspect the only people who gave this book a bad review are either Tea Partiers, Bible-thumpers, and/or both.)
May 12, 2022
کتاب خوب و علمی درباره مدل پنج عاملی شخصیت. از نظر جذابیت باید سه یا چهار میدادم چون توضیحات اضافی و ارائه تحقیقات علمی در بعضی مواقع خسته کننده بود ولی این کتاب به چندتا سوال اصلی من درباره شخصیت شناسی جواب داد که فکر نمی کنم امکانش بود جای دیگه ای پیداش کنم.
اینکه با توضیح مزایا و معایب هر کدوم از عوامل نشون میداد جالب بود؛ اینکه داشتن یا نداشتن هر فاکتور شخصیتی میتونه در زمان ها و مکان های مختلف برای انسان مزیت رقابتی به حساب بیاد و تاثیرش انقدر واضح نیست که به مرور به واسطه تکامل و تغییر ژنتیکی؛ بیشتر جامعه به سمت حالت مشخصی از این پنج عامل بره
از اون نکاتی که درباره شخصیتم فاش کرد و خیلی محظوظ شدم:) درباره بی علاقگی مفرط و همیشگی من به سفر بود. در کتاب، علاقه به سفر و تعداد سفرها رو یکی از 4 شاخص بیان کننده میزان برونگرایی میدونه
درونگرا بودن رو عکس اون در کم علاقگی و نداشتن هیجان چندان به این شاخص ها میدونه. به نظر میرسه تهییج نشدن چه برای سفر چه برای خیلی چیزهای
دیگه ریشه در نمره بالای درونگرایی من داره و ربطی به افسرده یا شاد بودن نداره. چون در نظر گرفتن شاخص های برونگرایی به عنوان زندگی شاد مرسومه به نظر برای درونگراهای افراطی مثه من:) داشتن چنین شناخت هایی از شخصیت لازم باشه تا بتونند دید مثبت به زندگی و حس قدردانی رو
درونشون زنده نگه دارند.
اینکه با توضیح مزایا و معایب هر کدوم از عوامل نشون میداد جالب بود؛ اینکه داشتن یا نداشتن هر فاکتور شخصیتی میتونه در زمان ها و مکان های مختلف برای انسان مزیت رقابتی به حساب بیاد و تاثیرش انقدر واضح نیست که به مرور به واسطه تکامل و تغییر ژنتیکی؛ بیشتر جامعه به سمت حالت مشخصی از این پنج عامل بره
از اون نکاتی که درباره شخصیتم فاش کرد و خیلی محظوظ شدم:) درباره بی علاقگی مفرط و همیشگی من به سفر بود. در کتاب، علاقه به سفر و تعداد سفرها رو یکی از 4 شاخص بیان کننده میزان برونگرایی میدونه
درونگرا بودن رو عکس اون در کم علاقگی و نداشتن هیجان چندان به این شاخص ها میدونه. به نظر میرسه تهییج نشدن چه برای سفر چه برای خیلی چیزهای
دیگه ریشه در نمره بالای درونگرایی من داره و ربطی به افسرده یا شاد بودن نداره. چون در نظر گرفتن شاخص های برونگرایی به عنوان زندگی شاد مرسومه به نظر برای درونگراهای افراطی مثه من:) داشتن چنین شناخت هایی از شخصیت لازم باشه تا بتونند دید مثبت به زندگی و حس قدردانی رو
درونشون زنده نگه دارند.
September 17, 2017
I don’t quite see why this is part of the Oxford Landmark Science range. To me, it’s a relatively low level analysis of the factors that go into personality, much of which I’ve read elsewhere in other popular science books which aren’t so tightly focused. It’s not that it’s a bad book, or uninteresting; there are some things I didn’t know, and it’s interesting to see how Nettle explores the two sides to each of the main personality factors identified — the downside to being extroverted, for example, and the downside to ‘openness to experience’.
Still, none of it is revelatory, and he doesn’t spare much time for the criticisms of the whole idea of studying people’s personalities as if they’re a real thing you can test and measure. His conclusion is basically that of course you can, because you can obtain consistent data that falls into particular trends. I don’t think I disagree, but I’m sure there are more criticisms.
It’s an easy enough read, surprisingly light even for pop-sci.
Reviewed for The Bibliophibian.
Still, none of it is revelatory, and he doesn’t spare much time for the criticisms of the whole idea of studying people’s personalities as if they’re a real thing you can test and measure. His conclusion is basically that of course you can, because you can obtain consistent data that falls into particular trends. I don’t think I disagree, but I’m sure there are more criticisms.
It’s an easy enough read, surprisingly light even for pop-sci.
Reviewed for The Bibliophibian.
April 9, 2008
this book uses the Big Five Personality traits to explore human behaviour + to offer some befitting explanations from the evolution perspective
Big Five Personality Traits:
(1) Openness
(2) Conscientiousness
(3) Extraversion
(4) Agreeableness
(5) Neuroticism
(easily recalled as O-C-E-A-N)
my key take away is to further appreciate the different traits that make up each individual, and that NO SINGLE trait is considered more superior, but to consider them as a consequence of contextual force. and how the human population as a whole will swing the pendulum between the 2 opposing ends of each trait, as deemed necessary by the force of nature
Big Five Personality Traits:
(1) Openness
(2) Conscientiousness
(3) Extraversion
(4) Agreeableness
(5) Neuroticism
(easily recalled as O-C-E-A-N)
my key take away is to further appreciate the different traits that make up each individual, and that NO SINGLE trait is considered more superior, but to consider them as a consequence of contextual force. and how the human population as a whole will swing the pendulum between the 2 opposing ends of each trait, as deemed necessary by the force of nature
December 22, 2012
Great primer on the Big 5 personality traits that directly arise from structures in our brain. With clear example and case studies, Nettle does an excellent job explaining personality from a point of view of evolutionary biology / evolutionary psychology.
April 19, 2013
I've now read three books about the Five Factor (a.k.a. Big Five) Personality Model. This one is by far the least dry and most readable.
I also like the way the author makes sure to consider personality traits from the perspective of natural selection.
I also like the way the author makes sure to consider personality traits from the perspective of natural selection.
July 27, 2011
Interesting study of personality from a genetic and evolutionary point of view.
March 22, 2023
The language which the writer used wasn’t as simple as I thought before. The explanation was quite thorough, but I didn’t enjoy reading this book even though normally I enjoy reading book about psychology or personality like this
June 5, 2016
This book provides a detailed explanation of the Big Five personality model. Although the explanation of the model itself was interesting, the most valuable parts of the book were the first and last chapters.
The first chapter establishes how personality models like the Big Five are generated. Unlike models with less construct validity, these models do not start with a schema and then put people into it. Instead, these models start by asking behavioral questions and then looking for clusters of correlated behaviors. These clusters become the characteristics of the personality model. Although these models are determined statistically, it is hypothesized (though not yet verified) that the reason such clusters of related behaviors exist is because they correspond to underlying tendencies in the brain. E.g., the cluster of behaviors that are labeled "Extroversion" in the Big Five model all seem to be related by an individual's reactivity to rewards. Another interesting thing to note about this method of building a personality model is that every personality factor is a continuum. Models which try to push people into discrete buckets generally fail to have statistical validity.
The second chapter is a look into the question of why personality variation exists. Nettle makes the argument that variation exists because for every personality trait, there are some situations where being high on a trait is advantageous and some situations where being low on that trait is advantageous. Even neuroticism (sometimes called low emotional stability), which seems unrelentingly negative in the modern world, can be beneficial for individuals who live in a dangerous situation. Environments tend to change more quickly than evolution can normalize to a smaller range of variation.
The first of the ending chapters discusses the factors that determine personality. Heritability is a large factor, but explains, in general, only about half of the variation in personality. General environmental factors fail to explain the rest, but specific environmental cues can influence personality. E.g., certain types of chronic threat may increase neuroticism. Cues during gestation can affect fetal development. The final factor, and perhaps the most interesting one, is that one's own characteristics can influence how one responds to environmental cues in a way that can, over time, influence personality. E.g., someone who is conventionally attractive may get more positive enforcement when they act in extroverted ways and so their extroversion may end up larger than someone who had a similar inherited background but less positive reinforcement. (By the way, another interesting thing noted in this book is that personality factors can and do change somewhat over time. They're stable but not fixed.)
The last chapter was a look at how to live with our personalities. The first point Nettle makes is that no personality configuration is "good" or "bad". Each is what it is. That said, personalities do influence our characteristic behaviors and how we structure our life narratives. Someone with low conscientiousness is less likely to inhibit harmful behaviors such as a drug or alcohol addition. Someone with high neuroticism is likely to construct their life narrative more negatively than someone lower on that scale who experienced the same events. But personality is not destiny. Personality characteristics are interesting because they predict behaviors at a level that is well above chance, but there is still plenty of variation. As Nettle points out in a thought experiment, if someone were like you on all of the personality traits, you're likely to understand the choices they make, but there are still lots of different choices you can make. E.g., the alcoholic who knows they can't stop at just one drink could choose to drink or could choose to avoid alcohol completely. The person whose agreeableness is high enough that they often neglect themselves could choose to run themselves ragged helping others or find some way -- such as pre-scheduled time -- to take care of themselves.
All in all, I found this book to present an interesting and balanced view of what personality is and how it influences our lives.
The first chapter establishes how personality models like the Big Five are generated. Unlike models with less construct validity, these models do not start with a schema and then put people into it. Instead, these models start by asking behavioral questions and then looking for clusters of correlated behaviors. These clusters become the characteristics of the personality model. Although these models are determined statistically, it is hypothesized (though not yet verified) that the reason such clusters of related behaviors exist is because they correspond to underlying tendencies in the brain. E.g., the cluster of behaviors that are labeled "Extroversion" in the Big Five model all seem to be related by an individual's reactivity to rewards. Another interesting thing to note about this method of building a personality model is that every personality factor is a continuum. Models which try to push people into discrete buckets generally fail to have statistical validity.
The second chapter is a look into the question of why personality variation exists. Nettle makes the argument that variation exists because for every personality trait, there are some situations where being high on a trait is advantageous and some situations where being low on that trait is advantageous. Even neuroticism (sometimes called low emotional stability), which seems unrelentingly negative in the modern world, can be beneficial for individuals who live in a dangerous situation. Environments tend to change more quickly than evolution can normalize to a smaller range of variation.
The first of the ending chapters discusses the factors that determine personality. Heritability is a large factor, but explains, in general, only about half of the variation in personality. General environmental factors fail to explain the rest, but specific environmental cues can influence personality. E.g., certain types of chronic threat may increase neuroticism. Cues during gestation can affect fetal development. The final factor, and perhaps the most interesting one, is that one's own characteristics can influence how one responds to environmental cues in a way that can, over time, influence personality. E.g., someone who is conventionally attractive may get more positive enforcement when they act in extroverted ways and so their extroversion may end up larger than someone who had a similar inherited background but less positive reinforcement. (By the way, another interesting thing noted in this book is that personality factors can and do change somewhat over time. They're stable but not fixed.)
The last chapter was a look at how to live with our personalities. The first point Nettle makes is that no personality configuration is "good" or "bad". Each is what it is. That said, personalities do influence our characteristic behaviors and how we structure our life narratives. Someone with low conscientiousness is less likely to inhibit harmful behaviors such as a drug or alcohol addition. Someone with high neuroticism is likely to construct their life narrative more negatively than someone lower on that scale who experienced the same events. But personality is not destiny. Personality characteristics are interesting because they predict behaviors at a level that is well above chance, but there is still plenty of variation. As Nettle points out in a thought experiment, if someone were like you on all of the personality traits, you're likely to understand the choices they make, but there are still lots of different choices you can make. E.g., the alcoholic who knows they can't stop at just one drink could choose to drink or could choose to avoid alcohol completely. The person whose agreeableness is high enough that they often neglect themselves could choose to run themselves ragged helping others or find some way -- such as pre-scheduled time -- to take care of themselves.
All in all, I found this book to present an interesting and balanced view of what personality is and how it influences our lives.
November 10, 2013
Informative and funny. A well-written and captivating book. At the beginning, the author invites you to compute your personality score along 5 dimensions. After brief introduction into how these dimensions develop, he proceeds to explain each of these in great detail that allows you to gain deeper understanding of yourself and others; piece by piece. The book provides plenty of examples of each of the extremes for all the 5 personality traits, as well as explains how these traits evolved and persisted into modern times. The humorous remarks laced lightly throughout the book, make the read even more enjoyable. The author finishes with a chapter that explores possibilities of changing your personality, or at least tuning your environment to match your abilities. I loved the book.
December 9, 2013
Excellent description of the five mental parameters (OCEAN) that make up the core of our personality. Short, readable, concise, and, best of all, stimulating. The concepts are simple yet penetrating - all the more to make them easy to remember and apply. I now feel I have a better framework with which to view the attitudes and behaviors of myself and others.
March 19, 2010
This is a really interesting idea and I wanted to like this book. The author even states that he is trying to make this readable for the average (non-academic) reader....but let's just say it was hard to finish. And I learned that I have a medium-high streak of Neuroticism :)
June 13, 2010
Twenty years after the Human Genome Project, this book explores the idea that personality could be genetic. It is well written, easy to understand, and says that more than just nurture, our neurotic tendencies can and should be blamed on our parents.
August 18, 2015
I really enjoyed this book, and I find the study of personality really interesting. Daniel Nettle does a good job of laying down the science of personality without getting too...scientific. Highly recommend.
May 26, 2011
Very interesting book.
June 22, 2020
An informative book that can be quickly skimmed through to learn the science behind personality. Nettle justifies a focus on the five-factor model in this book, for incorporating enough character traits that enable one to, cumulatively, identify their personality, across these five factors. These are given in the order:
* Extraversion (a higher scorer of this trait is someone who seeks positive emotion triggers and so is more likely to go out of their way to experience them; hence eg, extraverts tend to me more outgoing, adventurous, etc),
* Neuroticism (a higher scorer of this trait is someone who dislikes negative emotion to a greater extent than lower scoring people, so tend so spend more thought and energy on trying to prevent such experiences).
* Conscientiousness (a higher scorer of this trait is someone who has clear internal goals, beliefs and values, which they are aware of and uphold)
* Agreeableness (rather than ‘mentalisers’ - those who can imagine the mental states that others may hold, which psychopaths can do also - this identifies how well people can empathise; perceive the mental states that others may hold and which are associated with emotions, eg imagine the pain that someone else may experience)
* ‘Openness’ (the willingness of someone to learn new cultures and acquire knowledge)
Nettle talks about the dispositions and general life trends, both positive and negative, that such character traits tend to result in. Eg, experts being more likely to die prematurely, people with high neuroticism being more likely to be depressed. All this is backed with decent scientific evidence which is, though quite brief in parts, comprehendible for the lay reader. Nettle’s overall conclusion and point to take away for the reader is that none of the five character traits are universally advantageous to be high scorers in, and that their advantage depends on circumstances, as well as the whole configuration in relation to other traits. Moreover, whilst he argues that such traits which we hone as part of our personality are near unchangeable (because of genetics and environmental factors from young age), we can be better positioned in everyday experiences when we are aware of our dispositions, and which character traits may be detrimental in particular instances and which we may have to work harder against to prevent from actualising; each character trait has innumerable possible behavioural dispositions. Therefore, self-knowledge and understanding of one’s personality is important, and is something this book helps the reader to attain.
* Extraversion (a higher scorer of this trait is someone who seeks positive emotion triggers and so is more likely to go out of their way to experience them; hence eg, extraverts tend to me more outgoing, adventurous, etc),
* Neuroticism (a higher scorer of this trait is someone who dislikes negative emotion to a greater extent than lower scoring people, so tend so spend more thought and energy on trying to prevent such experiences).
* Conscientiousness (a higher scorer of this trait is someone who has clear internal goals, beliefs and values, which they are aware of and uphold)
* Agreeableness (rather than ‘mentalisers’ - those who can imagine the mental states that others may hold, which psychopaths can do also - this identifies how well people can empathise; perceive the mental states that others may hold and which are associated with emotions, eg imagine the pain that someone else may experience)
* ‘Openness’ (the willingness of someone to learn new cultures and acquire knowledge)
Nettle talks about the dispositions and general life trends, both positive and negative, that such character traits tend to result in. Eg, experts being more likely to die prematurely, people with high neuroticism being more likely to be depressed. All this is backed with decent scientific evidence which is, though quite brief in parts, comprehendible for the lay reader. Nettle’s overall conclusion and point to take away for the reader is that none of the five character traits are universally advantageous to be high scorers in, and that their advantage depends on circumstances, as well as the whole configuration in relation to other traits. Moreover, whilst he argues that such traits which we hone as part of our personality are near unchangeable (because of genetics and environmental factors from young age), we can be better positioned in everyday experiences when we are aware of our dispositions, and which character traits may be detrimental in particular instances and which we may have to work harder against to prevent from actualising; each character trait has innumerable possible behavioural dispositions. Therefore, self-knowledge and understanding of one’s personality is important, and is something this book helps the reader to attain.
December 13, 2022
I really enjoyed this quick little read (although not so quick because I’ve barely had reading time lately). Anything that teaches me more about one of my niche interests is more than good for me. Nettle looks into each of the Big 5 traits in this book and the research/theory behind them, and I found it pretty fascinating! 4.5/5 stars, December 12, 2022.
August 28, 2019
I enjoyed reading this book as my first read on personality. I'm not sure someone who knows more about the topic would enjoy it or not.
It's easy to read and the examples are sweet.
It's easy to read and the examples are sweet.
March 11, 2023
So good! I highly recommend for anyone needing some grounded guidance in life. I really like how the author compares human psychology to specific animals and h their evolution. As someone with no scientific background, I really enjoyed learning more about the nurture vs. nature debate.
April 26, 2019
Like most people, I agree that there are some quite fundamental differences between the way people respond to different situations that are reasonably consistent through time and not just "taste" or "choice", and which we might call personality. This book is a a breezy and accessible piece of popular psychology writing and one that made me think in many places. It also tried to cite sources and explain the current scientific thinking, rather than the rather subjective personality systems that are described in airport management books. (I've personally found the MBTI helpful, the author is dismissive of it because of its obsession with binary distinctions but the tests themselves produce a continuous result that isn't that far off some of the "big 5".) I am not a psychologist.
The "big 5" (see other reviews) start life as Principal Components. That is, there is good evidence they exist as an underlying factor across large survey samples, and you can look at what they correlate with in terms of behaviours, pathologies (eg. depression) or genetic inheritance *in aggregate*, but it's very hard from statistics to say what they _are_ or how they actually manifest in an _individual_.
Nettle's model is interesting - he argues that in the brain there are effectively 5 "amplifiers" in some basement of your brain that are share by a number of higher-level cognitive systems, and the "gain" on these are your big-5 scores. These amplifiers control how you respond to positive emotional stimuli, negative stimuli, self control/delayed gratification, your response to the emotions of others, and how much your brain cross-links between different domains. This is broadly plausible and esp. for extraversion and neuroticism he has some proposed genes and links to the serotonin and dopamine systems as physical models. These "scores" (gains) are mostly genetic in his view (he says 50% heritable, but seems to think it would show as higher if we had better tests). They varies weakly with age and are almost unaffected by parenting (!), and have some plausible relationships to various psychological conditions eg. OCD as an effect of an overly-high 'control' setting, or alchoholism risk as relating to a low one with a high positive-stimulus score.
The book also suffers from the author's obsession with simplistic evolutionary "just so" stories. I'm not saying they're wrong, but saying "something could have evolved like this, if we make some me-Tarzan reductive assumptions about how hunter-gatherer societies worked" is typically unprovable and using it to then say "well, I know how this trait works and what it's for!" is a bit arrogant. It also leads to a rather deterministic view of human nature. Yes, he has a chapter about how if, say, you're a type at risk of addiction you can choose to take steps to work around your underlying brain settings, but the overall tone is that you are as you are and you might as well get comfortable with it. Similarly, I thought his rolling of "spiritual experience" into a kind of weird side effect of high-openness was dismissive and didn't really help me understand what that attribute was doing.
I also found the sweeping conclusion that parenting has no effect on the big 5 surprising and warranting more discussion than it did, especially given this split about how much the "higher level" parts of your brain might or might not be able to override these relatively inflexible underlying parameters. I also recall the old psych undergrad joke that the "half life" of knowledge in psychology is about 10 years - in 10 years what we know now may still be true but will be known to be only half the truth. It will be interesting to see how well all of this ages.
The "big 5" (see other reviews) start life as Principal Components. That is, there is good evidence they exist as an underlying factor across large survey samples, and you can look at what they correlate with in terms of behaviours, pathologies (eg. depression) or genetic inheritance *in aggregate*, but it's very hard from statistics to say what they _are_ or how they actually manifest in an _individual_.
Nettle's model is interesting - he argues that in the brain there are effectively 5 "amplifiers" in some basement of your brain that are share by a number of higher-level cognitive systems, and the "gain" on these are your big-5 scores. These amplifiers control how you respond to positive emotional stimuli, negative stimuli, self control/delayed gratification, your response to the emotions of others, and how much your brain cross-links between different domains. This is broadly plausible and esp. for extraversion and neuroticism he has some proposed genes and links to the serotonin and dopamine systems as physical models. These "scores" (gains) are mostly genetic in his view (he says 50% heritable, but seems to think it would show as higher if we had better tests). They varies weakly with age and are almost unaffected by parenting (!), and have some plausible relationships to various psychological conditions eg. OCD as an effect of an overly-high 'control' setting, or alchoholism risk as relating to a low one with a high positive-stimulus score.
The book also suffers from the author's obsession with simplistic evolutionary "just so" stories. I'm not saying they're wrong, but saying "something could have evolved like this, if we make some me-Tarzan reductive assumptions about how hunter-gatherer societies worked" is typically unprovable and using it to then say "well, I know how this trait works and what it's for!" is a bit arrogant. It also leads to a rather deterministic view of human nature. Yes, he has a chapter about how if, say, you're a type at risk of addiction you can choose to take steps to work around your underlying brain settings, but the overall tone is that you are as you are and you might as well get comfortable with it. Similarly, I thought his rolling of "spiritual experience" into a kind of weird side effect of high-openness was dismissive and didn't really help me understand what that attribute was doing.
I also found the sweeping conclusion that parenting has no effect on the big 5 surprising and warranting more discussion than it did, especially given this split about how much the "higher level" parts of your brain might or might not be able to override these relatively inflexible underlying parameters. I also recall the old psych undergrad joke that the "half life" of knowledge in psychology is about 10 years - in 10 years what we know now may still be true but will be known to be only half the truth. It will be interesting to see how well all of this ages.
April 10, 2020
Personality, What Makes You the Way You Are
is a book by Daniel Nettle published in 2007. He wrote it for people who want to learn more about the five factor model of understanding personalities.
I am giving Personality 5 of 5 stars because it is the first book I have had the opportunity to read about what some call the "Big Five" personality factors. To say that I found it "enlightening" would be an understatement. In truth, I am sure it will forever change how I view myself and others.
I read Personality to learn more about personalities, because I like to visualize and draw them. The model for personalities I currently use for visualization is based on Jungian Archetypes, which also forms the basis for the highly popular Myers-Briggs Type Indicator or MBTI®
It is now abundantly clear to me that the five factor model is more comprehensive — perhaps even dangerously so.
Someone answering a questionnaire based on Jungian Archetypes can take comfort in the fact that there no right or wrong answers. This is not necessarily true for questionnaires based on the five factor model, because it can identify real pathologies. Some people spend their whole lives studying and treating these pathologies, and when present they require the attention of a professional. At this time, how I integrate this unpleasant aspect of this model into my images is an open question.
In addition to describing the processes researchers have used to identify these factors and codify this model, Nettle includes some insights from evolutionary psychology. He also discusses some of the brain imaging experiments scientists have used to discover a neurological basis for personality.
The author revisits these themes again at the end of the book and discusses the results of studies of twins. Throughout the book — minor spoiler alert — he makes a very strong case for how we inherit much of makes up our personalities.
The bulk of the book consists of five chapters, one for each of the five factors. It is easiest to remember these using the acronym OCEAN.
Openness — how open we are to new ideas
Conscientiousness — how ordered and driven we are
Extraversion — the strength of our response to positive emotions
Agreeableness — how much empathy we have for others
Neuroticism — the strength of our response to negative emotions
There's plenty about the five factor model on the wikipedia, but it is quite dry. Daniel Nettle's book is way better!
The Appendix includes a 12-question quiz called the Newcastle Personality Assessor or NPA. Anyone who knows me well will see how I could score high on Openness, medium high on Conscientiousness and Agreeableness, and low on Extraversion and Neuroticism.
I highly recommend Personality, What Makes You the Way You Are by Daniel Nettle to anyone interested in learning more about themself and others.
As far as I'm concerned it makes the old Jungian Archetypes model seem "strictly bush league" in comparison.
I am giving Personality 5 of 5 stars because it is the first book I have had the opportunity to read about what some call the "Big Five" personality factors. To say that I found it "enlightening" would be an understatement. In truth, I am sure it will forever change how I view myself and others.
I read Personality to learn more about personalities, because I like to visualize and draw them. The model for personalities I currently use for visualization is based on Jungian Archetypes, which also forms the basis for the highly popular Myers-Briggs Type Indicator or MBTI®
It is now abundantly clear to me that the five factor model is more comprehensive — perhaps even dangerously so.
Someone answering a questionnaire based on Jungian Archetypes can take comfort in the fact that there no right or wrong answers. This is not necessarily true for questionnaires based on the five factor model, because it can identify real pathologies. Some people spend their whole lives studying and treating these pathologies, and when present they require the attention of a professional. At this time, how I integrate this unpleasant aspect of this model into my images is an open question.
In addition to describing the processes researchers have used to identify these factors and codify this model, Nettle includes some insights from evolutionary psychology. He also discusses some of the brain imaging experiments scientists have used to discover a neurological basis for personality.
The author revisits these themes again at the end of the book and discusses the results of studies of twins. Throughout the book — minor spoiler alert — he makes a very strong case for how we inherit much of makes up our personalities.
The bulk of the book consists of five chapters, one for each of the five factors. It is easiest to remember these using the acronym OCEAN.
Openness — how open we are to new ideas
Conscientiousness — how ordered and driven we are
Extraversion — the strength of our response to positive emotions
Agreeableness — how much empathy we have for others
Neuroticism — the strength of our response to negative emotions
There's plenty about the five factor model on the wikipedia, but it is quite dry. Daniel Nettle's book is way better!
The Appendix includes a 12-question quiz called the Newcastle Personality Assessor or NPA. Anyone who knows me well will see how I could score high on Openness, medium high on Conscientiousness and Agreeableness, and low on Extraversion and Neuroticism.
I highly recommend Personality, What Makes You the Way You Are by Daniel Nettle to anyone interested in learning more about themself and others.
As far as I'm concerned it makes the old Jungian Archetypes model seem "strictly bush league" in comparison.
January 2, 2017
This is the first book I've read on mainstream personality researches. There is no hint to further investigation on the validity of the approach e.g. what are the size of non-linear correlations? Are there cross-cultural effects? But overall, I think that this is a fairly good introduction at the lay level.
Each chapter on the Big Five traits mainly consists of a personal life story to draw the reader in, then the characteristic of the trait, the neurophysiology correlated with the trait, and a plausible selection pressure as a consistency check that the variation of the trait could have been maintained by evolution in the first place. The first two chapters on Extraversion and Neuroticism also provide the genetic bases of the traits. The order of the chapters seems to be determined by how much we know about the biological underpinnings of the traits. We know how Extraversion is related to the reward circuit in the brain and how Neuroticism is related to stress hormones and the brain's center for emotions pretty well, whereas further researches are needed (at least from where the book left off) to find a biological basis for the mentalizing and the emphatizing minds, related to Agreeableness, and to untangle intelligence and Openness to Experience.
I'm particularly interested in Openness because high Openness seems to put me in a weird spot. I have, according to the book, the qualities of poets and artists (a knack for language, a contrarian attitude, an interest in the spiritual and the supernatural and notions such as veiled reality) but the desire for certainty in mathematics. So I don't like doing art only to be judged by subjective criteria, but I also feel alienated from time to time from the "pro-science" community that eschews philosophical and spiritual questions. (However, high Openness combined with low rational and mathematical abilities is probably a surefire way to be off the deep end, so some people are better off having low Openness. "Do not be so open-minded that your brains fall out. ") I enjoy reading this part of the book a lot.
The book ends on an optimistic note that the personality traits (and even factual life events) do not fix the subjective narrative of our lives which plays a big part in how we response to events and, ultimately, who we are.
Excerpt with some comments
Each chapter on the Big Five traits mainly consists of a personal life story to draw the reader in, then the characteristic of the trait, the neurophysiology correlated with the trait, and a plausible selection pressure as a consistency check that the variation of the trait could have been maintained by evolution in the first place. The first two chapters on Extraversion and Neuroticism also provide the genetic bases of the traits. The order of the chapters seems to be determined by how much we know about the biological underpinnings of the traits. We know how Extraversion is related to the reward circuit in the brain and how Neuroticism is related to stress hormones and the brain's center for emotions pretty well, whereas further researches are needed (at least from where the book left off) to find a biological basis for the mentalizing and the emphatizing minds, related to Agreeableness, and to untangle intelligence and Openness to Experience.
I'm particularly interested in Openness because high Openness seems to put me in a weird spot. I have, according to the book, the qualities of poets and artists (a knack for language, a contrarian attitude, an interest in the spiritual and the supernatural and notions such as veiled reality) but the desire for certainty in mathematics. So I don't like doing art only to be judged by subjective criteria, but I also feel alienated from time to time from the "pro-science" community that eschews philosophical and spiritual questions. (However, high Openness combined with low rational and mathematical abilities is probably a surefire way to be off the deep end, so some people are better off having low Openness. "Do not be so open-minded that your brains fall out. ") I enjoy reading this part of the book a lot.
The book ends on an optimistic note that the personality traits (and even factual life events) do not fix the subjective narrative of our lives which plays a big part in how we response to events and, ultimately, who we are.
Excerpt with some comments
April 17, 2010
This is a good cook's tour of one of the most widely used personality profile scales out there: OCEAN (openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and neuroticism).
Besides sketching each of these personality dimensions, giving examples from correspondence he has kept from some of his clients who strongly fit the profiles, and making evolutionary psychology arguments about why these traits should have arisen, Nettle also deals with the whole nature-nurture issue and the question of whether our personality types are etched in stone.
His answer: heredity seems to explain a good deal of personality, perhaps half, and while our personality profile may be something we largely inherit, the choices we make of how to use our personality strengths, and just as importantly, the narrative we tell ourselves and the world about what our life story means, are just as important as the tendencies we have.
The book includes a short test at the back that you can take to get your basic position on the five scales.
And while some scales seem only desirable, like agreeableness, or only to be avoided, like neuroticism, Nettle makes the case that no single scale is all good or bad. Highly agreeable people have terrific empathy, but can unduly sacrifice their own goals for the sake of others. High neuroticism scorers often see the glass as half empty, and bitter tasting at that, but the neurotics of the world may also play an important role in seeing things as they really are and criticizing societal conditions that need to be fixed.
All in all, enlightening and enjoyable.
Besides sketching each of these personality dimensions, giving examples from correspondence he has kept from some of his clients who strongly fit the profiles, and making evolutionary psychology arguments about why these traits should have arisen, Nettle also deals with the whole nature-nurture issue and the question of whether our personality types are etched in stone.
His answer: heredity seems to explain a good deal of personality, perhaps half, and while our personality profile may be something we largely inherit, the choices we make of how to use our personality strengths, and just as importantly, the narrative we tell ourselves and the world about what our life story means, are just as important as the tendencies we have.
The book includes a short test at the back that you can take to get your basic position on the five scales.
And while some scales seem only desirable, like agreeableness, or only to be avoided, like neuroticism, Nettle makes the case that no single scale is all good or bad. Highly agreeable people have terrific empathy, but can unduly sacrifice their own goals for the sake of others. High neuroticism scorers often see the glass as half empty, and bitter tasting at that, but the neurotics of the world may also play an important role in seeing things as they really are and criticizing societal conditions that need to be fixed.
All in all, enlightening and enjoyable.
February 4, 2019
Big Five is real science, with strict statistical correlation and try to "quantify" the illusive personality as much as possible. And there are very distinct difference between the FIVE:
1. Extraversion - Response to reward (dopamine reward system)
2. Neutoticism - Response to threat (amygdala, limbic system, serotonin)
3. Conscientiousness - Self control. Response inhibition (how good you stop yourselves from drinking, being lazy, etc, Dosolateral perfrontal cortex)
4. Agreeableness - How much you care for others (Theory of mind + Empathy)
5. Openness - Breath of mental associations --- But is it a personality at all??? What the difference it make except it give artist and poets??
And, the author made a very strong points: Adopted siblings growing up in the same household are no more alike in terms of personality traits than any two randomly chosen individuals from the same population... I think this close the debate of nature vs nuture. Personality is 100% nature!
Some menevures, though:
1. The older we get, we increase in Agreeableness and Conscientiousness, and decrease in Extraversion, Openness and Neutroticism.
2. Characteristic Behavior Patterns: You don't have to change yourself. You just have to change your self's outlet. ---- If you have been pugging away at something and never felt easy in your skin, it could well be that you haven't been aiming at the niche that you ar egood for, rather than one valued by your family or culture or times.
3. Personal Life Story: Same experience could be explained and presented in totally different lights! This in turn change your personality.
1. Extraversion - Response to reward (dopamine reward system)
2. Neutoticism - Response to threat (amygdala, limbic system, serotonin)
3. Conscientiousness - Self control. Response inhibition (how good you stop yourselves from drinking, being lazy, etc, Dosolateral perfrontal cortex)
4. Agreeableness - How much you care for others (Theory of mind + Empathy)
5. Openness - Breath of mental associations --- But is it a personality at all??? What the difference it make except it give artist and poets??
And, the author made a very strong points: Adopted siblings growing up in the same household are no more alike in terms of personality traits than any two randomly chosen individuals from the same population... I think this close the debate of nature vs nuture. Personality is 100% nature!
Some menevures, though:
1. The older we get, we increase in Agreeableness and Conscientiousness, and decrease in Extraversion, Openness and Neutroticism.
2. Characteristic Behavior Patterns: You don't have to change yourself. You just have to change your self's outlet. ---- If you have been pugging away at something and never felt easy in your skin, it could well be that you haven't been aiming at the niche that you ar egood for, rather than one valued by your family or culture or times.
3. Personal Life Story: Same experience could be explained and presented in totally different lights! This in turn change your personality.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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