Personality Runes

About

Consider the following adjectives that we might use to describe appearance: There are six words there, but they're only describing two different traits (height and weight), each of which is a spectrum with two opposing ends (eg tall - short). Different adjectives indicate a point on that spectrum; eg if two people were described as 'pudgy' and 'fat', you might be led to believe that the second person was the heavier of the two.

We use many adjectives to describe personalities, but how many underlying traits are they being used as synonyms for, exactly?

This is the question that Psychology researchers asked themselves. They scoured through a vast assortment of literature and collected many adjectives that seemed to be describing personality traits (eg "nice", "rude", "outgoing", "timid"), then asked thousands of participants across several countries to say which of these adjectives they believed would fit themselves.

What they found was that, for example, people who'd describe themselves as 'quiet' would also describe themselves as 'reserved', suggesting that these were synonyms for the same underlying trait, but that they wouldn't also describe themselves as 'gregarious', suggesting that this was the opposite end of the same trait.

Mathematical factor analysis revealed five clusters of apparent synonyms, revealing what the researchers called the 'Big Five' personality traits: Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Openness to Experience.

What makes this so remarkable is that these traits were discovered atheoretically, with no prior assumptions. This sets the Big Five apart from popular personality models such as Myers-Briggs, which were deliberately designed (by non-scientists) based on best guesses about human behaviour from their observations and experiences. They're also purely descriptive rather than prescriptive; being highly agreeable, for example, says nothing about a person beyond the fact that they're highly agreeable, just as saying that someone is tall says nothing beyond that they are tall (unlike, say, horoscopes, which say 'because you are a Pisces, you enjoy snogging salmon, but feel guitly about it afterwards', or whatever). And of course each trait exists on a spectrum, rather than a black-and-white dichotomy and series of discrete 'types'.

Still, there's something to be said about having a letter code you can brand yourself with, and share with others in the hopes they'll better understand you (though I know since getting my Psychology degree that Myers-Briggs is pseudoscience, I still like the idea of being 'an INFJ'). Some Psychologists have suggested methods with names such as OCEAN and SLOAN to succinctly communicate an individual's Big Five traits, where each trait is represented by a letter with five possible values (eg E e x i I), but...

As an arty person (high Openness) with a Psychology degree, I've never much cared for the names the (probably not artistically-inclined) different researchers have given to the Big Five traits, as I've seen that they can mislead people, plus there seems to be disagreement between researchers about what the traits' names even are! Certain trait distributions are also typically referred to as deficiencies (eg a person might be described as 'low in agreeableness'), which can incline people to select the more apparently desirable trait for themselves even if it's not entirely accurate.

As such, I've come up with my own names for the Big Five traits that I hope sound clearer and more interesting (or at least they do to me as someone with an interest in fantasy etc), and which make each end of the spectrum desirable.
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Introversion

Introverted people are more reserved, and are content to spend most of their time in solitary pursuits. They're not necessarily shy, but external stimulation from social gatherings and the like drains their batteries, and they need to recharge afterwards. They prefer to have a small number of close friends, but may struggle to find friends at all. They prefer not to attract attention to themselves.

Extroversion

Extroverted people are outgoing, talkative, and loudly expressive, as they derive their energy from external stimulation. As such, they like things loud, fast, bright, active. They collect friends - the more, the better - though may keep connections at a surface level and move on from people fairly quickly. They thrive on attention.

Equivalent Big Five trait: Extraversion
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Tough

Tough people are forthright and know how to put themselves first. They're comfortable with conflict, and have no qualms about starting it if they feel their needs are not being met. Their forceful approach to getting what they want prevents them from being taken advantage of, and allows them to rise through heirarchies to positions they feel they deserve. However, this aggressive, self-serving approach may come at the expense of others' feelings, which might factor into their decisions only slightly, if at all.

Soft

Soft people are nice, friendly, and they put others' feelings first. They are averse to conflict, and will avoid it where possible, even if it means submitting to Tougher individuals' whims, which can lead to them being taken advantage of. An extreme example of a Soft person would be a submissive doormat who can't speak up for themselves at all.

Equivalent Big Five trait: Agreeableness
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Chaotic

Chaotic people have a fairly lax, casual approach to life. They see due dates, deadlines, and appointed times as general suggestions, if they even care to stick with them at all. Their desk is likely a mess, and their clothes strewn haphazardly on the floor. Their freeform approach can make them good company in informal, fun settings, but unreliable in more formal, professional ones.

Ordered

Ordered people are industrious and reliable; they can be depended on to get stuff done. They organise things, stick to schedules, do their work and attend meetings on time. They may be overly strict, however, and may come across as a stick-in-the-mud in less formal settings.

Equivalent Big Five trait: Conscientiousness
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Dark

Dark people are quick to sense danger and to react to it with negative emotions such as worry, anxiety, despair, anger, etc. The exact way this manifests depends on their other traits, so for example a Dark Introvert might quietly panic and avoid, while a Dark Extrovert might rage and attack.

Light

Light people are relatively calm and laid-back. This isn't the same as the peace that comes from practising mindfulness and the like, which requires effort; light people just aren't strongly negatively affected by stimuli in the first place.

Equivalent Big Five trait: Neuroticism / Negative Emotion
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Realistic

Realistic people take a sensible, no-nonsense approach to life. They prefer what's familiar, and regard novelty (eg changes to the layout of a website or app) with scepticism and rejection. They likely regard themselves as mostly 'normal', and their interests are mainstream and shared by many others, meaning they're able to find common ground with the majority of people they come across in their culture.

Abstract

Abstract people are dreamers with their heads in the clouds, and may come across as peculiar to those more firmly rooted in the familiar. They're intellectually curious and intrigued by novelty, and likely have artistic interests. Their ideas may make them great innovators or creators, but they may struggle to stick with any for long enough to see it to completion, and likely feel out of place among mainstream culture.

Equivalent Big Five trait: Openness (to Experience)