It’s important as coaches to expose ourselves to a range of different personalities and unique histories to expand our own views of where motivations can come from and what drives people to do the things they do. Having a model that allows us to categorise and simplify patterns of personality enables us to better help or support clients and even ourselves.
The five-factor model is a model of personality that consists of:
It was developed in the early 1990s and uses a lexical approach to determine personality traits. Personality traits are highly genetically influenced and helps to give us a frame to adjust strategies in communication and coaching with.
Extraversion: Sensitivity to positive emotion
To understand extraversion, it helps to understand the psychological problem that this trait helps us solve, which is how much to value the present. High extraversion and low extraversion are two different solutions to this problem. In some environments, high extraversion is the best solution while low extraversion is better in others.
What are the functions of positive and negative emotion?
Positive and negative emotion help orient you as you work toward achieving your goals. Your mind acts as a series of maps that specify a journey. These maps help you perceive goals and aims, understand where you are, and calculate a path forward. Positive and negative emotion function to help you understand your location relative to your goals and to motivate you toward or away from them. We perceive those emotions as a measure of how effective and valid the map is.
It’s these emotions that keep you on track towards your goals (which your motivations establish). More specifically, positive emotion moves you forward toward desired goals, while negative emotions can cause you to stop or move backward. We also calibrate our emotions (both positive and negative) based on the emotions of those around us.
We solve the problem of how much to value the present with our positive emotion system. Experiments involving delay discounting can measure how we value these different points in time.
Those with high extraversion tend to value the present more than the future.
Those with low extraversion tend to value the future more than the present.
Traits associated with Extraversion:
Sociable
Fun-loving
Affectionate
Friendly
Spontaneous
Talkative
Make eye contact
Drawn to sales and personnel work like nursing and teaching
Impulsive
Gamble more
It’s helpful to understand a client’s sensitivity to positive emotion so that we can help facilitate more effective goal setting and management of motivations and expectations for the client. Goals, motivations, and expectations can all come from both internal and external sources so helping the client to regulate and calibrate their positive emotion system can be helpful to raise more consciousness around when to value the present more and when to value the future more.
High Extraversion
Those with high extraversion tend to sacrifice the future for the present, particularly when it involves socialising. This is particularly the case if they are also low in conscientiousness. This can mean that they find themselves easily distracted by social opportunities, even when it directly opposes their overarching goals and plan - common in nutrition plans or even rehabilitation plans. The social drinks or dinners that have to be managed in a nutrition plan or the social sport and active hobbies that have to be managed in a rehabilitation plan - the positive emotion systems in both must be regulated to calibrate how much to value the present and how much to value the future.
Low Extraversion
Those with low extraversion are often described as calm, low-key, and reserved (however this does not mean that they are shy - shyness describes anxiety about socialising, which is more closely related with the trait of Neuroticism). Those with low extraversion are generally less interested in interacting with people and are less driven to expend energy to do so.
They are more easily overstimulated and often avoid busy and noisy environments as they can find them to be overwhelming. This can make it harder for them to start plans that involve a social or busy setting - for example a group exercise class or commercial gym.
Neuroticism: Sensitivity to negative emotion
Neuroticism is the personality trait associated with negative emotion and covers a wide range of traits, including frustration, disappointment, grief, pain, threat, uncertainty, and anxiety.
What is the purpose of negative emotion?
Negative emotion helps us avoid pain and suffering by motivating us to act carefully. It functions like a signal to protect against injury. However, some people have so much negative emotion that they can become overwhelmed and even incapacitated by it. People with these tendencies are more likely to suffer from psychiatric illnesses like depression and anxiety, although they can often learn to overcome their negative emotion with treatment.
Neuroticism is composed of two aspects: withdrawal and volatility.
Withdrawal:
People who are high in withdrawal can be described as anxiety-prone, self-conscious, depressive, and easily overwhelmed. People who are low in this trait can be described as calm, reasonably happy, and self-confident.
Withdrawal measures the ‘freeze’ response (from the ‘flight, fight, or freeze’ nervous system response), which causes physiological hyper-preparation coupled with paralyzing fear. When a person is “frozen”, their heart rate goes up and their muscles prepare to move.
Traits associated with withdrawal:
Often feel blue
Filled with doubts about things.
Feel threatened easily.
Feel depressed
Worry about things
Easily discouraged
Become overwhelmed by events
Afraid of many things
Volatility:
People who are high in volatility can be described as touchy, easily irritated, and unstable. People who are low in this trait can be described as stable, easygoing, and slow to anger.
Volatile behavior is exemplified by a driver cursing while stuck in bad traffic.
Traits associated with volatility:
Associated with defensive or predatory aggression
Get angry easily
Get upset easily
Can’t keep emotions under control
Change mood frequently
Moods go up and down easily
Easily annoyed
Getting easily agitated
Can be stirred up easily
Hyper-reactive to frustration, disappointment, and pain
Understanding how neurotic your client can tend to be is useful for general communication in order to build trust as a client who is high in neuroticism will in general feel more doubt, anxieties, and are easily discouraged.
It’s also very important when constructing your intervention plan and the timing and types of challenges you prescribe for clients. How you choose to introduce and progress challenges to the client must be appropriate to their level as moods can shift easily when the perceived threat is too great. It’s also important as it helps you build a more conducive environment for the client to regulate their emotions, self esteem and anxieties around themselves and their surroundings.
Depression and anxiety disorders are more common in people with high levels of negative emotion. Both disorders can be treated by encouraging the person to take on manageable tasks that improve their lives.
Three ways to help with anxiety as an adult:
Have a plan.
Finding a simple yet motivating plan of action can reduce anxiety.Have a routine.
Even simple routines like going to bed and eating at the same time each day can help reduce anxiety.Expose yourself to unfamiliar situations voluntarily.
Anxiety will be reduced as you increase your familiarity with these new “threats” or situations.
Interesting notes:
The body experiences anxiety before pain as a defense mechanism.
Dr. Jerome Kagan (a Harvard psychologist) found that voluntary active exploration normalized anxious children’s behavior. This is similarly true for anxious adults.
Conscientiousness
Conscientiousness is the personality trait associated with work and organization. It is also the trait that correlates most consistently with good health. Conscientiousness is composed of two aspects: industriousness and orderliness.
Industriousness
Industrious people tend to carry out their plans, avoid wasting time, finish what they start, and always know what they are doing. They are typically hard-working. Traits of industrious people include:
Carry out their plans
Don’t waste time
Don’t find it difficult to get down to work
Finish what they start
Get things done quickly (don’t postpone)
Always know what they’re doing
Not easily distracted
Orderliness
Orderly people keep things tidy, use a schedule, and like routines and details. They are often described as clean and organised. Traits of orderly people include:
Tidy
Like order
Bothered by messy people
Want everything to be just right
Bothered by disorder
Like routine
See that rules are observed
Want every detail taken care of
High Conscientiousness
People who are high in conscientiousness tend to believe that they must have everything in its ‘proper’ place - which has its advantages and disadvantages. For example they can be overly concerned with detail and doing things by the book. Very conscientious people are also very guilt-prone and hyper-susceptible to shame, self-disgust, and self-contempt.
Individuals who are very highly conscientious react poorly to failure (particularly if they are also high in neuroticism). They are typically judgemental and are disgusted by their own moral transgressions, as well as others. They suffer very high levels of shame and guilt when unemployed or otherwise unoccupied, even when that occurs through no fault of their own. Very conscientious people are primarily committed to personal responsibility. They have as an article of faith that those who work hard should and will be rewarded, and that those who don’t work hard and strive deserve their failure. They can be over-concerned with hygiene, moral purity, and achievement as well as micro-managing and controlling.
Disorders of Excessive Conscientiousness
There are two main mental disorders associated with excessive conscientiousness: anorexia nervosa and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Anorexia nervosa is a kind of hyper-obsession with bodily purity (or disgust with one’s body), and mostly affects upper-middle class women.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a mental illness that often fixates around germs. It is common for OCD patients to wash their hands excessively because they feel contaminated. The illness is more complicated than this, but the link between OCD and orderliness is fairly connected.
Low Conscientiousness
People who are low in conscientiousness tend to be laid back, less goal-oriented, and less driven by success. They tend to need help with developing more organisation and self discipline. To increase conscientiousness, it’s helpful to build motivations around a goal or direction and to practice being more organised - both with the environment (eg tidying a room) as well as time (eg being punctual or scheduling things into a diary).
Making plans and setting a schedule prompts organisation and self-discipline. Teaching your client how to use a diary, calendar, or scheduling app may be helpful.
Setting reminders is also helpful.
Committing to social activities or behaviours can help to encourage conscientiousness as it normally involves being organised and being on time.
Understanding how conscientious a client is can help you facilitate more effective regulation of guilt, organisation, and work ethic.
Agreeableness
Agreeable people can be described as kind, warm, polite, and accommodating, while disagreeable people can be described as selfish, ruthless and vengeful.
What is agreeableness?
Agreeableness is the tendency to weigh others’ interests against your own. The trait is composed of two aspects: compassion and politeness.
Compassion:
People who are high in compassion are interested in others’ needs and problems. They are sympathetic and generous with their time, and they are more likely to take the interests of others into account. Compassionate people often:
Feel others’ emotions
Inquire about others’ well-being
Sympathize with others’ feelings
Not indifferent to the feelings of others
Take time for others
Take an interest in other people’s lives
Have a soft side
Like to do things for others
Interested in other people’s problems
Politeness:
People who are high in politeness have respect for authority. They are not pushy or insulting and are careful with their words. Polite people often:
Respect authority
Don’t believe they are better than others
Hate to seem pushy
Don’t take advantage of others
Avoid imposing their will on others
Rarely put people under pressure
Avoid insulting people
Avoid conflict
Not out for personal gain
Function of agreeableness
Like all personality traits, agreeableness evolved to help us solve certain kinds of problems. Agreeableness solves the social problem of how much to weigh your own interests against those of others. Someone who is agreeable will value others’ interests more than their own, while the opposite is true of someone who is disagreeable.
Disadvantages of High Agreeableness
The downside to having high agreeableness is that the person may be too caring, to the point that they are too self-sacrificing with their time, energy, and other resources. Over time, this can lead to higher levels of resentment or passive-aggressiveness and lower levels of success in their personal goals.
To combat high levels of this trait as a coach, you can encourage the client to be more assertive and put their own interests forward. By listening to them with emphasis on their personal goals, caring about what they want, and encouraging them to do it more, the client will build more confidence with this new form of self-prioritisation. Introducing forms of competition through your plan and rewarding the client for engaging in it is also helpful to build productive aggression.
Having high agreeableness as a coach can also become counterproductive in an intervention plan when they are too self-sacrificing and it interferes with the development of a client’s autonomy. For example:
The client is micromanaged and their plan is over-structured - client does not develop responsibility for their own time and priorities.
The client is exposed to fewer risks - a certain degree of risk is necessary to develop autonomy.
The client is not encouraged to leave their ‘safe space’ (eg a private gym studio or home) - fewer social interactions and new environments to learn and grow from
It’s important for coaches to avoid micromanaging long term. Over-supervision of clients inhibits their ability to become fully autonomous.
Low agreeableness
Those with low agreeableness tend to be more focused on their own personal needs rather than others - which usually means they have little trouble prioritising their goals. They may sometimes be described as selfish with their behaviour and more competitive. Aiming challenges toward a client with low agreeableness in a way that aligns with their competitive and self serving nature can be of benefit to improve buy in and motivations to the client.
However, low agreeableness can also result in a person being suspicious and distrusting of the motives of others. They can be more argumentative and less willing to engage in conversations with unfamiliar people. This can make it harder for a coach to gain trust and open conversation about potentially vulnerable topics - which is usually necessary when establishing meaningful goals and discussing potential obstacles to the plan.
Openness to Experience
Openness to experience is the Big Five personality trait associated with intelligence, creativity, abstract thinking, and artistic interest. It is the personality trait most closely linked with IQ. It is composed of two aspects: openness and intellect.
Open people are described as:
Original
Imaginative
Creative
Complex
Curious
Have broad interests
Enjoy the beauty of nature
Believe in the importance of art
Love to reflect on things
Get deeply immersed in music
Like poetry
Seldom mention the emotional aspects of paintings and pictures
Need a creative outlet
Tend to get lost in thought
Daydream frequently
See the beauty in things that others might not notice.
Intellectual people are described as:
Quick to understand things
Understand abstract ideas
Can handle a lot of information
Like to solve complex problems
Find interest in philosophical discussion
Like difficult reading material
Have a rich vocabulary
Think quickly
Learn things quickly
Formulate clear ideas
Distribution conceptualization (high openness to experience trait vs low openness to experience):
Original versus conventional
Imaginative versus down-to-earth
Creative versus uncreative
Broad interest versus narrow interest
Complex versus simple
Curious versus incurious
Daring versus cautious
Independent versus dependent
Untraditional versus traditional
Liberal versus conservative
High openness to experience
People who are high in openness are motivated by ideas and/or aesthetic experience for its own sake and tend to orient their worlds around such pursuits. They enjoy the beauty of nature, believe in the importance of art, are reflective, become deeply immersed in music, enjoy poetry, are highly emotional, need a creative outlet, and see the beauty in things that other people may not notice.
People who are high in intellect are quick to understand abstract ideas, can handle a lot of information, solve complex problems, enjoy philosophical discussions, read often, and think quickly. The aspect of intellect is the personality reflection of IQ (a person’s capacity to learn, their processing speed, and the number of abstract variables they can manipulate at one time). People who are intelligent tend to seem interested in and competent at manipulating ideas.
Low openness to experience
People who are lower in openness are described as conventional, concrete, uncreative, simple, incurious, and have narrow interests. Coaching strategies and communication should be to the point, streamlined, and simple for those with low openness to experience.
Understanding a client’s level of openness to experience and intelligence helps you configure your coaching strategy as a coach and should influence the rate and amount of information and education you offer a client. It will also influence how much to prompt, suggest, or encourage a client’s self discovery and problem solving as competency in these areas can be influenced by openness to experience levels.