The 'Big Five' Factors Personality Model - OCEAN

'The Big Five' is the commonly used term for the model of personality which describes the five fundamental factors of our personality. For reasons explained below the model is commonly referred to as OCEAN, being an acronym for names often used for the five traits. The alternative acronym CANOE is less commonly used. This summary and explanation has been provided by psychologist and psychometrics expert Paul Sinclair (see Paul's biography below), which is greatly appreciated.
The Big Five 'super traits' have been researched and validated by many different psychologists (WT Norman 1963, McCrae & Costa 1987, Brand & Egan 1989, LR Goldman 1990 and P Sinclair 1992) and are at the core of many other personality questionnaires.
While Raymond Cattell 'uncovered' 16 traits from his factor analysis (a statistical way of reducing a variety of things down to a smaller number of related clusters) in the development of the 16PF; no one else was able to replicate his work.
On the other hand, the Big Five Factors have been replicated in studies across the world and give us a confident summary of our mental building blocks, according to trait theory.
This had led to a number of slightly different 'translations' of the Big Five model, although each version essentially deals with the same theory and content. The words describing the characteristics change, but the basic characteristics do not. The 'translations' between the different interpretations are explained later.
Trait theory, on which many of our occupational questionnaires are based (for example, Cattell's 16PF and Saville & Holdsworth's 'OPQ' Occupational Personality Questionnaire), states that by the time we are in our early 20s and start work, our personality traits become more stable and reliable. This does not necessarily mean we become more stable or reliable, but that our individual personality traits become more fixed and are thus capable of being reliably measured.
For example, loud, confident, creative people tend to remain loud, confident and creative people throughout their careers. Quiet, unassuming, dependable people tend to remain so also.
When the first Big Five questionnaire was launched the UK in 1990, people were surprised and a little sceptical about the speed of the personality profiler; it took under 10 minutes to complete.
This was because it was only measuring five factors and not sixteen or thirty-two personality factors.
Suffice it to say, validation studies were published and presented to the British Psychology Society by the end of the 1990s the Big Five was established as a significant and fundamental personality testing model.

N.B. The pink colour in the tables is used for the Big Five terminology recommended by Paul Sinclair. Aside from this, colour is used (hopefully) to improve presentation only, and does not relate to other personality models on this webpage.

the big five model - five 'bipolar' scales

The bold names in the left column are the recommended names (by Paul Sinclair) for these factors. Other names are used for each of the factors, which might equate to names in the left or right columns. See the OCEAN names below.

Extraversion	vs	Introversion
Confidence	vs	Sensitive
Detail-conscious	vs	Unstructured
Tough-minded	vs	Agreeable
Conforming	vs	Creative

These scales are commonly alternatively represented by the OCEAN acronym and descriptions:

• Openness to experience (equates to Creative, opposite Conforming above)
• Conscientiousness (equates to Detail-conscious above)

This poster contains the inspirational quote:
"I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom come responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended." 
(Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, born 1918, South African lawyer, statesman and 1993 Nobel Peace Prize winner, from Mandela's inspirational 1994 book, Long Walk to Freedom.)

How great writing inspires more great writing

4 writers share a proven technique for improving your work—reading the work of others

By Brandi-Ann Uyemura

Published: February 15, 2012

Brandi-Ann Uyemura A beautifully composed sentence can leave readers in awe, but it can also have a motivating effect on other writers. In the 1997 movie As Good as It Gets, Jack Nicholson’s character says, “You make me want to be a better man.” Good writing can have that same effect—inspiring writers to be better. Writer/editor Dina Santorelli, for example, finds inspiration in the beauty of a well-written sentence, whether it’s from watching the television series House or reading The Submission by Amy Waldman. She says good writing “inspires me to reach deep down into my own bag of tricks—or perhaps my soul—and try to touch someone else in the way I have been [moved].” Becky Levine, author of The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide, derives inspiration purely from

Can You Really Lose Weight and get into shape doing boxing

Did you know that you could lose weight and get into a killer figure envied by many while participating in boxing? Like other sporting activities, it offers the opportunity to tone up the body muscles, get unrivalled cardiovascular workout, strength and stamina build up and most importantly, shed off unwanted body fats typically around the tummy. This is due to the rigorous training and strict routine adhered to while training. Moreover, there are nutritionists who give advice on the type of diet that one should adopt therefore; one also gets to live a healthy lifestyle. With great discipline, you can gain a lot while training and what’s more, you do not have to go to competition. You could take it as a leisure activity and while having fun, you get to learn techniques that would come in handy while faced with danger. You can protect yourself better as you would be able to spot a dangerous situation from miles away.