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The Five-Factor Model: OCEAN

How Bryq assesses the OCEAN factors

Markellos Diorinos avatar
Written by Markellos Diorinos
Updated over a week ago

The Five-factor Model of personality, also known as the “Big 5” is a universally accepted framework for exploring individual differences. This model has been used by psychologists for decades and its accuracy has led to its wide usage in selection and development.

Research suggests that job performance might vary even 30% due to individual differences in personality

The 5 taxonomies of personality contain the following five factors: Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism, also known as the acronym OCEAN. The five factors provide insights into one’s personality makeup at a broad level of functioning. Bryq measures each candidate on the 5 OCEAN factors.

Here you can see the descriptions for each of the OCEAN factors:

  • Openness to experience: Portrays individuals who are creative, imaginative, intellectual and artistic. These people exhibit high levels of curiosity, they enjoy new experiences, continuous learning and they tend to be original due to their “thinking out of the box” mentality. Individuals who score low on Openness to experience prefer routines, familiarity and traditional or conventional ways. They are less creative and imaginative and they prefer concrete over abstract thinking.

  • Conscientiousness: Conscientious individuals have high self-control, they are thoughtful and goal- directed. They exhibit high levels of self- discipline, diligence, attention to detail and they tend to adhere to rules and regulations. Individuals who score lower on Conscientiousness tend to be more spontaneous, impulsive and are less likely to follow their urges as they struggle with impulse control.

  • Extraversion: Extroverted individuals tend to seek for social interactions and take great pleasure from that. They are socially bold, people-oriented, outgoing and confident. On the other hand, individuals who score low on Extraversion tend to want to spend more time alone, and are more likely to withdraw from social situations. They are more reserved and objective.

  • Agreeableness: Individuals who are agreeable tend to be cooperative, empathetic and trusting when interacting with others. They are less willing to express their views openly and question the status-quo. Individuals who score lower on this factor tend to be more competitive, more suspicious of others, less cooperative and enjoy being challenged.

  • Neuroticism: Individuals who score high on Neuroticism tend to be more worrisome and being less emotionally stable and tense. They are easily overwhelmed and they experience mood swings and anxiety. On the contrary, individuals who score lower on Neuroticism are more emotionally stable, confident and relaxed. It is worth noting that extremely low scorers might lack motivation and be less goal-directed.

What does OCEAN look like in Bryq?

When you receive a Candidate Report that has the OCEAN indicator enabled, you will be able to view insights for each factor in a dedicated section below the Personality Traits:

Clicking on the Read More Insights button, a detailed description of the talent's personality as per the Five-Factor model is displayed together with an explanation of each dimension:

Do note that like all personality questions, this will cover the most common scenarios, but there will always be exceptions that confirm the rule.

References

Allbeck, J. M., & Badler, N. I. (2008). Creating crowd variation with the ocean personality model.

Costa Jr, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (2008). The Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R). Sage Publications, Inc. (This is an interesting journal about the development of the 5 traits)

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