Conscientiousness
One of the Big Five.
Conscientiousness is the tendency to be organised, persistent, careful and dutiful: to plan, to finish, to keep things in order and to think before acting. It is the Big Five trait with the broadest record of predicting how people do at work and how long they live, and the one most people wish they had more of.
What it does not mean
A high score is not a verdict on talent, and a low score is not laziness. The scale measures how people organise their effort, not how much they have or how good the result is. Many low scorers do excellent work when it interests them, in bursts, late.
It is not the same as worrying about getting things wrong. A very conscientious person can be relaxed; the trait is about habits of order and persistence, not worry.
High and low in daily life
High. People high on conscientiousness say they are always prepared, like to tidy up, keep their promises, work hard, carry out their plans and avoid rash decisions. In daily life that shows as punctuality, lists, tidy spaces, a steady pace, and a reputation for reliability. The costs are a difficulty relaxing, delegating or improvising.
Low. People low on conscientiousness say they leave a mess, break rules, waste time, do just enough to get by and jump into things without thinking. In daily life that shows as flexibility, spontaneity, last-minute finishes, and a tolerance for clutter that would bother others. The costs are missed deadlines and the irritation of more orderly people.
Facets
- Self-efficacy: confidence in one's ability to get things done.
- Orderliness: liking for tidiness and things in their place.
- Dutifulness: keeping promises and following rules.
- Achievement-striving: working hard and aiming high.
- Self-discipline: starting tasks and carrying them through.
- Cautiousness: thinking before acting.
What the research says it predicts
Conscientiousness is the one Big Five trait that predicts job performance across occupational groups, with a modest but consistent effect. (Barrick and Mount, 1991)
It predicts longevity, divorce and occupational attainment about as well as socioeconomic status and cognitive ability do, across many longitudinal studies. (Roberts and others, 2007)
On average people become more conscientious through their twenties and thirties and keep rising into old age. (Roberts, Walton and Viechtbauer, 2006)
Where people fall
The spread of scores
Curve height shows how common each score is; the darker middle holds half of all people. If you have taken a test on this device, your marker is drawn on.
IPIP-NEO-120, conscientiousness, 24 items
410,376 people
IPIP-50, conscientiousness, 10 items
603,322 people
The other traits
Sources and licence
Barrick, M. R., & Mount, M. K. (1991). The Big Five personality dimensions and job performance: A meta-analysis. Personnel Psychology, 44(1), 1-26. doi:10.1111/j.1744-6570.1991.tb00688.x
Roberts, B. W., Kuncel, N. R., Shiner, R., Caspi, A., & Goldberg, L. R. (2007). The power of personality: The comparative validity of personality traits, socioeconomic status, and cognitive ability for predicting important life outcomes. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2(4), 313-345. doi:10.1111/j.1745-6916.2007.00047.x
Roberts, B. W., Walton, K. E., & Viechtbauer, W. (2006). Patterns of mean-level change in personality traits across the life course: A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin, 132(1), 1-25. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.132.1.1
Instrument: IPIP-NEO-120. Johnson, J. A. (2014). Measuring thirty facets of the Five Factor Model with a 120-item public domain inventory: Development of the IPIP-NEO-120. Journal of Research in Personality, 51, 78-89. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2014.05.003 Key: https://ipip.ori.org/30FacetNEO-PI-RItems.htm.
Norms: Johnson, J. A. IPIP-NEO-120 public dataset (IPIP120.dat), OSF component wxvth of osf.io/tbmh5, https://osf.io/wxvth/.
Licence: Public domain (IPIP). Permission is granted automatically for any person to use IPIP items for any purpose, commercial or non-commercial. https://ipip.ori.org/newPermission.htm
Instrument: IPIP Big-Five Factor Markers. Goldberg, L. R. (1992). The development of markers for the Big-Five factor structure. Psychological Assessment, 4(1), 26-42. doi:10.1037/1040-3590.4.1.26 Key: https://ipip.ori.org/newBigFive5broadKey.htm.
Norms: Open-Source Psychometrics Project, IPIP Big-Five Factor Markers responses (IPIP-FFM-data-8Nov2018.zip), 1,015,342 responses collected 2016 to 2018, https://openpsychometrics.org/_rawdata/.
Licence: Public domain (IPIP). Permission is granted automatically for any person to use IPIP items for any purpose, commercial or non-commercial. https://ipip.ori.org/newPermission.htm