Gregariousness
A facet of extraversion. Four items in the IPIP-NEO-120.
The second facet of extraversion is liking for crowds and company: wanting to be where the people are, enjoying large parties and talking to many people rather than a few. It is the facet closest to what sociable means in ordinary speech, and the one most directly opposed to a preference for being alone.
What it does not mean
A low score is not shyness, and it is not unfriendliness. Shyness is discomfort around people; low gregariousness is a preference for fewer of them. Many low scorers are warm, confident hosts of small gatherings who simply find a crowded room tiring.
A high score is not a measure of social skill or of how many friends a person has. It records appetite for company, not success at it.
Four items make a short scale. A facet score moves more between attempts than the 24-item domain score, and it describes a tendency in ordinary life as the person reports it, not a diagnosis of anything.
High and low in daily life
High. People high on this facet say they love large parties, talk to a lot of different people at parties and seek out crowds. In daily life that shows as a full calendar, a liking for busy restaurants and open-plan offices, boredom with a quiet weekend, and energy that rises as the room fills.
Low. People low on this facet say they prefer to be alone and avoid crowds. In daily life that shows as leaving a party early and happily, choosing a walk over a festival, deep conversations with one person at a time, and a need for time alone to recover from a day of people.
Parent domain
- Extraversion: the broad trait this facet belongs to, with five sibling facets.
What the research says it predicts
The central feature running through the facets of extraversion appears to be enjoying social attention, the experience of being noticed and engaged with by others, which gregariousness measures most directly. (Ashton, Lee and Paunonen, 2002)
Gregariousness belongs to the enthusiasm aspect of extraversion, with friendliness and cheerfulness. (DeYoung, Quilty and Peterson, 2007)
The sociable side of extraversion, which Roberts and colleagues call social vitality, rises in adolescence and then changes little or falls slightly through adulthood, unlike the assertive side. (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, gregariousness, 4 items
410,376 people
The other facets of extraversion
Sources and licence
Ashton, M. C., Lee, K., & Paunonen, S. V. (2002). What is the central feature of extraversion? Social attention versus reward sensitivity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(1), 245-252. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.83.1.245
DeYoung, C. G., Quilty, L. C., & Peterson, J. B. (2007). Between facets and domains: 10 aspects of the Big Five. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93(5), 880-896. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.93.5.880
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