Neuroticism
One of the Big Five. The 50-item markers score the same trait the other way up, as emotional stability.
Neuroticism is how readily negative feelings arise and how long they last: worry, irritation, low mood, self-consciousness and the sense of being overwhelmed. Emotional stability is the same scale read from the other end. High scorers feel setbacks keenly and take longer to settle; low scorers stay calm and recover quickly. It is a tendency everyone has to some degree, and the average person sits in the middle.
What it does not mean
A high score is not a diagnosis of anything, and the scale does not test for any condition. It describes how often and how strongly feelings arise in ordinary life, measured by self-report, across a whole population. Most people with high scores live ordinary lives, and sensitivity brings its own strengths: noticing problems early, taking care, feeling for others.
A low score is not coldness. People low on neuroticism have the full range of emotions; they return to baseline faster.
High and low in daily life
High. People high on neuroticism say they worry about things, get irritated easily, often feel blue, find it difficult to approach others, go on binges and panic easily. In daily life that shows as careful planning for what might go wrong, sensitivity to criticism, moods that others can read, and a slow recovery after a bad day.
Low. People low on neuroticism say they are not easily annoyed, feel comfortable with themselves, are not bothered by difficult social situations, resist temptations easily and remain calm under pressure. In daily life that shows as being the steady one in a crisis, not dwelling on what went wrong, and sleeping soundly.
Facets
- Worry: how readily worry and apprehension arise.
- Anger: how readily irritation and temper arise.
- Low mood: how readily low mood and discouragement arise.
- Self-consciousness: discomfort under other people's attention.
- Immoderation: difficulty resisting cravings and urges.
- Vulnerability: feeling overwhelmed under pressure.
What the research says it predicts
Neuroticism predicts lower life satisfaction and more strain in close relationships, among the most consistent findings in the field. (Ozer and Benet-MartÃnez, 2006)
Those links replicated in a pre-registered test across 78 trait-outcome pairs, with small to moderate effects. (Soto, 2019)
On average people become more emotionally stable from their twenties onward. (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, neuroticism, 24 items
410,376 people
IPIP-50, emotional stability, 10 items (the other way up)
603,322 people
The other traits
Guides that cover this
Sources and licence
Ozer, D. J., & Benet-MartÃnez, V. (2006). Personality and the prediction of consequential outcomes. Annual Review of Psychology, 57, 401-421. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.57.102904.190127
Soto, C. J. (2019). How replicable are links between personality traits and consequential life outcomes? The Life Outcomes of Personality Replication Project. Psychological Science, 30(5), 711-727. doi:10.1177/0956797619831612
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