Answer: The “Big Five” personality measures refer to a standard way of assessing personalities that include neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience.

One component of psychology is to try to measure a variety of traits of people, and simplify them into an easily understood spectrum. Jeff McCrae and Paul Costa developed the Five Factor Model (FFM) of personality to try to evaluate personality.

Big Five Aspect Scales (BFAS) is one way to determine where someone falls on the Big Five personality measures. It is a 100-question self-report test that is open source, and can easily be accessed online. Many versions of the test are graded on a Likert scale, so for each statement, the respondent will choose how much they disagree or agree on a scale from 1 to 5.

For each of the five measures, a person may either score high, low, or somewhere in between. The interpretation of each score is not always well defined.

The “Big Five” measures consist of the following (In some surveys, these scales may be ordered to form the acronym OCEAN):

Neuroticism

People who score low on the neuroticism scales can be described as being relaxed, easy-going, unemotional, resilient, or confident. On the other hand, high neuroticism scores would mean that a person might be often worried, high-strung, emotional, sensitive, and nervous.

Sample questions:

I get irritated easily.
I have frequent mood swings.
I get stressed out easily.
I get upset easily.
I worry about things.

Extraversion

Low extraversion scores tend to be reflective of people who consider themselves as passive, loners, or quiet. They may have lower levels of social engagement, and are more likely to act reservedly in a social setting. High extraversion scores suggests that someone is outgoing, bubbly, talkative, and affectionate. These people tend to get energy from outside settings, and feed off others.

Sample questions:

I am the life of the party.
I am comfortable around people.
I do not mind being the center of attention.
I start conversations.
I talk to a lot of different people at parties.

Agreeableness

A low agreeableness score will be seen among people who are irritable, critical of others, and untrusting. High agreeableness would be seen as people who easily get along with each other, demonstrate kindness and consideration towards others, and put the needs of others before oneself.

Sample questions:

I sympathize with others' feelings.
I have a soft heart.
I take time out for others.
I feel others' emotions.
I am interested in people.
I make people feel at ease.

Conscientiousness

A high conscientiousness rating indicates that a person is able to regulate and control their impulses or desires, or that person may be perceived as stubborn or hardheaded. A person with a low conscientiousness score may be flexible or capable of adapting to change, but negative traits associated with low consciousness score may be seen as sloppy or unreliable.

Sample questions:

I like order.
I follow a schedule.
I am always prepared.
I always pay attention to details.
I get chores done right away.
I am exacting in my work.

Openness to experience

High openness may be reflective of a person’s appreciation for art or adventure. These people tend to be more creative and more aware of their feelings. A low openness score may indicate that a person may be driven by dogma or more closed-minded in general.

Sample questions:

I have excellent ideas.
I am quick to understand things.
I use difficult words.
I am full of ideas.

Examples of academic studies on the Big Five Personality Traits

People’s scores on these behavioral tests tend to be sensitive to changes in age, a phenomenon called maturation effect. In general, as a person moves from early to late adulthood, they score less on neuroticism and higher on conscientiousness and agreeability. Many analyses of longitudinal data, which correlate people's test scores over time show a high degree of consistency in personality traits during adulthood, especially in the neuroticism trait, which is sometimes regarded as a temperament trait.

Compared to men, women appeared to be score somewhat higher on neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness scores, according to a survey of gender disparities in 55 nations using this Big Five Inventory. Neuroticism was the most noticeable and clear variation, and major variations were observed in 49 of the 55 countries studied. In more prosperous societies, gender variations in personality characteristics are more pronounced. The extent of sex variations between more and less developed world regions was attributed to differences between men, not women, in both of these regions. That is, relative to men in less developed world regions, men in highly developed world regions were less neurotic, extraverted, attentive, and agreeable. (Why can't a man be more like a woman? Sex differences in Big Five personality traits across 55 cultures)

In comparison to laterborns, American psychologist Frank Sulloway argues that firstborns tend to score higher on conscientiousness and lower on openness to new ideas. However, large-scale experiments using random samples and self-report personality tests have shown weaker to no substantial effects of birth order on personality than Sulloway believed.

According to a new survey of Israeli high-school students, participants in the gifted program ranked higher on openness and lower on neuroticism than those who were not in the gifted program. Though not a Big Five metric, gifted students have showed lower levels of state anxiety than non-gifted students. In addition to academic performance, basic Big Five personality traits predict learning styles. (Do academically gifted and nongifted students differ on the Big-Five and adaptive status? Some recent data and conclusions)

High scores of conscientiousness predict high GPA and performance on exams
Academic success is related to low neuroticism
High scores on both the openness and extraversion measures both predict a variety of learning styles.

This personality test has also been used in political science research. The major five personality characteristics and political identity have been linked in studies. Several surveys have discovered that people who rank high on conscientiousness are more likely to identify as right-wing politically. On the other hand, people with high scores on openness to experience are likely to identify as left-wing. As far as other measures go, the research is mixed.