The 5 Factor Model and Terri's Wisdom

After reading Terri’s post about “10 Ways to Make Sure your Marriage Stays Strong” I realized I might have some extra insight that might prove useful to Terri’s readers.

 Psychologists have for decades tried to decipher the inner workings of the mind. Although they don’t yet understand everything. They do have discovered a thing or two about us. One of those things is the 5 Factor model. The 5-factor model of personality is a set of broad traits that every human being possesses. Colloquially they are called the “The Big 5”. The 5 are: Extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and neuroticism and openness to experience.

 I’d recommend anyone who hasn’t already taken the test, to take it and reflect back on your life. Take time and try to answer the questions as honestly as you can. I would recommend the one at “https://understandmyself.com” which you can complete just once for a small fee. I recommend it because it is more comprehensive than the other versions available. The less comprehensive tests are free however.

 Now how does it connect back to Terri? Well.

If you’ve read the original article you’ll remember that Terri mentions how women are generally more “thoughtful”. This is what psychologist within the Big 5 model call agreeableness and they too noticed that statistically women are more agreeable. Which means on average they generally care more for others than they do for themselves. Now this is a great character trait to have in a society and in a relationship but just like Terri and psychologists have noticed it’s also not without dangers. You can be too agreeable. Depending on the situation you may need to compromise or pull in the other direction.

 Another important trait is conscientiousness. According to the 5-factor model people low in conscientiousness might have problems maintaining relationships while people high in conscientiousness are much more likely to maintain them. Why? Well it turns out that people who are more conscientious are also less prone to cause conflict. Conflict as we know from definitely does not help maintain our relationships. This is another reason to take the test. You might realize you have some flaws. Knowing more about yourself, might help you lead a happier life.

 Now you could go through life learning from your mistakes, maybe go through a few relationships until you finally understand what is required to make a relationship work or you could read blogs on the topic. Learn from the wisdom of people like Terri or take the test and reflect back on your life and make adjustments in your life. People don’t set out to have failed relationships but sometimes we might need some extra help to see the unknown.

One way to make sure that happens is to take time to learn more from the experience of others or to learn from history and science. I’m of the persuasion of learning from others and from science. This is why on my visual arts blog Artfixed (https://artfixed.com/learn-to-draw-in-less-time/.), I’ve written about the wisdom and science of creativity. Just like Terri, artists and craftsmen have noticed some fundamental truths about human nature.

 In conclusion, I’d like to say that there are other aspects worth considering and knowing about in the 5-factor model. It’s best that you discover them for yourself. Each individual is different and goes through life in their own unique way. I’d recommend you find out what your own unique way is and try to better it.