Into the depths on the O.C.E.A.N.

Making Sense of Other People's Weirdness, Part 3

Many psychologists don't put a lot of stock in personality typing. The tests seem to be relatively hit or miss, and, according to today's standards, are not built on strong science. Yes, this includes the enneagram.

However, there is one personality mapping system that is known to be the most scientific of them all. And that is the O.C.E.A.N. model (also known as the Big Five model)

The acronym stands for five personality traits: 

• Openness: a desire for novelty and creativity

• Conscientiousness: a desire for a thoughtful, organized approach to life

• Extraversion: a desire for social interactions

• Agreeableness: a desire for prosocial interactions

• Neuroticism: a desire to protect oneself from threats and being overwhelmed by stress

Everybody has each of these traits in them to varying degrees. In fact, there's a pretty good chance you're looking at that list trying to figure out how they play out in your own life right now.

For what it's worth, I think the strongest trait in me is openness. As you may have noticed, I am a Curious George, especially when it comes to spirituality and theology. I'm always trying to go beyond the boundaries of where we are to see what's on the other side. 

My curiosity goes beyond the realm of spirituality and theology, though. I'm curious about economics. I'm curious about politics. I'm curious about psychology. I'm curious about history. 

See the theme? I'm a natural explorer when it comes to ideas and concepts. 

But…

What happens when you put me in front of a restaurant menu?

Believe it or not, I tend to order the same thing all the time. I don't know what the Mongolian Beef will taste like, but I do know what the General Tso’s Chicken tastes like, and I happen to love it, so I'm going to go with that. All my sense of adventure goes out the window.

This would be my neuroticism kicking it. Now you can see how two personality traits can interact in my life. Generally speaking, when it comes to ideas, I’m all about the new. But, when it comes to physical experiences, I am far more concerned with maintaining what works. Openness, meet neruoticism.