Resiliency and the Five-Factor Model

By: Ketmany Guenin

Psychology: Research Methods

Dr. Wall

12/04/2013

Introduction

Individual differences in psychology concentrate on how people are different from each other in their own unique way. This level of psychology differentiates people based on their feelings, thoughts, and behaviors. Psychological constructs that attract research interact in individual differences include: personality, psychopathology, cognitive abilities, social attitudes and psychological interests. The most highly researched areas in psychology are differences in personality and in intelligence (Albon, 1994). The Five Factor Model of Personality is a trait theory that was originated by several researchers and it examines five traits that can fully describe personality. (e.g. Fiske, 1949; Norman, 1963). The ‘Big Five’ are Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness and are commonly referred to as: N, E, O, A, and C. Extraversion refers to the tendency of enjoying other’s company and people who are outgoing. Neuroticism is the tendency to get upset easily, also known as emotional stability. Agreeableness is the tendency to be cooperative with others. Conscientiousness is the tendency to be motivated and achieve goals. Openness to Experience is the tendency to be open to trying new things and being adventurous (Glantz). Garmezy became interested in the concept of resilience through the study of patients with schizophrenia. Two types of schizophrenic patients at the time were “process” patients and “reactive” patients (Glantz). He found that the reactive patients were much more responsive and ended up with successful lives in the future. In order to learn more about this topic, Garmezy initiated a search for school children that were children of reactive schizophrenics but