MEPX
Chapter 1 of 10All chapters
  1. 1What personality means
  2. 2The five factor model
  3. 3Type tests
  4. 4Stability and change
  5. 5Where it goes wrong
  6. 6Introversion and extraversion
  7. 7The darker traits
  8. 8Measuring personality
  9. 9Culture and context
  10. 10Using it sensibly

Chapter 1 of 10

What personality means

Tendencies, not rules.

Traits

A trait is a tendency to behave in a certain way across situations and over time. It describes averages rather than predicting any single occasion.

  • An extravert can prefer a quiet evening without contradiction.
  • Situations often influence behaviour more than traits do.

Why measure it

Traits correlate modestly with outcomes in work, health and relationships. Modest is the honest word: they are population-level tendencies, not individual predictions.