What is Conscientiousness?
Conscientiousness, in simple terms, is a personality trait of an individual exhibiting their awareness of their behavior’s effect on themselves and those around them. A conscientious individual is someone ambitious and goal-oriented.
The person does what they need to do to prepare, plan, and execute their journey into becoming an overall success. It’s wise to note that conscientiousness is one of the Big Five factors relied upon by psychologists when evaluating a person’s personality.
Conscientiousness traits have shown that individuals possessing the same are more empathetic.
So what is Conscientiousness? Conscientiousness translates into being mindful of persons around you and to strangers as well. Individuals with this trait are conscious about their first impression when they meet others.
A conscientious individual also feels a sense of duty towards others. They know the kind of effect their words and actions can cause. They do their best not to upset or offend others. Conscientious people feel more comfortable when they’re organized.
Their surroundings, from their home, car, to their place of work, are always tidy and presentable. The individual is reliable, careful, and always on time.
They make tangible plans, consider what they want their future will and should be, and make necessary financial, physical, mental, and spiritual arrangements. Conscientious persons have the following things figured out.
Goal Settings
Conscientious individual sets and works to achieve personal goals. They come up with initiatives that help them achieve their goals. They push their energies towards achieving their set goals.
The individual has a strong work ethic and has vowed to go through a difficult time as they work to achieve their goals. The more they keep at it, the better the chances of meeting and surpassing their goals. A conscientious person doesn’t make impulsive decisions.
They will take time to come up with tangible decisions, and when they do, they stick with them.
Low Conscientiousness
Conscientiousness is measured continuously, which captures low, moderate, and high levels.
Note: Unconscientious individuals are disorganized. Low-level conscientious individuals engage in impulsive behavior. As opposed to thinking through from the action phase to the conclusion point, unconscientious individuals act spontaneously.
Unconscientious individuals are NOT good tike keepers and display less goal-oriented behavior. As opposed to conscientious persons who are timekeepers and hungry to meet their goals.
Where does Conscientiousness come from?
Conscientiousness a part of the big five personality factors. The other factors are extraversion, neuroticism, openness, and agreeableness.
These traits follow the lexical approach to personality, which dictates that naturally, people create common traits terms to easily and discuss them. Psychologists use these five traits to assess an individual’s personality.
What factors influence conscientiousness?
Studies prove that environmental and biological differences are predominant in high, moderate, and low conscientious persons.
The interactions children have with their parents/guardians and caregivers affect their personality traits later in life. Children whose parents were affectionate towards them scored higher on conscientiousness.
Worthy Note
Conscientiousness isn’t constant. The degree to which we experience conscientiousness varies throughout our lives. Numerous psychological studies found that conscientiousness increases as people age, the exception being the adolescent years.