Five personality types – which one are you?

You are an individual, totally unique in every way from the strands of hair on your head to the skin on your little toe. But despite all that, we are surprisingly easy to categorise, too.

Psychologists have boxed our behaviours off into the Big Five personality traits. These describe how we perceive the world internally and how we interact with others.

Building on research in the late 19th century, the Big Five is taken from a personality theory formulated by psychologists Robert McCrae and Paul Costa in 1990.

These traits have been used by psychologists to categorise people, but also by businessness in order to manage a large number of peope effectively.

Which one of the Big Five do you most identify with?

1) Conscientiousness

This relates to your work ethic and organisational skills. Those with this trait plan ahead and aim high. They may also take a great interest in one topic, rather than a passing interest in many.

In turn, those who do not score highly as conscientious consider this type of person as obsessive and stubborn.

2) Agreeableness

Friendliness and compassion are among the characteristics of an agreeable person. They are also more trustworthy. Agreeableness is also used a measure of how even-tempered a person is. Those who score low in this may be argumentative, challenging or competitive.

3) Extraversion

Those who score highly for this trait thrive interracting with others. They are extremely talkative, energetic, assertive, and are not fazed by being the centre of attention. On the contrary, a person who scores low on this my regard an extrovert as attention seeking and overly dominant.