What is responsibility as a personality trait?

Responsibility as a personality trait is undoubtedly an extremely useful trait. to enjoy a functional life, organized and without unforeseen events. It is related to having a long life and enjoying great work success.

Below we will delve into this personality trait, in addition to going into detail on the facets that compose it and see how it develops throughout the lives of the individuals.

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What is responsibility as a personality trait?

Responsibility is one of the Big Five personality traits of the model of the five factors or Big Five, by Paul Costa and Robert McCrae. This dimension refers to the ability to control aspects such as impulses, have self-discipline and great organizational skills. It also includes all behavior related to reaching a goal, in addition to thinking in the short and long term, following the rules or setting priorities.

People who have high scores on this dimension

They are usually hard-working, reliable and punctual, in addition to having a great tendency towards order. They also have a great sense of duty and do not tend to break the rules.

However, very high scores in this dimension can be something that borders on psychopathology. The person may have serious problems to ignore certain aspects, in addition to seeking perfectionism or reaching obsessions. They can be seen as extremely rigid and not very tolerant of the unexpected. They are not allowed to go an inch out of the script pre-established by themselves.

At the other end of this same dimension, people with low scores on responsibility are often impulsive and spontaneous, with a lower degree of concern towards the achievement or achievement of objectives, in addition to being more relaxed. They have trouble motivating themselves to focus on accomplishing a certain goal. They are less likely to delay gratification, meaning they need to be rewarded immediately for something they have done.

Facets of this trait

As with the rest of the dimensions proposed within the model of the five major features of personality, the dimension of responsibility has six facets, which are the following:

1. Competence

It is the belief to be considered self-effective, that is, be able to adequately meet the objectives set or the skills to be carried out.

2. Order

It refers to being able to organize oneself, both in terms of physical space and in terms of one's own personal agenda (p. eg, organize your studies, have a clean room ...)

3. Sense of duty

It is the importance that the person gives to comply with moral obligations and follow the rules.

4. Need for success

It is the need to have a high result reaching the goals and give life direction and purpose.

5. Self discipline

Refers to the ability to start a task, carry it out to the end without abandoning it halfway, either because of boredom or because of the distractions that one may encounter in the process.

6. Deliberation

It is the facet of the personality that would be most responsible for avoid acting on impulse. It is the ability to think things through before carrying them out and see what consequences can be associated with them.

Responsibility throughout development

People, whether due to genetic or environmental factors, have different degrees of personality. This, like the rest of personality traits, is due to the fact that human beings present individual differences. No two people are the same in terms of personality.

But, in addition to this, there are also no people who are equally responsible throughout their lives. That is, there are significant intrapersonal differences in this dimension. It has been seen that as it grows, how meticulous and hardworking it is changes. Although personality traits are relatively stable throughout an individual's life, responsibility is the least stable of them all.

Responsibility is a fairly marked characteristic in adults when compared to younger people. who, as a general rule, have a low degree of self-control and tend to seek immediate gratification. People are becoming progressively more responsible as we grow, with 60 years being the end point of this increase.

It should be said that these increases vary depending on the age of the subject. The earliest adulthood is the most critical point in the development of the personality and is surely the time when there are more changes in the way of being of the person.

During late childhood and adolescence, it appears that people are less responsible, and even, during these ages, they become a little less responsible than they were before. This is easily understandable if you look at the academic performance of many adolescents in high school and compare it with their grades in school. There is often a slump, which is usually due to their becoming more carefree. It has also been seen that from the age of 60 there is a slight decrease in this dimension.

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Responsibility and professional success

It has been seen that responsibility is the dimension that could solidly explain professional success, in addition to being related to having a good academic performance, regardless of whether you have good cognitive abilities or no.

The responsability it is the dimension most related to being successful in any profession. This stands out compared to the rest of the dimensions. For example, having high extroversion and warmth can be useful in professions that require social skills, such as being a receptionist in a hotel, while in others, such as in the military, this is not a advantage. What both professions do have in common is that having high responsibility contributes to keeping them.

People with high scores in the responsibility dimension tend to be more organized and hard-working, which are highly useful aspects in any work context. Also, as they are more reliable, their bosses tend to give them a higher priority when it comes to performing tasks, in addition to allowing them to show their maximum effort and be potentially worthy of raises and promotions.

On the other hand, people those who present low scores in this dimension run the risk of postponing work, in addition to presenting a lower performance. They also tend to be less motivated to perform tasks. They are people who, being more spontaneous and carefree, can end up doing their obligations later than they should. They tend to neglect things, which puts their job at risk.

How does it relate to health?

It is not just responsibility that predicts good job performance. This dimension has been associated with greater longevity. This can be explained by the way of being of responsible people, who tend to have little tendency towards self-destructive behaviors.

Having high scores in this trait is usually related to maintaining good health habits, such as playing sports, going to sleep at an appropriate time, not using drugs, avoiding tobacco and alcohol, as well as having an organized lifestyle. Thus, by being organized and orderly, last minute unforeseen events are avoided, which can be a source of much stress and problems to deal with them.

As they are respectful people, as a general rule, with the rules and laws, they tend to be little involved in situations of violence and do not commit crimes. In this way, potentially dangerous situations are avoided, such as being attacked by other criminals or having a tense situation with the police. They also avoid unnecessary risks, such as unprotected sex.

Bibliographic references:

• Costa, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (1992). NEO PI-R professional manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.
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• Kern, M. L., Friedman, H. S., Martin, L. R., Reynolds, C. A., & Luong, G. (2009). Conscientiousness, career success, and longevity: a lifespan analysis. Annals of behavioral medicine: a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine, 37 (2), 154–163. doi: 10.1007 / s12160-009-9095-6.
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