List and provide brief examples of the four ways that the Big five model can be accepted as a good map of personality.

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Wide applicability: At a broad level, the big five traits are found in most languages. People in diverse cultures understand the traits, and the correlations among questionnaire items are similar to those found in English. The Big five are even found in non-human animal species, with traits coded by human observers or caretakers (Gosling, 2008). However, only genetically close species, such as chimpanzees, seem to have all five traits.

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Heritability: The big five traits, like many personality characteristics, are moderately heritable (Bouchard & Loehlin, 2001). Genetic variation explains a substantial part of observed variation in traits; yet, this does not argue against the notion that development and experience are also important (see Chapter 3 for more on interpreting heritability).

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Stability: On average, trait scores are remarkably stable over time, with sizable correlations between measurements taken decades apart.

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Predictive power: Because traits are generally stable over long periods of time, we can use them to predict important life outcomes (Ozer & Benet-Martínez, 2006; Roberts, Kuncel, Shiner, Caspi, & Goldberg, 2007). Even when assessed years before, traits scores can indicate who is more likely to get and keep a good job, be happy, remain married or live a long and healthy life. For example, the traits of low conscientiousness, emotional stability and agreeableness predict divorce far better than low socioeconomic status; also, the big five traits (collectively) predict occupational status almost as well as general intelligence (Roberts et al., 2007). Especially relevant to positive psychology, extraversion and emotional stability are the best predictors of subjective well-being within a nation, even over long periods of time.

List and Provide Brief Examples of the Four Ways That