Maybe I can incorporate some of these into my interviews. The good parts, of course.
| Introduction to Agreeableness |
| This section of your profile describes your interactions with other people. The following describes how you engage with others; illustrating the dimension of your personality that determines your independence or your desire to reach out and touch others in meaningful ways. |
| You are best described as: |
| TAKING CARE OF OTHERS AND TAKING CARE OF YOURSELF |
| Words that describe you: |
- Fair
- Considered
- Collaborative
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- Responsive
- Sensible
- Diplomatic
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- Contemplative
- Indulgent
- Rational
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| A General Description of How You Interact with Others |
| You are important. So are other people, especially if they are in trouble. You have a tender heart, but you know how to establish and keep personal boundaries. You are empathetic and compassionate, but you also believe that it’s best if people solve their own problems and learn to take care of themselves, if they are able.You are deeply moved by the needs of others, but you know that if you don’t take good care of yourself, you’ll wind up being of no use to anyone. So yours is a thoughtful compassion. You strive to be fair and sensible, taking care of others while also taking care of yourself.When someone really is in trouble, you like to collaborate with them toward a solution; they do their part, you do yours. You consider carefully, and respond in a sensible way; they do their part, and together you move through the difficulty.
You seldom act impulsively; rather, when a problem arises, you take your time to think through the situation. This contemplative quality usually means that you’ll arrive at a diplomatic solution, one that’s fair for the other person and also fair to you. It’s frequently a win/win situation.
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| Negative Reactions Others May Have Toward You |
| For people who are ruled by tender-hearted compassion, your more diplomatic response to problems might seem too cool, too focused on fairness and not filled enough with sympathy and selflessness.For them, when someone’s life is on fire, what is needed is not collaboration but rescue. And the person who experiences their life on fire may resent the time you take to contemplate. “I need you, and I need you NOW! This isn’t about fairness, it’s about the fire.” “All deliberate speed” may seem too deliberate and not fast enough, either to the more compassionate or to people in genuine trouble.At the other end of the spectrum of compassion, those who believe people should take care of themselves may find even your thoughtful sympathies too soft. They expect people, themselves included, to work their own way out of trouble. They are convinced that the helping hand you lend just fosters dependence and is not good for the development of character, either in you or in the person you assist.
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| Positive Responses Others May Have Toward You |
| Many people, perhaps the majority, will come to appreciate your balance as a compassionate person. The more they get to know you, the more they will admire your thoughtful compassion for others and its compliment in the sensible ways you take good care of yourself.Those whom you help will appreciate the way you leave them with their dignity by expecting them to collaborate in their own rescue. Those who are more tender-hearted will find in you a balance they lack; when they’ve run out of energy because they fail to take good care of themselves, you will still have enough compassion left to lift others out of trouble.Even the tough-hearted, those who believe people should solve their own problems, might come to admire your tenderness which they don’t find in themselves. So the people you help will be grateful, and the people who see your balance between self and others will admire you. Certainly, balanced is not bad at all as a way to be known among your friends.
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| Introduction to Openness |
| How firmly committed are you to the ideas and beliefs that govern your thinking and guide your behavior? The following paragraphs describe your responses to new ways of thinking and believing. |
| On the Openness Dimension you are: |
| SOMETIMES CURIOUS, SOMETIMES CONTENT |
| Words that describe you: |
- Accepting
- Flexible
- Educated
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- Self-aware
- Middle-of-the-road
- Proper
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- Distinctive
- Indecisive
- Adaptable
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| A General Description of How You Approach New Information and Experiences |
| Like someone who can sleep comfortably on either side of the bed, you are equally at home with ideas and beliefs that you have held for a long time and with new ways of thinking and believing that grow out of your intellectual curiosity.Your sense of who you are and what your place is in the world around you rests on values and principles that are the solid ground you walk upon. You’ve tested them, they work for you, and much of the time you are content to trust them, that is, until some provocative new idea slips in from a conversation, book or some flight of your active imagination. “Hmmmm. What’s this. Never thought of it before.” And off you go, exploring.Since you love to learn, you’ve always been teachable; you absorb new information, which means you are well-educated in things that matter to you. Sometimes your intellectual exploring will lead you back to where you started; the “next new thing” proves too shallow or impractical to you. But once in a while a new idea or belief will dislodge you from the ground you’ve stood upon; it is so compelling and persuasive that you step away from the tried-and-true and embrace this notion that is brand new to you.
Because you hold both solid beliefs and are open to new ideas, you are accepting of other people and other ways of thinking and believing. You are flexible enough to listen to something new and different, or something outside of your comfort zone; if it works for you, you’ll take it in, and if not, you’ll let it go. In this sense, you know who you are: you are neither closed-minded nor wildly open-minded, but walk somewhere near the middle of the intellectual road.
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| Negative Reactions Others May Have Toward Your Style of Thinking |
| Not everyone will be thrilled by your flexible, middle-of-the-road ways of thinking and believing. A few people are so taken with flights of imagination into whatever is new that they might find your commitment to long-standing values and beliefs too confining, if not too boring. Oh well; so be it. They’ll just have to be in free-flight without you.Others are content with the ideas that have served them and their culture well; they’re not excited by the prospect of moving on. And some people are afraid of new ways of thinking because they are somewhat fragile; they have trouble maintaining their current worlds and don’t want someone like you, for instance pushing out the edges of their intellectual cosmos. So don’t be surprised if your solid values sometimes make people distrust you as an explorer, or if your flexible and open mind sometimes gets you criticized by people who walk away from the very same explorations that you find refreshing. |
| Positive Responses Others May Have Toward You |
| Many others will find you trustworthy and therefore an attractive companion on the intellectual journey. They will appreciate the combination in you of open-mindedness and a commitment to the tried-and-true. In an intellectual climate sometimes dominated by the extremes of either wild innovation or dug-in traditionalism, your moderate views and your proper acceptance of a wide range of possibilities will be a distinctive and refreshing quality. Because you join your curiosity to strong foundational ideas and beliefs and practical solutions to problems, people will trust your occasional explorations into new territories to be reliable, and not “something new for newness sake”.You are accepting of others, flexible in your own intellectual commitments, well-informed in areas that matter to you, and comfortably aware of who you are and where you stand. This combination will make you a desirable companion on the intellectual journey for many, many people. |
| Introduction to Emotional Stability |
| The following paragraphs describe your emotional range in terms of being a person who is emotionally steady or someone who is responsive to whatever feelings swell up in you. |
| On Emotional Stability you are: |
| SOMETIMES STEADY, SOMETIMES RESPONSIVE |
| Words that describe you: |
- Adaptable
- Engaged
- Able to Cope
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- Passionate
- Perceptive
- Flexible
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| A General Description of Your Reactivity |
| In some ways, you’ve got the best of emotional worlds. When emotions rise up from inside you or are brought forth from a conversation by a friend, you know how to engage them. You deal with sadness, fear, joy, anger – whatever comes up – in ways that are perceptive and flexible. You can adapt to whatever level of emotion is appropriate to the moment. At other times, you are able to cope with your emotions in a more reserved manner. Because you are aware of what does and does not make emotional sense in a particular situation, you will decide when it is an appropriate time to express your emotions and when it would be best to keep them to yourself.All of this gives you a rich emotional life. You are free to express your passions about certain subjects with appropriate people. But you are also emotionally adaptable; if the conversation needs to be more cerebral, you’ll keep it “in your head” and talk calmly through whatever issue is on the table. This emotional awareness serves you well. You seldom get in over your head, either by opening up to the wrong person or by triggering in someone else’s emotions they may not be able to deal with. |
| Negative Reactions Others May Have Toward You |
| When it comes to dealing with emotions we all meet some people with whom we don’t match well. You bring a balanced approach to your emotional life. As such, those who are at the extremes are most likely to have a negative reaction to you. Those who live in their emotions may feel you tend to “live in your head” while those who go through life as an emotional rock may feel that you are a bit too “touchy feely” for their approach.And of course it is always possible that because you do balance your emotional approach to life you may misread others – we all do at times. So there have undoubtedly been those times when you have misread cues and stayed in your head with someone who hoped for a more open emotional approach or you may have opened up emotionally with someone who keeps their emotions bottled up. But these things happen and since you do have a good balance of being in touch with your emotions and not being overly impacted by emotional swings, you undoubtedly are able to adapt.Another potential problem is that as people get to know you well, they will discover that you have a great balance between emotional expression and emotional control. If they don’t have this balance they may wind up envying you. They can’t express feelings as well as you, or they are too often out of emotional control and resent you for your ability to cope so well with the very emotions that may trip them up.
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| Positive Responses Others May Have Toward You |
| Many people will be grateful to find a friend like you who can stay in control when emotions verge on chaos, but who can also go into the tangle of emotions when it is safe and appropriate to do so. Because of your ability to engage them at whatever level they are comfortable, to adapt to whatever changes in emotion emerge in the conversation, and to cope so well with all of it – well, they’ll be very glad they found a person like you. You may, in fact, wind up as something of an emotional mentor. Your awareness of the emotional temperature of a situation, your ability to adapt to either heat or cold, and your ability to cope with whatever winds up happening in the conversation could be models for them to follow as they come to terms with their own emotional worlds. |
| Introduction to Conscientiousness |
| The following paragraphs describe ways in which you approach the tasks life brings to you, and to what extent you are focused or flexible in how you choose to proceed. |
| Your approach toward your obligations is: |
| VERY FLEXIBLE |
| Words that describe you: |
- Impulsive
- Instinctive
- Intuitive
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- Sometimes Inefficient
- Procrastinator
- Rule-breaker
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| A General Description of How You Interact with Others |
| Rules are made to be broken, plans are made to be changed, and schedules are made to be altered. Anyone who’s been around you for very long knows that is just part of the way you live. You don’t like to be hemmed in by someone’s idea of how a job should be done or a goal should be accomplished. Where others assume that the way to get something done is to follow whatever guidelines have been laid out, your idea of how to best get things done often involves making it up as you go along. You are as variable as a hawk in full flight – but like the hawk, you keep your eyes on the prize; even in the midst of turmoil you have a sense of where you need to go. You just have your own way of getting there.To the surprise of some of your friends and associates, you do get things done, though. But maybe not on the timeline someone else had hoped for. In fact, you likely have a reputation as a legendary procrastinator, not because you’re lazy or disinterested, but because following your instincts and creative sense takes longer. But the upside is that often your instincts turn the ordinary into something quite amazing; and some of the times, when you get everything just right, the ordinary original plans become an extraordinary achievement. |
| Negative Reactions Others May Have Toward You |
| Let’s be frank – it’s not always easy to work with someone like you. Almost any group effort requires a certain amount of common understanding about where everyone is headed and what the plan is to get there. But with you on board, there is always the chance that you’ll change the schedule, find an alternative route, or come up with a perfect argument for doing things in a completely different sequence than was planned. And that can drive some people to distraction. If that is often the case, if you find that your friends and colleagues live with a chronic sense of frustration with you; you may want to recalibrate your way of doing things when you work with them. Understand that we aren’t suggesting that you change your ability to tap into your creativity or even your impulsivity. Rather we are suggesting you consider if you can stay in tune with your ingenuity in ways that will not frustrate others desire to stay on schedule and to follow predefined courses of action. |
| Positive Responses Others May Have Toward You |
| When you get it right -and often you do – it usually impresses even those who can get frustrated with your style. The new product line is so much more imaginative than what was drawn up on the original blueprints, and the new color scheme with which you painted the downstairs rooms is simply stunning. When your instincts are on target and your impulses energize an otherwise lifeless plan or when you infuse a social experience with the kind of fantasy and fun that no one else could bring to the task – when it works – you’re the hero of the moment, and everyone’s favorite eccentric.This ability of yours to color outside the lines, to think outside the box – is a gift of potentially profound proportions. The trick is to blend your gift for finding new ways of doing things with completing work in slightly more organized ways. Your colleagues and friends probably want in on your creative secret, too. There is just something about flexible, impulsive, creative you that reminds them that there may be something missing in their more orderly, disciplined and, frankly, somewhat boring lives. |
| Introduction to Extraversion |
| The following paragraphs describe your fundamental desires about being with other people; whether you are generally an outgoing person or more reserved, if you seek adventures with others, if you tend toward assertiveness or kindness. |
| When it comes to Extraversion you are: |
| SOMETIMES OUTGOING, SOMETIMES RESERVED |
| Words that describe you: |
- Moderate
- Amiable
- Laid-back
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- Civil
- Uncommitted
- Pleasant
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| A General Description of How You Interact with Others |
| Lucky you! You enjoy your own company as much as you enjoy the company of others. You are a great conversationalist and thrive in the wonderful kinds of connections you know how to have with your family and friends. You also equally enjoy your own company, whether sitting in a favorite chair with your book and soft music playing or meandering in the woods by yourself. You like coming home to your family or your roommate; but if no one is home, you find quiet, solitary time to be just as pleasurable. What a great combination to enjoy being outgoing and to be just as comfortable being reserved. Lucky you!!Because you are so amiable and relaxed, you are comfortable with almost any group of family or friends. Whether they are pumped up and lively or calm and subdued, you remain at ease. If someone needs to take over the conversation, you are comfortable taking the lead; you can also lay back and let someone else be in charge. If the conversation gets rowdy, your moderate demeanor will often draw it down to a more temperate level. If someone in the group loses their cool, you will most likely maintain your poise, and if they get nasty you know how to keep a civil tongue.You may find yourself out of balance on occasion. If you’re alone too much, you may need to get in touch with someone. If you spend too much time with your family and friends, you may need to sneak off for a day by yourself, to putter and read and clear your head of the noise of too much conversation. When you’re at your best, you live with a rhythm of time with others, time alone, time with others, time alone It’s a satisfying, comfortable balance. Lucky you!
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| Negative Reactions Others May Have Toward You |
| You may occasionally run into problems with other people. Since not everyone is as balanced as you are, close friends and family may get frustrated with you, or you with them. They may be more sociable and outgoing, and find you too laid-back and relaxed. They want conversations to be lively and passionate while you keep things amiable and civil. Or others may be more quiet and reserved than you, and when you’re in one of your more animated moments they may wish you would back off. You may be ready to put more energy into a conversation than they are comfortable with.And your balance may be a problem. Other people may be consistently more sociable or more reserved than you, and find you to hard to read, some may even say you ride the fence. Others may find themselves envious of your ability to be outgoing at times, and at other times comfortably reserved. If you pay attention to pick up these cues you will be in a better position to know how you want to interact with such folks. |
| Positive Responses Others May Have Toward You |
| Most people will truly appreciate your flexibility in social situations. They will like you for your amiable warmth and your willingness to engage, and for your ability to sit back and let others take the lead or the spotlight. They will appreciate ways in which you temper what could become intemperate moments; by remaining poised and relaxed when others; temperatures are rising, you keep things civil and sane.You are as good at listening and following as you are at talking and leading, and people will often appreciate your ability to adapt to the situation. Because you are sometimes outgoing and sometimes reserved, you will make most people comfortable in your presence, and they will truly enjoy your company. |
