What is responsibility as a personality trait?

Summary of the characteristics and facets of responsibility, an important personality trait.

Responsibility as a personality trait is undoubtedly an extremely useful trait to enjoy a functional, organized and to enjoy a functional, organized and smoothly organized life. It is associated with having a long life and enjoying great success at work.

In the following we will delve deeper into this personality trait, as well as go into detail on the facets that compose it and see how it develops throughout the life of individuals.

What is responsibility as a personality trait?

Responsibility is one of the Big Five personality traits of Paul Costa and Robert McCrae's Big Five model.. This dimension refers to the ability to control aspects such as impulse control, self-discipline and organizational skills. Also included in this dimension is all behavior related to achieving a goal, as well as thinking in the short and long term, following rules or establishing priorities.

People who score high on this dimension tend to be hard-working, reliable and reliable. tend to be hard-working, reliable and punctual, and have a strong tendency toward orderliness.. They also have a strong sense of duty and tend not to break the rules.

However, very high scores on this dimension may border on psychopathology. The person may have serious problems in not caring about certain aspects, as well as seeking perfectionism or becoming obsessed. They may be seen as extremely rigid and intolerant of unforeseen events. They do not allow themselves to deviate even one centimeter from the script pre-established by themselves.

At the other end of this same dimension, people with low responsibility scores tend to be impulsive and spontaneous, people with low responsibility scores tend to be impulsive and spontaneous, with a lower degree of concern for achieving or attaining goals, as well as being more relaxed.They are less concerned with achieving or attaining goals, and are more relaxed. They have trouble motivating themselves to focus on achieving a certain goal. They are less likely to delay gratification, i.e., they need to be rewarded immediately for something they have done.

Facets of this trait

As with the other dimensions proposed within the Big Five personality trait model, the responsibility dimension has six facets, which are as follows:

1. Competence

It is the belief to consider oneself self-efficient, that is, being able to adequately fulfill the objectives set or the skills to be performed..

2. Order

Refers to being able to organize oneself, both in terms of physical space and one's personal agenda (e.g., organizing one's studies, keeping one's room clean, etc.).

Sense of duty

This is the importance that the person gives to moral obligations and following the rules..

4. Need for success

It is the need to have a high result by achieving goals and to give life direction and purpose. to provide life with direction and purpose..

5. Self-discipline

Refers to the ability to to start a task, carry it through to the end without abandoning it in the middle of the way, either because of boredom or distractionsIt refers to the ability to start a task and see it through to the end without abandoning it midway, either because of boredom or because of distractions that one may encounter in the process.

6. Deliberation

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

Responsibility throughout development

People, whether due to genetic or environmental factors, have different degrees of personality. This, as with all other personality traits, is due to the fact that human beings exhibit individual differences. No two people are alike in terms of personality.

But, in addition to this, there are also no two people who are equally responsible throughout their lives. In other words, there are significant intrapersonal differences in this dimension. It has been seen that as one grows older, one's conscientiousness and hard work change. Although personality traits are relatively stable throughout an individual's life, responsibility is the least stable of them all.

Responsibility is a fairly pronounced characteristic in adults compared to younger people. who, as a rule, have a low degree of self-control and tend to seek immediate gratification. People become progressively more responsible as they grow older, with the 60s being the end point of this increase.

It should be noted that these increases vary according to the age of the subject. Early adulthood is the most critical point of personality development and is certainly the time when most changes occur in a person's way of being.

During late childhood and adolescence it seems that people are less responsible, and even during these ages, people are less responsible for their own behavior.and even, during these ages, they become a little less responsible than they were before. This is easily understandable if one looks at the academic performance of many adolescents in high school and compares it to their grades in school. There is often a dip, which is usually due to them becoming more carefree. It has also been seen that after the age of 60 there is a slight decrease in this dimension.

Responsibility and professional success

It has been seen that responsibility is the dimension that could strongly explain professional success, as well as being related to having a good academic performance, regardless of whether one has good cognitive abilities or not.

Responsibility is the dimension most closely related to success in any profession.. This stands out in comparison with the other dimensions. For example, having high extraversion and friendliness can be useful in professions where social skills are required, such as being a hotel receptionist, while in others, such as the military, this is not an advantage. What both professions do have in common is that having high responsibility helps to retain them.

People with high scores on 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 higher priority when performing tasks, as well as allowing them to show their best effort and be potentially deserving of raises and promotions.

On the other hand, people who have low scores on this dimension run the risk of procrastinating on work, as well as having lower performance.They also tend to have lower performance. They also tend to be less motivated to perform tasks. They are people who, being more spontaneous and carefree, may end up doing their duties later than they should. They tend to neglect things, which jeopardizes their job.

How does it relate to health?

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

Having high scores on this trait is usually related to maintaining good health habits, such as playing sports, going to bed, and staying healthy.such as playing sports, going to bed at an appropriate time, not taking drugs, avoiding tobacco and alcohol, as well as having an organized lifestyle. Thus, by being organized and tidy, they avoid last minute unforeseen events, which can be a source of much stress and problems to deal with.

As they are generally respectful of rules and laws, they tend not to be involved in violent situations and do not commit crimes. This avoids potentially dangerous situations, such as being attacked by other criminals or having a tense situation with the police. They also avoid unnecessary risks, such as unprotected sex.