The Big Five

The Big Five is the model that defines personality across five broad dimensions and is the most academically supported. These dimensions are openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and emotional variability (neuroticism). Unlike many other personality tools, the Big Five rests on decades of research and is regarded as the most reliable personality framework in psychology. Rather than sorting people into categories, it locates each person on a continuum along each dimension. In coaching, it can help the client understand their tendencies in a realistic, evidence-based language.