The five dimensions of trait psychology have implications for our well-being. For example: <ul><li>Openness and conscientiousness are good predictors of life success. Open people achieve success through being audacious, and conscientious people by sticking to deadlines.</li><li>Extroversion and agreeableness are both conducive to working well with people.</li></ul>

The implications of trait psychology

Extroverts need stimulation by finding exciting things, such as loud noises, parties and social events. They like to have a lot of eye contact, they use more diminutive terms when they meet somebody. They prefer simple, black and white language. Introverts are more likely to spend time in a quiet space where they can reduce stimulation. They may be misinterpreted as antisocial, but that is not necessarily true. You may simply realize that you do better with less stimulation. Introverts prefer contextually complex sentences. As a result, they sometimes talk past each other.

Extroverts and introverts communicate differently

We also have free traits where we act out of character. You're very agreeable, but act disagreeably in order to advance a personal project in your life. It may relate to your kid, where you've been to hospital but they still don't know what's wrong. Or it could be your mom.  You may be an introvert but have a core project that makes you act in an extroverted way. So, don't ask people what type they are. Instead, ask them what are the core projects in their life.

Why we're not always what we seem to be

Trait psychology aligns you along five dimensions that describe universal aspects of differences between people. These are:<ol><li>Open to experience vs those who are more closed.</li><li>Conscientiousness vs those with a more careless approach to life.</li><li>Extroversion vs more introverted people</li><li>Agreeable individuals vs those not agreeable.</li><li>Neurotic individuals vs those who are more stable.</li></ol>

Trait psychology

Visit http://TED.com to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more. What makes you, you? Psychologists like to talk about our traits, or defined characteristics that make us who we are. But Brian Little is more interested in moments when we transcend those traits — sometimes because our culture demands it of us, and sometimes because we demand it of ourselves. Join Little as he dissects the surprising differences between introverts and extroverts and explains why your personality may be more malleable than you think. The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. You're welcome to link to or embed these videos, forward them to others and share these ideas with people you know. Follow TED on Twitter: http://twitter.com/TEDTalks Like TED on Facebook: http://facebook.com/TED Subscribe to our channel: http://youtube.com/TED TED's videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy (https://www.ted.com/about/our-organization/our-policies-terms/ted-talks-usage-policy). For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at https://media-requests.ted.com

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Visit http://TED.com to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more.

What makes you, you? Psychologists like to talk about our traits, or defined characteristics that make us who we are. But Brian Little is more interested in moments when we transcend those traits — sometimes because our culture demands it of us, and sometimes because we demand it of ourselves. Join Little as he dissects the surprising differences between introverts and extroverts and explains why your personality may be more malleable than you think.

The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. You're welcome to link to or embed these videos, forward them to others and share these ideas with people you know. 

Follow TED on Twitter: http://twitter.com/TEDTalks
Like TED on Facebook: http://facebook.com/TED
Subscribe to our channel: http://youtube.com/TED

TED's videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy (https://www.ted.com/about/our-organization/our-policies-terms/ted-talks-usage-policy). For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at https://media-requests.ted.com

The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. You're welcome to link to or embed these videos, forward them to others and share these ideas with people you know.

TED's videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy: https://www.ted.com/about/our-organization/our-policies-terms/ted-talks-usage-policy. For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at https://media-requests.ted.com

Why we're not always what we seem to be

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