Episode 84: Brent W. Roberts - The Big Five personality traits

Brent W. Roberts is a professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and specializes in human personality. During our conversation, Brent talks The Big Five personality traits, what personality is, the differences between the Big Five and the Myers-Briggs personality test, diversity in human personality, the role of genes and sex differences in personality, evolutionary psychology, the stability of one's personality over time, how to decrease trait neuroticism, and practical applications of personality research.

I've been fascinated by the Big Five ever since I learned about it a few years ago. It's clear to me that there's a massive public hunger to learn about human personality: what it is, how we know what we know, and how it can better illuminate who we are as a species and as individuals.

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(00:00) Intro

(02:07) What is personality?

(08:23) Differences between Myers-Briggs and The Big Five

(12:48) The wide differences in human personalities

(17:29) Sex differences in neuroticism

(19:27) Ev psych and sex differences in personality

(25:17) Describing The Big Five personality traits

(30:41) The Big Five and political beliefs

(36:28) How to reduce neuroticism

(41:20) Why does therapy help to reduce neuroticism?

(46:34) Why does knowledge of human personality matter?