Do the Big Five Theories of Personality Do Full Justice To The Complexities of Human Behaviour

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Do the Big Five Theories of Personality Do Full Justice To The Complexities of Human Behaviour

Personality has been described as the "pattern of characteristic thoughts, feelings and behaviours that distinguishes one person from another and that persists over time and situations" (Phares 1997). This essay will look at what complex human behaviours are and whether it is possible to predict them with a Model of Personality. The benefits and downfalls of the Five Factor Model of Personality will be considered and whether Human Behaviour is fully encompassed by the model will be discussed.

Models of Personality have been made to try and predict how and why people behave in certain ways. In the past twenty years two models have dominated in the area of personality research. One model is Eysenck's three-factor model, also known as the Giant Three model (Eysenck, 1994). Normans model assumes that personality is best described in terms of five factors, or the Big Five, and is usually referred to as the Big Five model (John, 1990).

Eysenck used factor analysis to study personality and believed that peoples personality could be described using two main traits, introversion and its