A Diamond Personality Paper

A Diamond Personality Paper

For decades, personality researchers have sought to measure how much an individual's personality contributes to his or her achievement of success. Researchers analyzed personality traits in individuals for approximately 50 years before identifying five basic dimensions of personality (Cherry, 2010). The contents of this paper include brief explanations of the "big five" dimensions and relates them to the case study "A Diamond Personality."

The "big five" factors are broad and consists of a range of more specific traits (Srivastava, 2010). Researchers do not always agree on the labels for each dimension; however, these five dimensions are usually described as follows (Cherry, 2010):

* Extraversion: This trait includes characteristics such assertiveness, excitability, sociability, talkativeness, and high amounts of emotional expressiveness.

* Agreeableness: This trait includes characteristics such as trust, kindness, affection, and altruism.

* Conscientiousness: This dimension includes high levels of thoughtfulness, organization, attention to details, good impulse control, and goal directed behaviors.

* Neuroticism: This label is often reversed and called Emotional Stability. Individuals high in this trait tend to experience sadness, anxiety, irritability, moodiness, and emotional instability.

* Openness to Experience: This personality dimension features characteristics such as imagination and insight, and individuals high in this trait tend to have a broad range of interests.

Although these dimensions represent broad areas of personality, research has demonstrated these groupings of characteristics tend to occur together in many people. However, these characteristics do not always occur together. For example, an individual who tends to be extraverted may not be talkative; he or she may be the "strong, silent type" (Cherry, 2010).

Personality is complex and varied and individuals may display behaviors across several of the "big five" dimensions. Such is the case of Oscar Rodriguez in the case study "A Diamond Personality." Rodriguez is an entrepreneur who owns an Internet business that sells loose diamonds to various buyers. In 1985, Rodriguez moved from his native Puerto Rico to Gainesville, Florida. He had little ability to speak English, but he attended the community college and worked at a local mall. After graduation he began to work for a local jeweler. He received his Diamonds and Diamonds Grading certification from the Gemological Institute of America during this time. However, he quickly realized that if he continued to work for the local jeweler he was only going to receive a salary with an occasional raise and "never become anything" (Robbins & Judge, p. 131, 2009).

In this occurrence Rodriguez displays the personality dimensions of conscientiousness and openness to experience. He is goal-oriented (conscientiousness) because he wants to become something, and he has the insight (openness to experience) to realize he will not obtain that goal in his present situation. His next behavioral moves show signs of the personality dimension extraversion.

While working for the local jeweler, Rodriguez came to know diamonds; their pricing and their quality. This skill gave him the self-confidence (extraversion) to open his own jewelry store in 1997. Business was slow and many of his potential customers told him they could find diamonds for less money on the Internet. He recognized an opportunity (openness to experience) to sell diamonds on the Internet and prosper. He began to assertively (extraversion) contact well-known diamond dealers. One dealer told Rodriguez that selling diamonds on the Internet would not allow him to survive financially. Discouraged, Rodriguez stopped working on his project. He shows