Higher in agreeableness

People higher in agreeableness tend to assume good faith, notice what others need, and look for the outcome everybody can live with. Trust comes easily and conflict is usually something to be resolved rather than won.

Lower in agreeableness

People lower in agreeableness tend to be direct and to hold a position under pressure. They are often the ones willing to say the unpopular thing, and they tend to weigh a claim on its merits rather than on who is making it.

Neither end is the good one

It is tempting to read one side of a personality scale as the healthy side. That is not how these traits work. Each end carries its own strengths and its own costs, and which one serves you better depends entirely on the situation you are in. A trait is a description of how you tend to operate, not a score on how well you are doing.

Traits also move over a lifetime. Where you land today is a snapshot, not a sentence.

The statements that measure it

Agreeableness is scored from these 10 statements. 6 count toward a higher score and 4 are reverse-scored.

  • Feel little concern for others.reverse-scored
  • Am interested in people.
  • Insult people.reverse-scored
  • Sympathize with others' feelings.
  • Am not interested in other people's problems.reverse-scored
  • Have a soft heart.
  • Am not really interested in others.reverse-scored
  • Take time out for others.
  • Feel others' emotions.
  • Make people feel at ease.

Reverse-scored statements count the other way round: agreeing with one lowers the score rather than raising it. Mixing them in is what stops someone who agrees with everything from scoring high on everything, and it is why a questionnaire like this cannot simply be eyeballed.

The other four traits