Distilling “Extraversion”: Enthusiastic or Assertive?
A think piece by S. Papadopoulou, MSc.
The Big Five model proposes that the human psyche can be seen as a rather universal hierarchy of personality traits- with Five standing on the top. Boiling down human attributes into these measurable traits can offer us great insight into how we humans engage with the world around us and explain the interpersonal differences in our behavior, daily choices etc. As described earlier the model includes five primary factors or dimensions (hence, Big 5). One of these is the trait Extraversion, or in other words an individual’s tendency to seek motivation and energy in social interactions (John & Srivastava, 1999).
However, to an external observer this characterization might seem a bit broad. That’s why each Big 5 trait -Extraversion included- is considered a multidimensional higher order factor consisted of six sub-dimensions or facets that further specify and describe the trait in question (Costa & McCrae, 1995; Watson & Clark,1997). Remember, that we are always talking about a hierarchy of attributes, meaning that multiple interrelated dimensions are clustered into groups and then sub-groups are clustered into broader categories giving us -at the top of the hierarchy- Five personality “families”.
“Food for thought”: What does this logic tells us about the nature of human behavior? According to Markon (2009) the identification that a hierarchical -and not a linear or cyclical or any other- model lies beneath our personality trait structure, reveals that hierarchies are somewhat intrinsic and organically related to our species: no wonder human beings have a tendency to organize their societies, cultures, rules, norms, knowledge and themselves in a hierarchical fashion!
Following this premise, a person can be characterized as High or Low in Extraversion according to the degree he/she displays: Warmth, Excitement, Gregariousness, Assertiveness, Positive emotions (enthusiasm) and high Activity Levels (see Table 1.). These are considered to be the six facets of Extraversion in Costa and McCrae’s (1992, 1995) NEO P-I-R framework one of the most cited Big 5 measurement tools (Costa & McCrae, 1995).
Table 1. Extraversion facets
| The Six Facets of Extraversion (Neo PI-R & IPIP scale names) | |
| 1. Warmth/ Friendliness Liking others, displaying positive emotions towards others. | 4. Activity/Activity Level Behaving and acting quickly, energetically being involved in multitasking. |
| 2. Gregariousness Enjoy and getting energy from the company of others. | 5. Excitement-Seeking High levels of stimulation needed. |
| 3. Assertiveness Taking charge, initiate actions, being a group leaders. | 6. Positive Emotions/Cheerfulness Ability to experience positive feelings like enthusiasm and joy. |
Nevertheless, out of these six sub-dimensions, factor analysis and recent research findings indicate that only two -this rule applies for all Five factors- might prove to be the most representative (DeYoung et al.,2007). In our case, the traits describing best Extraversion are Enthusiasm and Assertiveness. Moving beyond Costa and McCrae’s (1992) NEO framework, DeYoung et al. (2007) proposed a two-level solution and developed a relevant scale, the Big 5 Aspect Scale (BFAS). According to the authors there is evidence that, such a two-aspect approach, is not the product of mere coincidence or consensus among the research community, but it carries a substantial genetic basis for humans, meaning that these two traits for each Big 5 factor, might be deep rooted in our genetic codes (DeYoung et al. 2007, 2013) and best predict our behaviors. As for the Extraversion facets of Enthusiasm and Assertiveness, although related they are at the same time separable, carrying different expressions of Extraversion and describing different qualities in humans. But in what way?
Personality can be defined as the coherent pattern of Emotional (Affective), Behavioral, Cognitive, and Motivation driven (Desire) responses we enact in our everyday life (Ortony, Norman & Revelle, 2005; Revelle, 2008). The Extraversion facet, Enthusiasm (e.g. BFAS items: “I make friends easily, I warm up quickly to others, I show my feelings when I’m happy, I have a lot of fun, I laugh a lot”) is descriptive of the nature of emotions a person tends to display. It is well established that extraverts are happier than introverts in general as well as in the moment (Costa & McCrae, 1992, Spain et al., 2000; Watson & Clark, 1992). The positive correlation between extraversion and positive affects (enthusiasm) is so strong that when removed it automatically weakens all other facets’ (e.g. gregariousness in the NEO-PI-R) correlations with each other inside the Extraversion group (Lucas and Baird, 2004). Why is enthusiasm so central? No secure response can be provided, however we could draw some meaningful conclusions from studies that describe how extroverts think. According to Uziel (2006) extroverts tend to hold a “positive view of the world” and are for example more likely to associate the word “smile” with the word “hug” rather than “face”! (Wilt & Revelle, 2009). Cognitions give a good insight into why people feel the way they do, hence a positive outlook on life would dictate a generally positive internal, emotional life.
Moving on to our next Extraversion facet. Assertiveness can best describe the behavioral choices of the individual. Expressions such as “I take charge, I know how to captivate people, I see myself as a good leader, I am the first to act” (BFAS items), illustrate the person’s tendency to act in bold, secure and energetic ways (Funder et al., 2000). It is of grave importance, in Psychology to find credible constructs that can predict specific behaviors. On that note, various studies have associated extraversion with high popularity, high frequency of social events attendance, alcohol consumption, dating variety, tendency to be talkative (Paunomen, 2003). Why extroverts tend to be more assertive? Again, no definite answers can be provided but many theorists have utilized the Socioanalytic approach (Hogan, 1982) to point that extroverts may be driven to behave the way they do due to their different desires and motivational incentives: they tend to seek social attention (Ashton et al.,2002), power, status (Olson & Weber, 2004) and intimacy (King & Broyles, 1997).
“Food for thought”: The need for intimacy and interpersonal contact (King & Broyles, 1997) is captured in the (NEO-PI-R) facet of Warmth (e.g. showing interest in others). However, a careful observer would recognize that such qualities can easily account for an Agreeable personality as well! Indeed, these are the blurry boundaries between trait Extraversion and Agreeableness as both Big 5 traits explain mostly interpersonal behavior in humans (Pervin & John, 2008). However, as stated in DeYoung et al.’s (2013) paper, a solution would be for us to imagine and thus treat Warmth as a fluid quality that could fall either towards Extraversion or towards Agreeableness.
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