NEO Personality Inventory There are many versions of psychological tests which have been developed over the period of time by Paul T. Costa, Jr. And Robert R. McCrae. One of these tests is NEO-Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) which is based on big five personality traits. These traits are openness to experience, neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness and extraversion. NEO-FFI has 60 items, equally distributed in these five domains. There is a longer version of this test as well. It is known as Revised NEO Personality Inventory or NEO-PI-R. It has 240 items spread over five personality traits. The tests are applicable on adult males and females who have no overt psychopathology issues. NEO-PI-R is still popular in literature and NEO-PI-3 and NEO-FFI-3 also have certain updates. In 2010, NEO-PI-R and NEO-FFI were updated for inclusion in a manual named as NEO Personality Inventory-Revised, NEO-Five-Factor Model 3 and NEO Personality Inventory-3.

The personality test has gone through various developments with the passage of time. The first version was introduced in 1978, with the name of Neuroticism-Extroversion-Openness Inventory (NEO-I). As the name shows, it took into consideration only three of the five personality traits. The first revision was made in 1985 so that the remaining two traits can be included in it. The name was changed to NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI). All the other versions had the word NEO-in their names without being an acronym. The next revision was made in 1990 as NEO-PI-R and in 2005 as NEO-PI-3.

OCEAN or CANOE is a mnemonic device used for five primary factors.

The Effect of Age on NEO-PI-R

The personality traits change with the passage of time in individual's life. Few of them increase while others decrease. Researchers have conducted many studies observing the degree of personality traits with increasing age. In a research study where 92 personalities were analyzed, the researchers concluded that the period between 20 to 40 years of age is special in a sense that it causes increase in traits like emotional stability, conscientiousness and social dominance (Brent et al., 2006). Another study showed that agreeableness increases with age while extraversion and neuroticism declines (Paul et al., 2006).

Validity of the NEO

Many researchers consider NEO-as a valid test. In a manual containing extensive information, Costa and McCrae have supported its validity (Costa et al., 2000).

There is certain relationship between MBTI traits and NEO-facets. For instance tender-mindedness is related to feeling at 0.39 (Costa et al., 2000). NEO-facet fantasy is related to intuition at 0.43. Intuition is also related to Aesthetics at 0.56. Introversion is related to gregariousness at -0.59 and warmth at -0.61.

There is a personality inventory model which is used in mental health. It is known as MMPI which was replaced with MMPI-2 (Costa et al., 2000). It is still not confirmed whether MMPI-2 uses labels or numbers. MMPI is related with NEO-facets in many aspects. For instance Schizoid is related to Gregariousness at 0.66. Self-consciousness is related to avoidance at 0.58. Angry hostility is related to Borderline at 0.47 and Anxiety is related to Compulsive scale at 0.51.

Aesthetic is related to Artistic at 0.56, Ideas is related to Investigative at 0.43 and Tender-mindedness is related to Social at 0.36 (Costa et al., 2000).

There are certain other studies, which are important in terms of criterion validity. In 2005, Cano-Garcia and his colleagues found a relationship between teacher burnout in Sevilla with the Spanish version of NEO. Conard found significant relationship between GPA of college students in addition to their SAT scores (Conard, 2006). In 2006 it was discovered by Haase, Wang and Bruch that at 0.30 very few students' extraversions are linked with Career Decision Making Self-Efficacy (CDMSE) (Cano-Garcia et al., 2005). They even disclosed that Neuroticism was strongly linked to Career commitment (r=0.42). Neuroticism is correlated with the emotional exhaustion factor of burnout (0.44). Agreeableness is linked with personal accomplishment feature of burn out; this is negatively scored while the prediction of burnout takes place at 0.36 (Wang et al., 2006). In 2007, it was reported by Korukonda that Neuroticism is positively linked with computer anxiety while a negative relation of Neuroticism is seen with Agreeableness and Openness (Korukonda, 2007).

Global Description of Personality: The Five Factors

The people who stand under Extraversion are mostly serious and reserved. Such people prefer to carry out their work alone or in a company of very few people. They...

If someone is asked to describe an introvert then he would regard these people as very serious and reserved. It is true that these people avoid gatherings which are noisy and consists of large number of people, but it would be totally wrong to say that introverts lack socializing skills. This thought is denied because many introverts act really well in social events but they often avoid such events. These reserved individuals are often very reflective and thoughtful but only when they are in Openness (Costa et al., 2000).
The person who is high in openness is usually looking for new things, as he likes to tackle with a variety of items. Such people are often regarded as nature lovers as they are seen appraising the beauty of nature and art. They even possess the ability to understand the emotion of other people and they are themselves very sensitive. Such people are regarded as curious and original by their fellow friends (Costa et al., 2000). The person who is high in openness is often looking for new ideas but he comes up with exceptional views most of the time.

Next in consideration is the individual's Neuroticism level. People who fall under this category have an average emotional stability. There is a balance of dissatisfaction and satisfaction in the lives of such people, and even the level of psychological stress found in such people is normal. The confidence level of such people is neither too high nor too low, and even their potential to handle stress is better than that of an average person (Costa et al., 2000).

Good natured people come under the category of Agreeableness. Such people often have a feeling of sympathy for others but they can also be firm at times. One can easily place reliance on the verdict of such people, but they can also be easily fooled. People falling under this category are always eager to help others but if the situation demands competition they are even willing to compete (Costa et al., 2000).

The scoring in Conscientiousness is an average one. People belonging to this category are often not in a need for high achievements. For enjoying some moments of gratification such people can even keep their work aside. We do not find these people living a very well disciplined life and one cannot even place blind trust on these people. It is not that they are completely dishonest, but only a moderate level of trust can be placed on them.

Detailed Interpretation: Facets of N, E, O, A, and C

All of these five factors encompass a number of traits. Measurement of six facets present in these five factors is done by NEO-PI-R. When we examine these facets then we get to know a much detailed picture of the different ways under which these factors become visible in a person (Costa et al., 2000).

Neuroticism

The individual falling under this category is a restless one, who is mostly crowded by the clouds of worry. Such a person is often found in a bad mood, and often shouts on others in the state of anger. He is prone to loneliness and sadness. Such people are quite confident, as they do not face problem in dealing with people found in social gatherings. Such people can also handle their level of stress but they are not good at controlling their desires (Costa et al., 200).

Extraversion

This person is immensely affectionate and possesses a warm attitude, and enjoys mingling up in noisy and large crowds at times. The person has low energy levels and gives preference to slow and steady pace. He tends to be assertive like other men in situation which require such behavior. This person rarely experiences feelings of happiness and joy in comparison to other men, and thrills, excitement and stimulation does not excite him to a great extent.

Openness

This person is quite open in experiential style and fantasizes occasionally only. He possesses an average imagination and is immensely responsive towards beauty similar to art, music, nature and poetry. His emotional reactions and feelings vary and are quite significant to him. This person is not fond of having variety in life and seldom enjoys innovative and exclusive activities. He has moderate social, moral and political beliefs and has a reasonable level of intellectual curiosity (Costa et al., 2000).

Agreeableness

The person trusts others very easily and generally makes positive assumptions about his acquaintances. He does not have an attitude of deceiving or cheating others and is quite sincere and candid. However, he keeps his own interests and needs in front of others. This person is willing to forgive others in situations of conflicts, yet he always puts forward his own…