What Is The Conscientiousness Personality Trait?

By Olivia Reed •

Conscientiousness is one of the five fundamental dimensions of personality that form the widely-accepted Five Factor Model (FFM), also known as the Big Five. The Big Five traits - Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism - represent broad dimensions of personality that manifest in our patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving.  

So what exactly does Conscientiousness involve? Let's take a comprehensive look at this important dimension of personality.

Definition and Key Characteristics

Conscientiousness describes individual differences in the propensity to be self-controlled, responsible to others, hardworking, orderly, and rule-following. Highly conscientious people are organized and efficient, disciplined in pursuing their goals, thorough and careful in their work, and responsible and ethical in their actions. Low scorers on Conscientiousness (sometimes called "unconscientious") tend to be more laid back, less goal-oriented, and more likely to be careless, unreliable, and act on impulse rather than plans.

Conscientiousness is comprised of several key facets or elements:

  • Self-discipline and achievement orientation: Highly conscientious people have the self-discipline to pursue their goals in a determined manner. They are persistent, hardworking and achievement-oriented, pushing themselves to excel and accomplish objectives.
  • Organization and Orderliness: Conscientiousness is associated with a preference for order, structure, schedules and planning. Conscientious people like to be organized and efficient with their time and environment. They tend to make plans and follow routines. Low scorers are more tolerant of clutter and disorganization. 
  • Responsibility and Reliability: High scorers on Conscientiousness tend to be responsible and reliable. They follow through on their commitments, are trustworthy and ethical, and take their obligations to others seriously. Unconscientious people are less dependable and often fail to meet responsibilities.
  • Cautiousness and Impulse Control: Conscientious individuals are typically cautious, deliberate, and planful. They think carefully before acting, have good impulse control, and avoid taking undue risks. Low scorers are more impulsive, easily distracted from tasks, and prone to acting without considering consequences.

In essence, Conscientiousness captures differences in how controlled, disciplined, organized and responsible people are. Conscientious people are goal-focused, orderly and self-disciplined, while unconscientious people are more laid back, spontaneous, and lackadaisical in their approach to life and work.

Origins and Stability 

As with other personality traits, both genes and environment shape the development of Conscientiousness. Studies estimate the heritability of Conscientiousness at around 40-50%, indicating both nature and nurture are important influences.

Conscientiousness shows a pattern of increasing stability across the lifespan. It is moderately stable in childhood but becomes increasingly consistent through adolescence and adulthood. By middle adulthood, individual differences in Conscientiousness are largely stable and persistent. However, people still have some capacity for change at all ages.

In terms of how Conscientiousness develops over time, it tends to increase throughout young adulthood and middle age, peaking around age 50. This suggests people tend to naturally become more conscientious as they mature and take on more responsibilities. However, these increases taper off in late adulthood.

Outcomes and Implications

Conscientiousness has been linked to a wide range of consequential life outcomes:

  • Academic and Job Performance: Highly conscientious students tend to earn higher grades, and conscientious workers excel across a variety of occupations and roles. Conscientiousness is one of the strongest personality predictors of school and job performance, even after controlling for cognitive ability.
  • Health and Longevity: Conscientious people tend to be healthier and live longer. This is likely because they engage in more positive health behaviors (e.g. healthy eating, exercise) and avoid risky ones (e.g. smoking, excessive drinking, risky sexual behavior). Conscientiousness may act as a protective factor against disease and premature mortality.
  • Financial Responsibility: Highly conscientious people are less likely to experience financial troubles or go into debt. They tend to make wiser purchasing decisions, stick to budgets, and plan for the future. Conversely, unconscientious people are prone to overspending, financial recklessness and poor money management.
  • Relationship Stability: Although not as strongly as some other traits, Conscientiousness predicts greater relationship stability and lower divorce rates. Conscientious partners are more dependable, committed, and willing to do the work to maintain a healthy long-term bond. 

In summary, Conscientiousness is a critically important personality dimension that relates to how controlled, responsible and directed we are in our behavior and lives. It has widespread influences on major life outcomes in areas like work, health and relationships. While highly conscientious people can sometimes be inflexible perfectionists, their self-discipline and reliability positions them well for success across multiple domains. Both highly conscientious and unconscientious styles have pros and cons, and what's adaptive depends on the situation. 

Explore other Big Five personality trait models: 

References:

Roberts, B. W., Jackson, J. J., Fayard, J. V., Edmonds, G., & Meints, J. (2009). Conscientiousness. In M. R. Leary & R. H. Hoyle (Eds.), Handbook of individual differences in social behavior (pp. 369–381). The Guilford Press.

Dudley, N. M., Orvis, K. A., Lebiecki, J. E., & Cortina, J. M. (2006). A meta-analytic investigation of conscientiousness in the prediction of job performance: examining the intercorrelations and the incremental validity of narrow traits. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91(1), 40-57.

Kern, M. L., & Friedman, H. S. (2008). Do conscientious individuals live longer? A quantitative review. Health Psychology, 27(5), 505–512.