An historical analysis of the lexical emergence of the Big Five personality adjective descriptors

This study examined two questions regarding the emergence of adjectives that describe the Big Five Personality dimensions and when they emerged into the modern English lexicon: (1) Did the terms that describe these qualities appear simultaneously or sequentially? (2) Can the emergence of these terms be linked to specific historical eras? Results showed that the adjective descriptors for Openness appeared in the modern lexicon significantly later than those for Agreeableness, Extraversion, and Conscientiousness. The historical context surrounding the emergence of Openness was presented and the implications of these findings for understanding personality were discussed.