Personality: What Jordan Peterson’s most cited paper tells us

Jordan Peterson has argued that knowledge loses its value when it becomes too broad or too narrow. His most cited paper – “Between Facets and Domains: 10 Aspects of the Big Five” (written with CG deYoung and LC Quilty) – attempts to solve this for personality traits.

The Big Five domains of personality are: Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Neuroticism, Openness, & Extraversion. These are the five big ways in which people differ from one another. Remember them with the acronym CANOE.

Each domain splits into six facets: these are co-related but distinct traits. For example, Extraversion splits into: Activity, Assertiveness, Excitement-seeking, Gregariousness, Positive emotion, & Warmth. Total number of facets = 30!

Domains are too broad and Facets are too numerous. Peterson introduces Aspects as an "intermediate level of personality structure” that has facets’ granular detail, and domains’ simplicity.

Aspects are two poles within Domains.

The two aspects of Conscientiousness, for instance, are Industriousness & Orderliness. Industrious people prefer productivity; orderly people prefer tidiness. Industrious people proactively strive for achievement; orderly people have inhibitory instincts like caution.

Neuroticism splits into Volatility (externalizing stress, manifesting as hostility and panic) and Withdrawal (internalizing stress, manifesting as anxiety and depression.

Openness splits into Imagination and Intellect. Imaginative people seek beauty through "aesthetics and fantasy" while intellectual people seek truth through "ingenuity and ideas."

Extraversion splits into Assertiveness (social, even exhibitionistic) and Enthusiasm ( friendly and display positive emotions.)

Bottom Line: Know Yourself, said Socrates. The field of personality differences is a modern answer to that challenge, and Jordan Peterson’s theory of aspects is a fine addition to the toolkit of analysis and understanding.