Diligence
Committing attention and effort to a task.Persistence
Continuing with a task until it is completed. The conscientious are less prone to procrastination.Honesty
A desire to tell the truth and avoid subterfuge.Responsibility
Taking responsibilities seriously and doing what it takes to deliver to commitments.Self-Discipline
An ability to control feelings and thoughts to focus on a goal.Organization
The conscientious plan before acting and tend to be highly organized.Dealing With Ambiguity
Conscientious individuals have a preference for certainty and may find it difficult to deal with ambiguity. For example, conscientious employees may have a strong preference for clear, detailed and precise instructions from their manager.Hard Working
An ability to focus on a task and work extended hours until a task is complete.Conformist
Conscientious individuals easily accept rules and systems and are unlikely to challenge authority.Perfectionism
A tendency to continue to work on a task when it is effectively complete in order to reach a higher state of refinement.Resistance to Change
The conscientious may value and defend the status quo.Risk Taking
Conscientiousness is associated with risk avoidance and negatively correlated with risk taking.Creativity
The conscientious may fear failure and view playful approaches to things as a waste of time. As such, conscientiousness is not associated with creativity.Adaptability
Adaptability is the ability to quickly change in response to conditions. For example, the ability to bend the rules to handle grey areas. In some cases, conscientiousness may get in the way of adaptability as the conscientious are nervous about deviating from established processes, systems and rules.Productivity
Conscientious is productive in domains that require attention to detail. Conscientiousness is not necessarily productive in domains that benefit from adaptive or high risk approaches such as last responsible moment.Resilience
The conscientious many find it difficult to bounce from failure to failure without losing motivation. Conscientiousness is essentially an effort to avoid failure. This may be driven by a dread of failure and low resilience to stress.Summary
The following are common elements of conscientiousness.
Overview
Conscientiousness is one of the five major personality traits in the Five-Factor Model used to describe personality.
| Overview: Conscientiousness | ||
Type | ||
Definition | The tendency to be careful, responsible and diligent. | |
Related Concepts | ||
