Personality Models
Conscientiousness is one of five superordinate traits in the "Big Five model" of personality, which also consists of extraversion, neuroticism, openness to experience, and agreeableness. Two personality tests that assess these traits are Costa and McCrae's NEO PI-R and Goldberg's NEO-IPIP. According to these models, conscientiousness is considered to be a continuous dimension of personality, rather than a categorical "type" of person. Scores on conscientiousness follow a normal distribution.
Conscientiousness is related to impulse control, but it should not be confused with the problems of impulse control associated with other personality traits, such as (high) extraversion, (low) agreeableness, (high) openness and (high) neuroticism. Individuals low on conscientious are unable to motivate themselves to perform a task that they would like to accomplish. Recently, conscientiousness has been broken down, further, into two "aspects": orderliness and industriousness, the former which is associated with the desire to keep things organized and tidy and the latter which is associated more closely with productivity and work ethic. Conscientiousness, along with (lower) openness, is also one of the trait markers of political conservatism.
The trait cluster of conscientiousness overlaps with other models of personality, such as C. Robert Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory, in which it is related to both self-directedness and persistence. It also includes the specific traits of rule consciousness and perfectionism in Cattell's 16 PF model. It is negatively associated with impulsive sensation-seeking in Zuckerman's alternative five model. Traits associated with conscientiousness are frequently assessed by self-report integrity tests given by various corporations to prospective employees.
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