When I finished the first draft of my doctoral dissertation and handed it in to my professor, I got it back from him with the comment, “It’s a good skeleton. Put some meat on it.” No other comment on the more than 100 pages of text.
Meanwhile my office mate, who was also at the stage of writing up his research thesis, stared at the draft he got back from his advisor. Every single page, nay every sentence, had suggestions and changes written in red. It was surreal. My professor focussed on the overall quality of the research while his obsessed over the wording of each sentence.
I am constantly struck by how much effort some people put into a project compared to others. And while the quality may sometimes be marginally better, oftentimes it is not. The only difference is in how much importance some individuals place on the details.
Personality research over the years has shown that there are five main dimensions of personality that we all have to varying degrees. They are 1. Openness: A tendency to be curious and open to new experiences versus a tendency to be cautious and stable. 2. Conscientiousness: Efficient, organized and detail-oriented at one extreme and easy-going and careless at the other. 3. Extraversion: This dimension contrasts the outgoing social types with the reserved solitary ones. 4. Agreeableness: This is the desire to please others at one end and antagonism at the other. 5. Neuroticism: The tendency to worry excessively versus a secure and confident nature. You can remember these five factors with the acronym O.C.E.A.N.
There are two interesting aspects about personality. The first is that, while relatively stable, specific situations can often make us act in ways that are completely unpredictable. The other aspect has to do with how we see traits. We tend to see them as strengths and weaknesses. In reality, however, all personality traits can be advantageous in certain circumstances. Take a tendency not to trust others. This could cause you many problems at work or in relationships but it will definitely increase your likelihood of survival in a war.
In today’s column for Metro, I focus on the dimension of conscientiousness and how it can manifest itself in two fictitious surgeons. An earlier post, Pie charts and scribbled napkins, also touched on the same dimension, while The empty coffee pot and Joe’s retirement, examined the agreeableness dimension.
Chicken skins
(Source: Peaux de poulet. Journal Métro, September 24, 2013)
Voir plus bas pour la version Française.It’s funny how a character trait can turn from strength to liability at the twist of a circumstance.
Let’s suppose you need heart bypass surgery and you are given a choice of surgeons. Doctor number one is one of those extremely meticulous perfectionists. He obsessively practices every day on his surgical technique using chicken skins. He wants each stich to be a precise distance from the edge of the cut and they must also be at a perfect distance from each other. He also practices the tension of the stitches so as to be tight enough to prevent bleeding without being so strong as to tear the skin.
Dr. number two figures he got enough practice in medical school. Whenever he operates he ends the procedure by saying, “Eh, good enough.”
OK, let’s start with the easy question: Which doctor would you prefer to have operate on you? It’s a no-brainer. Give me Dr. Chicken Skin any day! Now, let’s ask another question: With whom would you like to live? I’ve asked these questions to many people and they all switch from Dr. Chicken Skin to Dr. Good Enough in their second answer.
One of the main dimensions of personality is called conscientiousness. We all have differing degrees of it in the makeup of our characters. At one end of the continuum are people like Dr. Chicken Skin. They are extremely meticulous. Everything seems to have a right way and a wrong way of being done. It’s all in the details. At the other extreme are the more spontaneous types who tend to let things go. Rules are mere guidelines and nothing is absolutely perfect.
Like all personality traits, conscientiousness is neither good nor bad. A trait can be a strength in one circumstance and a weakness in another. Dr. Chicken Skin may be a well-respected and successful surgeon but his personal life may be a disaster. Dr. Good Enough may have lots of friends with his easy-going demeanor but his license may be in peril – to say nothing of the lives of his patients!
The good news is that we are not slaves to our personalities. Instead of seeing our character traits as good or bad things, we could simply see them for what they. This way we can try to make career and personal choices that are best suited to whom we are rather than to try to become someone we are not.
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Voici la version Française:
C’est curieux comme un trait de caractère peut passer de point fort à point faible, selon les circonstances.
Supposons que vous ayez besoin d’un pontage coronarien et que vous ayez le choix entre deux chirurgiens. Le premier est un perfectionniste extrêmement méticuleux. Il travaille de façon obsessionnelle sa technique chirurgicale sur des peaux de poulet. Il veut que tous les points de suture soient à égale distance des bords de l’incision. Il s’exerce aussi à faire des sutures assez serrées pour empêcher les saignements maïs assez lâches pour ne pas déchirer la peau.
Le deuxième chirurgien considère qu’il a eu suffisamment d’entraînement à la faculté de médecine. Lorsqu’il opère un patient, il termine en disant : « Ça fera l’affaire! »
Commençons donc par la question facile : par lequel des deux médecins voudriez-vous vous faire opérer? Par le Dr Peau de poulet, n’importe quand! Et avec lequel préféreriez-vous vivre? J’ai posé ces questions à un tas de gens, et ils sont tous passés du Dr Peau de poulet au Dr Ça fera l’affaire, à la deuxième question.
L’une des principales dimensions de la personnalité est le caractère consciencieux. Nous l’avons tous à différents degrés : à un bout du spectre, il y a les gens comme le Dr Peau de poulet, d’une minutie extrême. Pour eux, il semble y avoir une bonne et une mauvaise façon de faire les choses. Tout est dans les détails. À l’autre bout du spectre, il y a ceux qui ont tendance à laisser aller les choses et sont plus spontanés. Les règles ne sont que des guides et rien n’est absolument parfait.
Comme tous les traits de personnalité, un caractère consciencieux n’est ni bon, ni mauvais. Un trait peut être un point fort dans certaines situations, et une faiblesse dans d’autres. Le Dr Peau de poulet est peut-être respecté et couronné de succès, mais sa vie personnelle pourrait être un désastre. Le Dr Ça fera l’affaire a peut-être beaucoup d’amis, avec son attitude insouciante, mais son permis d’exercer pourrait être en péril, sans parler de la vie de ses patients!
Bonne nouvelle : nous ne sommes pas esclaves de notre personnalité. Au lieu de voir nos traits de caractère comme bons ou mauvais, nous pouvons simplement les considérer pour ce qu’ils sont. Ainsi, nous pourrons faire des choix professionnels et personnels qui conviennent mieux à la personne que nous sommes, plutôt que d’essayer d’être quelqu’un que nous ne sommes pas.
Tagged as Conscientiousness, Five-factor theory of personality, obsessiveness.
Posted in Human nature.
Posted on 24 Sep 2013
