Self-, other-, and ideal-judgments of risk and caution as a function of the five-factor model of personality

We predicted that four ‘Big Five’ personality dimensions—Openness, Agreeableness, Neuroticism, and Conscientiousness—would be related to participants’ responses to decisions in risky and cautious situations. Three hundred and five students completed the NEO PI-R [Costa, P. T., & McCrae, R. (1992). Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R) and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI): professional manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources]. They then made self-other-, and ideal-judgments on risky and cautious dilemmas [ Kogan, N. & Wallach, M. (1964). Risk-taking: a study in cognition and personality. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston]. People high in Openness made more extreme self- and ideal-judgments on risky dilemmas. People high in Agreeableness made more extreme, socially valued judgments across risky and cautious dilemmas. People high in Conscientiousness made more extreme ideal judgments on cautious dilemmas. People high in Neuroticism made more extreme ideal-judgments on risky dilemmas. These findings suggest that personality influences people’s perceptions of risk and caution.