How To Recognize Dominant Personality Traits
“Personality” is a term that can describe the traits and characteristics that inform how we interact and engage with the world around us. Our personalities often have a significant impact on our behaviors, emotional disposition, temperament, and other factors impacting the trajectory of our lives. A person with a dominant personality is usually confident, competitive, and assertive, but there can be quite a bit of variance between people with dominant traits. To learn more about your personality, consider working with a licensed mental health professional.
Understanding personality traits
An individual’s personality usually plays a notable role in their thought patterns, emotions, and behavior. Each of us can be said to exist on a spectrum of major traits, including openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. These traits often make up the core of an individual’s personality and are frequently referred to as the “Big 5” personality traits.
Openness generally refers to a person’s eagerness to try new things, have new experiences, and learn about new topics. Those who are high in openness are often creative and curious, while those who have low levels of openness may dislike change and abstract ideas.
Conscientiousness can be thought of as how thoughtful, organized, and structured a person tends to be. Someone high in conscientiousness may enjoy creating detailed schedules and plans, while someone low in conscientiousness may dislike structure.
Extraversion can be seen as sociableness, assertiveness, and emotional expressiveness. Those high in extraversion typically love to be the center of attention, enjoy meeting new people, and find it easy to start and maintain conversations. Those who are low in extraversion (often referred to as “introverts”) tend to be quite tired after socializing, and they usually don’t enjoy small talk. They may enjoy solitude much more than those who are high in extraversion, but this doesn’t necessarily mean they dislike spending time with friends and loved ones.
Agreeableness can describe a person’s level of kindness, altruism, and cooperativeness. Those who are low in agreeableness may be very competitive, show little interest in others’ feelings or problems, and, in some cases, they may even manipulate others for personal gain.
Finally, neuroticism usually refers to emotional instability. Those with low levels of neuroticism tend to be emotionally stable and don’t struggle to manage their stress levels. They are often very relaxed and don’t find themselves worried or sad very frequently. Someone with high levels of neuroticism may experience concerns like depression, anxiety, high stress levels, and mood swings. They may also have low levels of resilience.
What is a dominant personality?
The personality trait of dominance is usually associated with extraversion, which is generally related to sociability and having a strong presence. People with dominant personalities are often assertive, confident, competitive, and goal-oriented.
However, even within the typical “dominant personality,” which is usually high in extraversion, there may be plenty of room for variance when it comes to the traits of neuroticism, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness.
Recognizing dominant personalities in relationships and at work
Perhaps you have a dominant personality and would like to find a partner with a similar mindset, or maybe you are a hiring manager in search of a candidate with dominant traits to lead a team. Being able to identify and recognize dominant personality traits may be helpful.
Some of the key traits of dominant personalities may include the following:
- Extraverted
- Results-oriented mindset
- “Take charge” attitude
- Adaptable to leadership
- Assertive
- Confident
- Blunt
- Impatient with inefficiency or incompetence
- Desire for control
The benefits and drawbacks of dominant personality traits
It can be important to find a healthy balance regarding dominant personality traits in order to maintain healthy relationships with others in your life, whether they are family members, friends, or coworkers. It may also be vital to remember that dominant personality traits are not necessarily better or worse than any other personality traits. While some of these traits may be seen as desirable, there tend to be benefits and drawbacks to all personality traits.
Many dominant personality types possess effective communication and leadership skills, but others may be overly blunt or display behaviors that disregard the thoughts and feelings of others. While those with dominant personality traits are often confident and self-assured, this can sometimes result in stubbornness or unwillingness to consider others’ perspectives.
Some personality types, particularly those with fewer dominant traits, may be wary of those with dominant personalities, and they may perceive dominant personality traits as arrogant or domineering. Therefore, if you have a dominant personality, it can be helpful to seek balance and remember to take others’ viewpoints into consideration. It may also be beneficial to use your leadership skills to give others the chance to share their opinions and be heard.
How therapy can help
Learning more about your personality can empower you to use the traits you possess to your advantage and improve your interpersonal relationships. Whether you have a dominant personality and want to seek balance or have fewer dominant traits but would like to become more assertive, working with a licensed mental health professional may help you gain insight into your personality and make the most of your traits.
While connecting with a therapist in person may be an option for many people, finding a local mental health professional who is taking on new clients can be challenging. Online therapy can make it simple to match with a licensed professional who can help you achieve your mental health goals. Plus, you can choose between video conference, phone call, and online chat for each session, depending on your comfort level.
A growing body of evidence suggests that there’s usually no difference in efficacy between online and in-office therapy. Both options can address a variety of mental health challenges and concerns, as well as offer insight into an individual’s personality traits.
Takeaway
Individuals with dominant personality traits often possess confidence, self-assuredness, goal-oriented and competitive thinking, and decisiveness. These traits can often be helpful in group settings and in a person’s professional life, but they may also lead others to perceive individuals with dominant personalities as aggressive, brash, or controlling. No matter your personality type, it can be helpful to seek a sense of balance. Therapy, whether in person or online, may help you gain insight into your personality and take advantage of the characteristics you possess to achieve your goals and enjoy rewarding relationships.
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