As early as 1934, psychologists and scientists have been in search of the basic factors or components that make up the human personality. Currently, the most popular model of personality among researchers is known as the "big five" model. Researchers find that five main factors in personality show up in inventories, checklists, and ratings of all types. Even in Canada, Germany, Finland, Poland, China, and Japan, mere is a significant amount of evidence to suggest that the same five factors make up personality.
The "big five" model started with a small minority of psychologists around me country who deliberately abandoned me "guiding principles" (#3, pg. 189) of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) when it came to diagnosing their patients. One of these psychologists was Cynthia G. Kllis of the University of Kentucky. Her 24-year-old patient, Afice, had a personality which simply defied any kind of.
When Alice first came in, she displayed an array of symptoms from 3 separate conditions in the DSM. She went through frequent bingeing and purging cycles, suffered from depression, anxiety, and moodiness, explained mat she was very impulsive and had had sexual relations with many of me men in her lilt;, and also admitted that she was shy, and lacked self confidence and social skills. Alice qualified for a diagnoses of bulimia, borderline personality disorder, and avoidant personality disorder. The problem was that these different conditions in the DSM offered conflicting advice on the best way to help her.
Ellis decided to break down her clients personality into 5 broad categories of behavior. This way, Afice's problem could be narrowed down to one, more complex personality disorder. Elite measured her clients behavior in terms of dimensions mat are very similar to the ones used today which are neuroticism, extroversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness.
