Big Five traits · the A in OCEAN
Agreeableness
Agreeableness is the Big Five trait that describes how warm, trusting and cooperative you are with other people. High scorers are kind, forgiving and keen to avoid conflict; low scorers are more direct, skeptical and competitive. Both ends have real advantages.
The opposite end is sometimes called antagonism. It is the A in OCEAN.
By the Personality Test editorial team · Updated · 5 sources
The six facets of agreeableness
In the IPIP-NEO-120, the questionnaire this site uses, agreeableness splits into six narrower facets of four statements each. Other Big Five questionnaires divide it in slightly different ways. Two people with the same agreeableness score can differ a lot facet by facet.
A1Trust
Assuming that other people are honest and mean well. Low scorers are more guarded and want proof first.
A2Morality
Sincerity and straightforwardness. High scorers don’t like to flatter or manipulate; low scorers are more willing to be strategic with the truth.
A3Altruism
Active concern for others: helping out, giving time, putting other people first.
A4Cooperation
Dislike of confrontation and willingness to compromise. Low scorers are comfortable arguing their side and pushing back.
A5Modesty
Reluctance to talk yourself up. Low scorers are open about their strengths and comfortable with self-promotion.
A6Sympathy
Being moved by other people’s hardship. Low scorers lean on logic and fairness over feelings when deciding what to do.
High vs. low agreeableness
Agreeableness is a scale, not a type. Most people score somewhere in the middle, and both ends come with strengths and costs.
Low agreeableness
Direct, skeptical and competitive.
- Says what they think, even when it is unwelcome
- Questions motives and checks claims
- Negotiates hard and is hard to push around
- Can come across as cold or argumentative
High agreeableness
Warm, trusting and cooperative.
- Gives people the benefit of the doubt
- Looks for compromise and keeps the peace
- Helps others without being asked
- Can be taken advantage of or avoid conflicts that need to happen
What agreeableness is linked to
Agreeable partners make for happier relationships. A meta-analysis found that people were more satisfied with their relationship when their partner scored higher on agreeableness, along with higher conscientiousness and extraversion and lower neuroticism (Malouff et al., 2010).
At work the picture is mixed. Agreeable people are good team players, but across several large samples, lower agreeableness went with higher income, especially for men (Judge, Livingston & Hurst, 2012). Being willing to negotiate and push back seems to pay.
On average, women score somewhat higher than men on agreeableness in most cultures studied, but the overlap is large: plenty of men score higher than plenty of women (Costa et al., 2001).
Does agreeableness change with age?
In a meta-analysis of longitudinal studies, agreeableness changed little through most of adulthood and rose mainly in old age (Roberts et al., 2006).
Agreeableness at work and in relationships
Highly agreeable people make teams pleasant to work in and often hold them together, especially in caring, teaching and service roles. Their blind spot is conflict: they may accept the first offer, avoid giving hard feedback or take on too much because saying no feels unkind. Low scorers are often effective where tough calls and bargaining are part of the job, but need to spend more effort on tact.
In close relationships, warmth and a readiness to forgive help a couple through rough patches. Low scorers can be just as loving and loyal; they tend to say the hard thing directly. That works best when the people around them know the bluntness is honesty, not hostility, and when they make a point of saying the appreciative things out loud too.
How the test measures agreeableness
The IPIP-NEO-120 uses 24 statements, four per facet, such as "I trust others" and "I love to help others" (Johnson, 2014). Your answers are compared with a large online sample to give a percentile from 1 to 99.
Find your agreeableness score
The free Big Five test scores agreeableness and the other four traits in about 12 minutes, with no sign-up. You get each score as a percentile right away; your six agreeableness facet scores are in the optional full report. See a sample report
Questions about agreeableness
Is low agreeableness a bad trait?
No. Low scorers are often honest, independent and effective in negotiation, competition and roles that require tough calls. The cost is friction: they need to work harder at keeping relationships smooth.
Is high agreeableness the same as being a people-pleaser?
Not exactly. High agreeableness is genuine warmth and a preference for cooperation. People-pleasing usually also involves anxiety about rejection, which belongs to neuroticism. Someone high on both is most likely to say yes when they want to say no.
How is agreeableness different from extraversion?
Extraversion is about how much you seek people out; agreeableness is about how you treat them once you are there. A quiet person can be very kind, and a very social person can be blunt and competitive.
How do I find my agreeableness score?
Take the free Big Five test on our homepage. It takes about 12 minutes and shows your agreeableness percentile with the other four traits; the optional full report adds the six facets.
Sources
Written by the Personality Test editorial team from published research. We don’t claim clinical credentials. This page is for education and self-reflection, not a medical or psychological diagnosis.
- Malouff, J. M., Thorsteinsson, E. B., Schutte, N. S., Bhullar, N., & Rooke, S. E. (2010). The Five-Factor Model of personality and relationship satisfaction of intimate partners: A meta-analysis. Journal of Research in Personality, 44(1), 124–127. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2009.09.004
- Judge, T. A., Livingston, B. A., & Hurst, C. (2012). Do nice guys—and gals—really finish last? The joint effects of sex and agreeableness on income. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 102(2), 390–407. doi:10.1037/a0026021
- Costa, P. T., Jr., Terracciano, A., & McCrae, R. R. (2001). Gender differences in personality traits across cultures: Robust and surprising findings. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81(2), 322–331. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.81.2.322
- Roberts, B. W., Walton, K. E., & Viechtbauer, W. (2006). Patterns of mean-level change in personality traits across the life course: A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin, 132(1), 1–25. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.132.1.1
- Johnson, J. A. (2014). Measuring thirty facets of the Five Factor Model with a 120-item public domain inventory: Development of the IPIP-NEO-120. Journal of Research in Personality, 51, 78–89. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2014.05.003