One of the five broad traits
Agreeableness
How you orient toward other people — whether you assume good faith, feel their difficulties, put their needs first, and avoid claiming advantage over them.
Why it is measured
One of the five broad dimensions, and the one this project exists because of. Its items ask about people in general, which turns out to be the wrong question for a lot of people.
What a high or low score looks like
High scorers are trusting, considerate, straightforward and reluctant to press an advantage. Low scorers are more sceptical, more comfortable with confrontation, and more willing to prioritise their own position.
Why it matters
This is where the instrument most obviously fails people whose warmth is conditional on closeness. Someone guarded with strangers and near-unconditional with a small circle answers "I am concerned about others" and gets back an average they have never once behaved like.
The six narrower traits inside it
This is where the interesting information lives. The broad score above is the mean of these six — so when they disagree with each other, that average describes nobody, and we flag it rather than printing it.
- TrustWhether you assume other people mean well.
- MoralityHow straightforward you are — how little you use pretence, flattery or manipulation.
- AltruismHow much you find helping others rewarding rather than costly.
- CooperationHow far you go to avoid friction and accommodate others in a disagreement.
- ModestyHow reluctant you are to claim you are better than other people.
- SympathyHow much you feel other people’s difficulties as if they were partly your own.