WHAT IS SCRUPULOUSNESS? - PSYCHOLOGY - 2024

The conscientiousness is a personality trait characterized by a cautious and vigilant. People with this quality feel more or less strong desires to carry out their tasks correctly, and they take their obligations to themselves and to others very seriously.

Scrupulous people tend to be efficient and organized, rather than laid back and messy. They tend to have great self-discipline, and usually act based on what they perceive to be their duty. Often they also plan their behavior, are systematic and organized, and tend to behave rationally.

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Conscientiousness manifests itself on a continuum; that is, everyone is scrupulous to a greater or lesser extent. However, the differences between a person with high levels of this trait and another who scores low in it can be extremely marked.

In this article we will tell you everything you need to know about this feature, and how it affects the lives of the people who have it.

Conscientiousness as a trait

Conscientiousness is one of the fundamental traits of several of the most important personality models out there, such as the "Big Five Model" and the "HEXACO" model. This characteristic is sometimes known by other names, such as liability.

Each model of the personality defines conscientiousness in a slightly different way; but it is normally recognized that it is made up of six different facets. They are as follows: competence, order, duty orientation, achievement orientation, self-discipline, and deliberation.

Next we will see what each one of them consists of.

Competition

People who score high on conscientiousness tend to easily master tasks in which they are truly involved. They are perceived by the individuals around them as capable and trustworthy.

Furthermore, when someone has high levels of scrupulousness, they usually see themselves as capable of achieving what they set out to do. This normally correlates with high levels of self-confidence.

Order

For a scrupulous person, the order of the environment in which he finds himself is extremely important. Typically tasks like cleaning will be quite important to her.

Often times, individuals with this trait have many problems living with people who are more disorderly or who place less importance on this factor.

Orientation to duty

Scrupulous people usually have a highly developed sense of duty. They usually have their own moral code, which they try to follow regardless of the consequences of doing so. For example, they tend to be very honest and consciously avoid harming others.

In addition to this, high levels of this trait cause an individual to take his obligations towards others very seriously. This means that, if someone scrupulous undertakes to carry out an action, they normally carry it out except in extreme situations.

For all these reasons, scrupulous people are often perceived as trustworthy.

Achievement orientation

Individuals who score highly in conscientiousness routinely go to great lengths to achieve excellence. They typically have several challenging goals they work on, and they want to be recognized by others.

When this characteristic occurs at the same time as others such as high neuroticism or high openness to experience, it can cause the person to be very nonconformist and have a great fear of becoming mediocre.

Self discipline

Self-discipline is a characteristic shared by people who are capable of carrying out a task that they do not feel like but who know that it will help them achieve an important goal for them.

Self-discipline can also be related to the opposite case; that is, with the ability to avoid certain behaviors that may be pleasant in the present but harmful in the long term.

Deliberation

Finally, people who score highly in conscientiousness tend to reflect calmly before making any decisions or taking any action that could have serious consequences. For these individuals, their ability to plan and think rationally is often extremely important.

Relationship of scrupulousness to success

One of the most important goals of the psychology of individual differences is to discover what characteristics make some people succeed and achieve what they set out to do, while others are never able to do so.

For a long time, it was believed that the best predictor of future success was intelligence (measured by IQ level). However, today we know that conscientiousness is actually the trait that best indicates whether a person will achieve what they set out to do or not.

In fact, all the traits that characterize a scrupulous person are closely related to success: the ability to make rational decisions, self-discipline, the ability to fulfill commitments and act according to one's own morals, achievement orientation…

For this reason, today many researchers focus on trying to discover whether it is possible to emulate the characteristics of a scrupulous person in the event that this characteristic is not possessed naturally.

Relationship with other areas of life

According to some research, the degree of scrupulousness of a person also has a strong relationship with what happens to him in different facets of his life.

Generally, high levels of this trait usually bring positive results, while low levels usually produce challenges and problems of all kinds.

Thus, people with high scores in this trait tend to feel more satisfied with their life, enjoy better intimate relationships (both with friends and family and with their partner), have a higher level of income, and it even seems that they can become longer lived.

On the contrary, people with low conscientiousness tend to have all kinds of problems, among which are procrastination, harmful habits, and difficulties in maintaining harmonious relationships with other people.

conclusion

Despite being seen as something negative in popular culture, conscientiousness is one of the most important characteristics that a person who wants to achieve success in any field can have.

Fortunately, it seems that many of the traits associated with this personality trait can be developed with enough effort and the formation of empowering habits. However, more research is still needed in this regard.

References

1. "Conscientiousness" in: 123 Tests. Retrieved on: November 30, 2018 from 123 Tests: 123test.com.
2. "Conscientiousness" in: Psychology Today. Retrieved on: November 30, 2018 from Psychology Today: psychologytoday.com.
3. "Conscientiousness: A 'Big Five' Personality Trait" in: Psychologist World. Retrieved on: November 30, 2018 from Psychologist World: psychologistworld.com.
4. "6 Signs You Have A Conscientious Personality, According To The Big Five Personality Traits" in: Bustle. Retrieved on: November 30, 2018 from Bustle: bustle.com.
5. "Conscientiousness" in: Wikipedia. Retrieved on: November 30, 2018 from Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org.