BUSS2000 · Leading And Influencing In Business
Individual Differences: Personality & Emotional Intelligence
This chapter explains why people behave differently at work — through three theories of human behaviour, cognitive ability, personality (Big Five, the HEXACO model the unit actually uses, and the MBTI critique), and emotional intelligence (Salovey & Mayer's four-branch model). In the reflective exam these are among the most-applied lenses: you may cite your own HEXACO and EI self-assessment results as evidence without proof, so a trait score or an emotion you regulated becomes the raw material of a strong essay. It is examined by application — turning a self-assessment result into a concrete behaviour change linked to a named theory.
What this chapter covers
- 01Three theories of human behaviour: Freud's psychoanalytic, behaviourism, social-cognitive
- 02Cognitive ability (general mental ability) as a predictor of performance
- 03Personality defined (Funder 2012): stable, behaviour-determining, cross-situational
- 04Big Five (OCEAN) — the dominant trait model
- 05HEXACO (Ashton & Lee 2009) — six factors, adding Honesty-Humility
- 06MBTI critique — popular but weak on reliability/validity
- 07Bright vs dark personality (Smith et al. 2018) — too much of a good thing
- 08Emotional intelligence (Salovey & Mayer 1990) — the four-branch / four-domain model
Turn a HEXACO self-assessment result into reflective evidence
- +1State the result as a starting point, not a label: "My HEXACO profile (Ashton & Lee 2009) showed high Conscientiousness but lower Honesty-Humility on the modesty facet." Names the model + author.
- +2Describe a real behaviour the score explains: "In my team debrief I noticed I over-claimed credit for the parts I'd led." Concrete and honest — self-critique signals depth.
- +1Analyse through a second named theory: "Linking this to leader-humility research (Owens & Hekman 2016), I came to see humility as performance-enhancing, not self-effacing."
- +1Apply + evaluate the change: "I consciously named each teammate's contribution in our final presentation, and the group's trust in me visibly lifted." The behaviour change + outcome closes the loop.
Key terms
- Personality (Funder 2012)
- 'A person's unique and relatively stable set of characteristics or patterns of behaviour, thoughts and emotions.' The three basic beliefs behind trait models: traits are relatively stable/enduring, are major determinants of behaviour, and influence behaviour across situations.
- Big Five (OCEAN)
- The dominant trait model — Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism. Each is a continuum; together they account for much of the stable variation in workplace behaviour and are well supported by evidence (unlike MBTI types).
- HEXACO model (Ashton & Lee 2009)
- The six-factor model BUSS2000 students take (via the PaLDIP HEXACO-PI-R-S60): Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, eXtraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Openness. Its distinctive contribution over the Big Five is the Honesty-Humility factor.
- Emotional intelligence (Salovey & Mayer 1990)
- 'The ability to monitor one's own and others' emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use the information to guide one's thinking and actions.' People vary in perceiving, understanding, using and managing emotion, and these differences affect workplace adaptation.
- Four-branch / four-domain EI model
- EI as a 2×2 of self vs others against awareness vs management: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship management (Goleman & Boyatzis 2017). A practical map for diagnosing which EI capability is weak in a given interpersonal failure.
- Bright vs dark personality (Smith et al. 2018)
- 'Too much of a good thing': normally 'bright' traits have downsides and 'dark' traits have hidden upsides at work. The point is that personality at work is more complex than good-trait/bad-trait — context determines whether a trait helps or harms.
Individual Differences: Personality & Emotional Intelligence FAQ
Why does BUSS2000 use HEXACO rather than the Big Five or MBTI?
The unit prefers evidence-based trait models, and HEXACO adds the Honesty-Humility factor that the Big Five lacks — useful in a leadership/ethics unit. MBTI is widely used commercially but has weak evidence for reliability and validity, so researchers (and the unit) prefer trait models. Practically, you actually take the HEXACO-PI-R-S60, so it is the result you can cite in your exam essays.
Can I really refer to my HEXACO and EI scores in the closed-book exam?
Yes. The Week-13 webinar confirms you may refer to your HEXACO and EI self-assessment results without producing the evidence. They are ideal reflective raw material — a score gives you a concrete, personal starting point that you can describe, analyse through theory and turn into a behaviour change.
What is the difference between cognitive ability and emotional intelligence?
Cognitive ability (general mental ability) is your capacity for reasoning, verbal and numerical problem-solving — a strong predictor of job performance. Emotional intelligence is a separate set of abilities for perceiving, understanding, using and managing emotion (Salovey & Mayer 1990). Both matter at work, but they are distinct, and EI is the one you are more likely to apply reflectively to a team conflict.
How do I avoid stereotyping when I write about personality?
Treat traits as continua that describe tendencies, not boxes that determine a person — and apply them to your own behaviour reflectively rather than labelling teammates. Remember bright vs dark (Smith et al. 2018): a trait is not simply good or bad; context determines whether it helps. The strongest answers diagnose your own profile honestly, not others'.
Exam move
Make this chapter your richest source of personal exam evidence. Save your HEXACO and EI results and, for each notable score, write a describe → analyse → apply → evaluate note tying it to a named theory (Funder for trait stability, Owens & Hekman for humility, Goleman & Boyatzis for the four EI domains). Learn the four EI domains as a 2×2 (self/others × awareness/management) so you can name which one failed in a conflict. Keep the MBTI critique and bright-vs-dark insight ready as evaluation moves — they let you show critical judgement, not just recall. On your A4 sheet, note one trait result + one EI domain + a trigger phrase for a real example so you can deploy them under time pressure.
