Conscientiousness
Behavior
Behavior
--------

### Development

Currently, little is known about conscientiousness in young children because the self\-report inventories typically used to assess it are not appropriate for that age group. There are likely individual differences in this factor at an early age. It is known, for example, that some children have [attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder](/wiki/Attention_deficit_hyperactivity_disorder "Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder"), which is characterized in part by problems with concentration, organization, and persistence. Longitudinal and cross\-sectional studies suggest that conscientiousness is relatively low among adolescents but increases between 18 and 30 years of age. Conscientiousness generally increases with age from 21 to 60, though the rate of increase is slow.

Individual differences are strongly preserved, meaning that a careful, neat, and scrupulous 30\-year\-old is likely to become a careful, neat, and scrupulous 80\-year\-old.

### Daily life

People who score high on the trait of conscientiousness tend to be more organized and less cluttered in their homes and offices. For example, their books tend to be neatly shelved in alphabetical order, or categorized by topic, rather than scattered around the room. Their clothes tend to be folded and arranged in drawers or closets instead of lying on the floor. The presence of planners and to\-do lists are also signs of conscientiousness. Their homes tend to have better lighting than the homes of people who score low on this trait.

### Academic and workplace performance

Conscientiousness correlates with successful academic performance in students and workplace performance among managers and workers. Low levels of conscientiousness are strongly associated with [procrastination](/wiki/Procrastination "Procrastination"). Conscientiousness has a moderate to large positive correlation with performance in the workplace, and in contrast, after [general mental ability](/wiki/Intelligence "Intelligence") is taken into account, the other four [Big Five personality traits](/wiki/Big_Five_personality_traits "Big Five personality traits") do not aid in predicting career success.

Conscientious employees are generally more reliable, more motivated, and harder working. They have lower rates of absenteeism and [counterproductive work behaviors](/wiki/Counterproductive_work_behavior "Counterproductive work behavior") such as stealing and fighting with other employees. Furthermore, conscientiousness is the personality trait that correlates the most with performance across all categories of jobs.
[Agreeableness](/wiki/Agreeableness "Agreeableness") and emotional stability may also be important, particularly in jobs that involve a significant amount of social interaction.
Of all manager/leader types, top executives show the lowest level of rule\-following, a conscientious trait. Conscientiousness is not always positively related to [job performance](/wiki/Job_performance "Job performance"); sometimes the opposite is true. Being too conscientious could lead to taking too much time in making urgent decisions and to being too attached to the rules and lacking innovation.

### Subjective well\-being

A 2008 meta\-analysis found that conscientiousness has a positive relationship with subjective well\-being, particularly satisfaction with life. Highly conscientious people tend to be happier with their lives than those who score low on this trait.
Although conscientiousness is generally seen as a positive trait to possess, research suggests that in some situations it may be harmful for well\-being. In a prospective study of 9,570 people over four years, highly conscientious people suffered more than twice as much if they became unemployed. The authors suggested this may be due to conscientious people making different attributions about why they became unemployed, or through experiencing stronger reactions following failure. This finding is consistent with perspectives which see no trait as inherently positive or negative, but rather the consequences of the trait being dependent on the situation and concomitant goals and motivations.

### Problematic life outcomes

Low conscientiousness is linked to anti\-social behavior, blue\-collared crimes, and crimes of passion, as well as unemployment and homelessness. Low conscientiousness and low agreeableness taken together are also associated with [substance use disorders](/wiki/Substance_use_disorder "Substance use disorder"). People low in conscientiousness have difficulty saving money and their risky borrowing practices make them fall prey to subprime and [predatory lending](/wiki/Predatory_lending "Predatory lending") more often than conscientious people. High conscientiousness is associated with more careful planning of shopping trips and less impulse buying of unneeded items. While conscientiousness is generally linked to a lower level of anti\-social behaviour, it is not always the case, and conscientiousness is not always negatively correlated with criminality. It has been shown that conscientiousness is positively correlated with business, [white\-collared](/wiki/White-collar_crime "White-collar crime"), and [premeditated](/wiki/Malice_aforethought "Malice aforethought") criminal behavior.

### Health and longevity

According to a multi\-decade study begun in 1921 by psychologist [Lewis Terman](/wiki/Lewis_Terman "Lewis Terman") on over 1,500 gifted adolescent Californians, "The strongest predictor of long life was conscientiousness." Specific behaviors associated with low conscientiousness may explain its influence on [longevity](/wiki/Longevity "Longevity"). Nine different behaviors that are among the leading causes of mortality—alcohol use, disordered eating (including obesity), drug use, lack of exercise, [risky sexual behavior](/wiki/Risky_sexual_behavior "Risky sexual behavior"), risky driving, tobacco use, violence, and suicide—are all predicted by low conscientiousness. Health behaviors are more strongly correlated with the "conventionality" rather than the "impulse\-control" aspect of conscientiousness. Apparently, social norms influence many health\-relevant behaviors, such as healthy diet, exercise, not smoking, and moderate drinking, and highly conscientious people adhere the most strongly to these norms. Conscientiousness is positively related to health behaviors such as regular visits to a doctor, checking smoke alarms, and adherence to medication regimens. Such behavior may better safeguard health and prevent disease. The only known health benefits of low conscientiousness are relaxation and reduced anxiety.

### Relationships

Relationship quality is positively associated with partners' levels of conscientiousness. Highly conscientious people are less likely to get divorced due to their own fault. Conscientiousness is associated with lower rates of behavior associated with at\-fault divorce, such as extramarital affairs, spousal abuse, and alcohol use disorder. Conscientious behaviors may have a direct influence on relationship quality, as people low in conscientiousness are less responsible, less responsive to their partners, more condescending, and less likely to hold back offensive comments. More conscientious people are better at managing conflict and tend to provoke fewer disagreements, perhaps because they elicit less criticism due to their well\-controlled and responsible behavior.

### Intelligence

Conscientiousness has distinct sub\-components, including two major branches (i.e., orderliness and industriousness). The largest set of meta\-analyses found that these branches of conscientiousness have disparate connections with cognitive abilities. Orderliness has negative correlations with some cognitive abilities (e.g., fluid reasoning abilities, math knowledge, lexical knowledge, and science knowledge) whereas industriousness has strikingly positive correlations with multiple abilities (e.g., general mental ability, memory, processing speed, and knowledge).

Some previous studies in selected samples (e.g., job candidates, university students) have found negative correlations between conscientiousness and intelligence. One potential explanation is that these negative correlations may be artificially [created by the selection](/wiki/Berkson%27s_paradox "Berkson's paradox") of the sample. For example, with students who are low on one trait and high on the other (negative relationship) using the strong one to compensate and pass the selection, while students who are low on both (positive relationship) are removed by the selection.

### Political attitudes

Conscientiousness correlates with conservative political attitudes.

Because conscientiousness is positively related to job performance, conservative service workers have been shown to earn higher ratings, evaluations, and tips than their liberal counterparts.

Although right\-wing authoritarianism is one of the most powerful predictors of prejudice, a large scale meta\-analysis found that conscientiousness itself is uncorrelated with general prejudice. Rebellion against control is significantly negatively correlated with conscientiousness.

Hence, conscientiousness is associated only with rule compliance, obedience, and integrity, not necessarily with right\-wing authoritarianism, which requires reduced Big Five Agreeableness as well.

### Creativity

The orderliness/dependability subfactors (order, dutifulness, and deliberation) of conscientiousness correlate negatively with creativity while the industriousness/achievement subfactors (competence, achievement striving, and self\-discipline) correlate positively. People who score high on the order subfactor of conscientiousness show less innovative behavior, especially if coupled with a low score on the industrious subfactor. Group conscientiousness has a negative effect on group performance during creative tasks. Groups with only conscientious members have difficulty solving open\-ended problems.

### Adaptability

A study from 2006 found that those scoring low on conscientiousness make better decisions after unanticipated changes in the context of a task. Specifically, the subfactors order, dutifulness, and deliberation negatively correlated with decision\-making quality, but not competence, achievement striving, and self\-discipline.

### Religiosity

General religiosity was mainly correlated with high Agreeableness and Conscientiousness among the Big Five traits.

### Conscience

Conscientiousness in psychology is defined, as noted above, by notions such as "orderliness and industriousness", not by reference to the ordinary language notion of [conscience](/wiki/Conscience "Conscience"), or such as is referred to in the legal doctrine of [equity](/wiki/Equity_%28law%29%23History_of_equity_in_common_law_jurisdictions "Equity (law)#History of equity in common law jurisdictions"), by concern with preventing unconscionable actions.


Can conscientiousness be a predictor of prejudice or social justice issues?