Low Emotional Stability is a personality trait that indicates a strong neuroticism. It can be expressed using keywords such as “pessimistic,” “negative,” “intolerant,” and “lack of lightheartedness.”
BigFive is a set of personality dimensions that most people perceive easily. To measure low Stability, it is essential to focus on the intensity of nervousness.
Please note that the term Stability is used to align with the other four traits, but in the context of BigFive, the more common term used is Neuroticism. It refers to sensitivity to stress rather than the ability to withstand stress.
Conversation Setting
Stability can be assessed based on the extent of psychological damage caused by negative events, making it easier to measure by eliciting details about past experiences of failure.
- For mid-career hires, it would be appropriate to identify Stability from stories of work-related struggles.
- For new graduates, since the job hunting process itself can be a significant stressor, asking them to reflect on their previous job interviews during the job search might help to bring out relevant experiences.
During the conversation, paying attention to how they cope with their emotions and how long they are affected can provide additional insights.
Stress sensitivity arises from difficulties in switching away from negative emotions.
Points of Assessment
Please evaluate based on the intensity of nervousness.
As job interviews are strong stressors, individuals with a strong neurotic tendency may feel nervous regardless of the topic. Avoid preconceptions such as “everyone gets nervous during interviews,” as it can impair the interviewer’s ability to discern differences among individuals.
Additionally, impressions of sensitivity, anxiety, making a big deal out of small things, and blaming others can be used as reference materials.
You can also judge from the conversation content, but pay attention to non-verbal aspects such as facial stiffness and the inability to control voice intonation.
However, avoid making judgments based solely on appearances, such as a wild look. Likewise, discard biases like assuming someone with a sports background has high Emotional stability.
As mentioned earlier, resilience and toughness in enduring stress are not relevant; the key is to measure the degree of neuroticism. Generally, individuals with high Stability (optimistic individuals) are considered to have better job performance.
Though numerical correlations in academic research are lower than Conscientiousness, Emotional stability is still highly valued.
As organizational theorist Stephen P. Robbins commented that people with strong neurotic tendencies tend to leave jobs quickly, it is reasonable to consider that the distribution of stress tolerance measurements is skewed.
For certain job types like physical labor or light work, which have existed for a long time, low Stability may not be an issue.
However, individuals with strong neurotic tendencies often struggle with intellectual work that requires sustained thinking, as they may have scattered thoughts and tend to produce word salads.
