The Relationships Between The Big Five Personality Traits .
Vol. 14(14), pp. 501-511, August, 2019DOI: 10.5897/ERR2019.3706Article Number: BC5636F61745ISSN: 1990-3839Copyright 2019Author(s) retain the copyright of this nal Research and ReviewsFull Length Research PaperThe relationships between the big five personality traitsand attitudes towards seeking professionalpsychological help in mental health counselorcandidates: Mediating effect of cognitive flexibilityFerah ÇekiciDepartment of Psychological Counseling and Guidance, School of Educational Sciences, Istanbul Medipol University,Istanbul, Turkey.Received 12 January, 2019; Accepted 29 July, 2019The purpose of this study was to examine the relations between the five big personality traits(openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism) and attitudes towards seekingprofessional psychological help in counseling students along with the mediating role of cognitiveflexibility. The sample of the study consisted of 189 students (140 female and 49 male) attending thecounseling program at Istanbul Medipol University. The age mean of the sample was 20.81 (SD 1.91).The data were collected in the fall term of the 2018 to 2019 academic year. The Big Five Inventory,Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale and Cognitive Flexibility Scale wereused as data collection instruments. The data were analyzed by using SPSS 20 Statistical PackageProgram and the mediation model was tested in SPSS using PROCESS macro developed by Hayes.Results revealed that cognitive flexibility has mediator role between big five traits and psychologicalhelp-seeking attitude. In conclusion, the proposed model has emerged statistically significant.Key words: Big five personality traits, attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help, cognitiveflexibility, candidate counselors.INTRODUCTIONThere are several lines of discussion regarding whetherpsychological counselors, or candidates requireprofessional help for their own personal problems (Corey,2009). Especially when it comes to psychodynamic,humanistic and existential psychotherapies, the experienceof counselors who have taken on psychological helpoften see it as a necessity both as a an “educational tool”and a means of “personal development” for anyoneaiming to fulfill the role of a psychotherapist/counseloreffectively (Elliott and Partyka, 2005).As part of the training process, trainee-therapists enjoythe opportunity to observe the therapist in action during atherapy setting, and this offers an essential experientiallearning opportunity in the development of the candidate’stalents (Laireiter and Willutzki, 2005). But there areseveral benefits to this exposure being directed at theE-mail: fcekici@medipol.edu.tr.Author(s) agree that this article remain permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons AttributionLicense 4.0 International License
502Educ. Res. Rev.candidate themselves in “personal therapy” sessions, andthis is backed up various by many studies. As a client, atrainee-counselor spends valuable time on self-discoveryand gaining a practical understanding of the therapyprocess in a way that can no doubt help them increasetheir self-awareness related to the field especially (Corey,2009). Similar to Corey, (2009) also mentions that“personal therapy” is an excellent experience thatprovides a lot of serious improvement for the counselorsand candidate counselors.Corey et al. (2007) state that the psychologicalcounselor is responsible for possessing self-awareness intheir own life. It naturally follows that psychologicalcounselors who are aware of their own needs, eaknesses, are thought to focus on the needs of theclient in their psychological counseling process ratherthan their own needs. Various investigations have beenconducted on psychological counselors, psychologistsand various mental health workers in terms of the need totake “personal therapy”. Orlinsky et al. (2005) investigatedthe impacts of the personal therapy and they reportedthat more than 90% of mental health professionalsexplained to their satisfaction and positive outcomes fromtheir own counseling experiences. Also, anotherresearcher Norcross (2005) conducted many researchesabout the personal therapy. According to his inquirespointed that various positive gains about the personaltherapy such as self-esteem, social life, emotionalexpression, intrapersonal conflicts, and symptom severityand work functioning. Corey (2009) claimed that personaltherapy can be as an instrumental in healing the healer.He reported that if the candidate counselors do notinvolve in the pursuit of healing their wounds, theyprobably have considerable difficulty entering the world ofa client. As seen in all these studies, personal counselingcould provide emotional health and personal growthneeded to support counselors and WHO training formental health positions.Psychological help-seeking attitude and personalitytraitsTo seek psychological help is to seek various amongeffective means to deal with the challenges an individualfaces in life (Nicholas et al., 2004). Many researchersreveal that psychological help seeking attitude is affectedby many factors such as gender, culture, religion, socialadjustment, emotionally openness, self-disclosure andthe beliefs/cognitions about the benefits of the selfdisclosure, public stigma and self-stigma” (Egisdottorand Gerstein, 2009; Vogel and Wester, 2003; Vogel etal., 2007a, b). Moreover, personality traits undoubtedlyinfluence one’s attitude toward seeking help in general,and psychological help in particular. According to Corey(2009), effective counselors are professionals who havethe ability to establish and maintain an effectivetherapeutic relationship with their clients and at the sametime apply the most appropriate techniques to theirclients’ needs in order to control their own experiencesand reactions and help their clients.In this context, psychological counselors are expectedto exhibit a certain set of characteristics in order to beeffective, namely professional “personality traits” and“professional expertise”. In terms of “personalitycharacteristics,” this means having an identity, selfrespect and appreciation, being open to change, beinglife-oriented, showing authentic behavior; be sincere andhonest, have a sense of humor, are capable of makingmistakes and tend to accept their mistakes. In terms oftheir “professional expertise”, effective counselors haveeffective interpersonal communication skills, competent inbasic counseling skills, ability to conceptualize thecounseling process, apply various techniques inpsychological counseling, passionate about their workand have a meaning in their work. Also they areambitious and sensitive to cultural differences (Norcrosset al., 2007; Corey, 2009; Hackney and Cormier, 2008;Skovholt and Jennings, 2004).The characteristics of “having an identity” from thecharacteristics related to the possible personality traitsare thought to affect the attitudes of counselors’ seekingattitudes in being able to know themselves, knowing howmuch they can help their clients and understanding theirpriorities. According to Hackney and Cormier (2008),having an identity means to have a personal awarenessand understanding ability. From these perspectives,“having self-esteem and appreciation” means that havingthe awareness of self-worth and self-strength in order tobe able to help others or ask for help from others (Corey,2009). Cormier and Cormier (1991) describe this featureas “self-awareness” and report that psychologicalcounselors transfer their own tendencies in this regard totheir client, whether for better or worse. According to this,psychological counselors who feel inadequate andinsufficient in themselves, reflect these negative beliefs totheir clients through their behavior; conversely, those whoare aware of their own strengths reflect thesecharacteristics in their interaction with clients. In summary,then, the self-awareness of psychological counselors hasan active role in the effectiveness of the counselingprocess. Therefore, in order for the consultation processto be carried out to better success, it is important that thepsychological counselor knows their own conception ofself-awareness, namely that they know their personalstrengths, needs, expectations, goals and limitations.In terms of “openness to change”, the most effectivecounselors are those bold in tackling the circumstancesin which they must revise their approach. Effectivecounselors can decide how they should be able tochange and become the person they wish to be intuitively(Corey, 2009). Hackney and Cormier (2008) describe theopenness to change as simply “being open-minded”.
ÇekiciAnother personality trait, having “life-oriented”characteristics, implies that early life experiences effectpersonalities, but hold that this is not a situation that istherefore fated and can change. Having “authentic,sincere and honest” features refers to ones ability to besincere and honest about not hiding behind masks, andnot defending them. “Having advanced sense of humor”is another helpful feature, and effective counselors arefound to be those who can laugh at their own flaws andcontradictions. They are therefore “capable of makingmistakes and tend to accept their mistakes”. Showing“moment-oriented living (now and here) characteristics,counselors are aware that life can be experienced byfocusing on the present. Finally, “creating the boundariesin a healthy way”, is meant to make one aware on how toprotect the personal boundaries in a relationship with aclient and to be able to say no when necessary (Corey,2009; McLeod, 2003).In this study, the big five personality scale was used inthe measurement of personality traits amongpsychological counselor candidates because of the factthat most of the features constituting the humanpersonality can be grouped somewhere along this scale(Burger, 2006). The big five-factor personality scaleconsists of five dimensions; openness to experience,conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness andneuroticism. The dimension of openness to experiencesubscale is described to people who are open toinnovations and are intellectually curious, open tolearning are open to experience; people who aretraditional and intellectually unrelated are people with lowopenness to experience. In terms of self-control, planned,determined and success-oriented individuals showconscientiousness, while those who are unplanned,postponed, and lack self-control are low inconscientiousness. It is via the trait of extraversion byway one can exhibit social, entertaining, talkative, jokingand loving nature; whereas introversion causesindividuals to become non-social, comfortable away fromothers, silent, distant, passive and shy. According to thesub-dimension of agreeableness, friendly, close, warm,social and reliable people are agreeableness;argumentation, low attitudes towards others, duals with low levels of compliance. The dimensionof neuroticism means people who are generally anxious,restless, sad and weak in coping with stress are definedas neurotic. People who are calm, emotionally balancedand capable of dealing with stress are defined as personswith low neuroticism (McCrae and Costa, 2003; Glass,Prichard et al., 2013; Lounsbury et al., 2009).In brief, the five factor personality scale dimensions:openness to experience equates with personal curiosityto explore; conscientiousness covers the fact that theperson wants to achieve what he wants to follow eeableness equates with a desire to avoid conflict;503neuroticism expresses that a person, such as depressionanxiety, experiences a negative mood in a continuousmanner (The ACA Encylopedia of Counseling, 2009).Consequently, there is a significant relation betweenpersonality traits and psychological help-seeking attitudesin counselor and other mental health professionals.The mediator role of cognitive flexibilityCognitive flexibility is the ability to think flexibly and toshift perspectives and approaches with ease. Cognitiveflexibility also describes a kind of information processingand ability to adapt to new things. Especially it implies theability to regulate cognitive information processing. Thus,cognitive flexibility increases with experimental learnings(Canas et al., 2006). Cognitive flexibility is also definedas individuals’ ability to realize suitable options andalternatives, being eager to be flexible while beingadaptable to the situation and considering themselvescompetent in flexible thinking and behaving (Martin andRubin, 1995).In order to behave in a flexible manner, it is necessaryto think in a flexible way. Individuals with cognitiveflexibility do not limit themselves to only one solutionwhen encountering an issue; on the contrary, they tend toreview all possible alternative solutions. Individuals withcognitive flexibility are also creative people displayingcreativity, fluency and originality in thinking (Martin andAnderson, 2001). Individuals who possess cognitiveflexibility experience new ways of communicating, facesituations they are not accustomed to, and are willing toadapt their behavior effectively in dealing withproblematic situations (Martin and Anderson, 1998).Moreover, since a significant portion of cognitive flexibilityconstitutes the concept of self-efficacy, individuals withcognitive flexibility believe in self-confidence and believein their ability to act effectively (Bandura, 1982).Cognitively, flexible thinking and behavior is a featurethat can be applied to a variety of situations that requirecommunication or creativity in the face of the issuesbrought up in everyday life (Martin and Anderson, 2001).In a way, it is a kind of cognitive and behavioral abilitythat can be applied in any case. According to RationalEmotional Behavioral Therapy (REBT), CognitiveBehavioral Therapy (CBT) and the theories posedregarding these cognitive-behavioral psychotherapies,people with certain inflexible thinking styles dogged bydogmatic, rigid and absolutist approaches suffer a form ofpsychological dysfunction that can ultimately cause themto experience various mental disorders such as neurosis.Therefore, both REBT and CBT are called into play astherapeutic approaches that specialize in encouragingpeople to think and act more flexible (Ellis and Dryden,2007). Practitioners of cognitive-behavioral therapiesconfirm that cognition is followed by emotion, thenbehavior. Therefore, in order to behave cognitively
504Educ. Res. Rev.flexible, it is necessary to think first. For this reason, thisstudy aims to find out the relations between personalitydimensions (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion,agreeableness, neuroticism) and attitudes toward seekingprofessional psychological help in counseling studentsalong with the mediating role of cognitive flexibility.experience, conscientiousness, and neuroticism. The inventory wasadapted into Turkish by Sümer and Sümer (2005). The Turkish formof the BFI consists of a 44 item self-report measure with a fivefactors structure. Items on the scale are rated according to a 5-pointLikert scale (1: Totally disagree; 5: Totally agree). According to theresults of the reliability analysis, the subscales’ Cronbach AlfaCoefficient range from 0.64 and 0.77.METHODOLOGYAttitudes toward seeking professional psychological helpscale (ATSPPHS)Research designThis study was designed through correlational research model withquantitative research approach. The mediating effect of cognitiveflexibility in the relationship between personality traits and attitudestowards seeking professional psychological help was examined touse a multiple mediator bootstraping method (Hayes, 2013). Figure1 shows the research model.According to this method, firstly, the effect of big five personalitytraits, which is an independent variable, on cognitive flexibility,which is a mediating variable, should be evaluated. Then, theeffect of cognitive flexibility on psychological help-seeking and thenthe effect of big five personality traits should be examined. In thisstudy, using the mediator variable analysis method, the hypothesisthat cognitive flexibility has a mediating effect between big fivepersonality traits and psychological help-seeking was tested.Workgroup/sampleThe sample of the study consisted of 189 students (140 female, 49male) attending to the Psychological Counseling and GuidanceProgram at Istanbul Medipol University. The mean age of theparticipants came to 20.81 (SD 1.91). The convenient samplingmethod was used to determine the sample (Fraenkel et al., 2011).Data collection proceduresFirstly, ethical permission was gotten from the ethical committee ofthe university; then data was collected from undergraduate studentsat the fall term in 2018. The scales were given to the studentsduring the lecture and were asked to fill. Participation in the studywas on voluntary basis. Before starting to collect data, a writteninformed consent form in which participants were informed aboutthe purpose of the study and assured of confidentiality was given.The participants who confirmed their consent to participate in thestudy were given the scales in paper-pen format. It took about 15min to fill all of the scales.Data collection instrumentsIn this study, The Big Five Inventory (BFI), Attitudes TowardSeeking Professional Psychological Help Scale (ATSPPHS) andThe Cognitive Flexibility Scale (CFS) were used as data collectioninstruments.The big five inventory (BFI)BFI was developed by Benet-Martinez and John (1998), a 5-itemself-report measure with a five factor structure. The scaledimensions include extraversion, agreeableness, openness toATSPPHS, developed by Fischer and Farina (1995), is a 10 itemself-report measure with a single factor structure. The scale wasadapted into Turkish by Topkaya (2011). Items on the scale arerated on a 4-point Likert scale (1: Totally disagree; 4: Totally agree).The Cronbach Alpha value for internal consistency was 0.76 for theoverall scale.The cognitive flexibility scale (CFS)CFS developed by Martin and Rubin (1995), consists of a 12 itemself-report measure with three subscales (awareness, willingness,self-efficacy). The scale was adapted into the Turkish language byAltunkol (2011). The Turkish form of the scale consists of 2 subscales (naming as reverse and non-reverse items scale). Items ofthe scale are rated on a 6-point Likert scale (1: Totally disagree; 6:Totally agree). The Cronbach Alpha value for internal consistencywas 0.81 for the overall scale.Analysing dataIn the first part of the data analysis, raw data was screened andcleared through SPSS 20 statistical package program (IBM, 2011).Then correlations between variables were calculated using PearsonCorrelation Coefficient Analysis. The mediation model was testedby utilizing Hayes’ PROCESS macro in SPSS (Hayes, 2013). Forthis purpose, the Serial Multiple Mediator Model was used todetermine whether cognitive flexibility has a mediating role betweenbig five personality traits and psychological help seeking attitude.5000 bootstrap sampling was used in the analyzes and estimateswere corrected for bias error and evaluated at 95% confidenceinterval reflecting corrected results.The limitations of the studyThe current study has a number of limitations. Firstly, all data wasbased on self-reported measures, which might introduce responsebias. In many researches, self-reported scales were commonlyused but these measures may cause social desirability effects inparticipants' response. That is, participants may not have givenhonest answers to the questions in the survey. Thus sociallydesirable response may have affected the reliability of the resultsadversely. Secondly, the number of female was more than themale counterparts which mislead the results i
The big five-factor personality scale consists of five dimensions; openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. The dimension of openness to exp
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Le genou de Lucy. Odile Jacob. 1999. Coppens Y. Pré-textes. L’homme préhistorique en morceaux. Eds Odile Jacob. 2011. Costentin J., Delaveau P. Café, thé, chocolat, les bons effets sur le cerveau et pour le corps. Editions Odile Jacob. 2010. 3 Crawford M., Marsh D. The driving force : food in human evolution and the future.
