Psychology 101
Conscientiousness: Meaning, High vs Low Scores
The CQ Team · 5 min read · Oct 16, 2026
Conscientiousness is the Big Five trait that describes how organised, hard-working and dependable you tend to be. Its three facets are organisation, productiveness and responsibility.
Conscientiousness is the Big Five trait that describes how organised, hard-working and dependable you tend to be. Its three facets are organisation, productiveness and responsibility. Of all the Big Five, it has the strongest record of predicting how people do at work and school.
Each facet is a range. Neither end is the good one, and most people sit somewhere in between.
| Facet | High scorers | Low scorers |
|---|---|---|
| Organisation | Likes order: tidy spaces, plans and schedules. | Comfortable with mess and loose plans. |
| Productiveness | Works steadily and keeps going until the job is done. | Works in bursts and finds it hard to get started. |
| Responsibility | Keeps promises and meets obligations. | Lets some commitments slide. |
Facet names from the BFI-2 (Soto & John, 2017); descriptions are our summaries.
Across a century of research, it is the strongest non-cognitive predictor of job performance, with an average correlation of .17 (Wilmot & Ones, 2019). Across almost 200 studies, conscientious people were less likely to use drugs, drink heavily, drive riskily or smoke. In long-term studies it also went with a longer life.
| Less drug use | .28 |
| Less heavy drinking | .25 |
| Less risky driving | .25 |
| Better job performance | .17 |
| Less smoking | .14 |
Correlations, sign removed. Health behaviours from Bogg & Roberts (2004); job performance from Wilmot & Ones (2019).6.
Conscientiousness tends to rise through adulthood, especially between 20 and 40, according to a review of 92 long-term samples. Differences between men and women are small. (Roberts et al., 2006)
People who come out as J (judging) on Myers-Briggs-style tests tend to score higher on conscientiousness, and P (perceiving) people lower. (Furnham et al., 2003, replicating McCrae & Costa, 1989)
Among personality traits at work, yes: it is the strongest non-cognitive predictor of job performance. The effect is moderate, an average correlation of .17.
It tends to rise naturally through adulthood, especially between 20 and 40.
Not always. A meta-analysis found creative people were, on average, less conscientious and less conventional.
Low conscientiousness: spontaneous, flexible and less organised, with a tendency to leave things until later.
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