Do you leave a tip at a restaurant even if you’ve had a bad experience? Do you regularly give to charity, even when they accost you on your way to meet a friend?

If you’re answering in the positive, you might just be somebody who scores highly on agreeableness. 

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Agreeable people seek to please others. They wonder how others are feeling and try their best to make them feel better. They’re cooperative, trusting, friendly and warm-hearted. They are empathizers and you’ll often hear them saying things like: “That must have felt awful,” “I can imagine how happy you must have been,” “Is there anything I can do to help?”

Agreeable people make good friends. They rarely argue, rarely get into disputes, and almost never fall out.  In fact, if you’re agreeable you’re likely to have a large social circle with supportive friends who you can call on in times of need. Unsurprising, since agreeable people seldom get angry with others – even when others are in the wrong. No wonder they have such good pals – agreeable people are one of life’s gems.

However, it’s not all good – at least from the agreeable person’s point of view. Agreeable people are so willing to put others first that they often neglect their own needs. They have a tendency to step back from conflict, even when conflict is in their own best interest. Those who score especially highly on agreeableness are typically easy targets for their unagreeable counterparts – who exploit them, manipulate them, and use force to get what they want.

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Indeed, a person who scores very low on agreeableness is somebody who might come close to meriting the label “Psychopath”. They are quick to anger, and use and abuse people solely for their own ends. Psychopaths might understand what you’re going through and what you might think about events – the problem is, they just don’t care.

Such people might become involved in crime, though generally speaking, low agreeableness is usually not enough to push somebody to criminal activity. If the low agreeable person is also highly conscientious or neurotic, they’ll have a tendency to reflect on the possible consequences of their actions – and since crime really doesn’t pay – will almost certainly refrain from any misdemeanours. This is part of the reason why violent crime is so rare. To really be prone to it, one must not only be highly disagreeable, but also highly unconscientious, and extremely low on neuroticism. As such a pattern is infrequent in the population at large – few people are truly disposed to be the sort of human monsters we often see on TV.

However, it’s not all good – at least from the agreeable person’s point of view. Agreeable people are so willing to put others first that they often neglect their own needs. They have a tendency to step back from conflict, even when conflict is in their own best interest. Those who score especially highly on agreeableness are typically easy targets for their unagreeable counterparts – who exploit them, manipulate them, and use force to get what they want.

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