The NEO measures what is generally termed as 'The Big Five' personality domains. Substantial research supports these as key areas where people differ, but where individual behaviour tends to remain relatively stable. These are Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. Each of these has a number of sub aspects or 'facets' - 30 in total. Extraversion for example includes excitement seeking and gregariousness, but also warmth, assertiveness, activity levels and positive emotions.

When interpreting the NEO it is important to understand the interaction between NEO facets - we will use this area to discuss some of these considerations.

It is useful to remember that the people who take these tests may not be aware of the meaning behind terms like neuroticism - it has a harsher meaning in lay terms I think. On the other hand it does include the extent to which people are likely to feel depressed and vulnerable, angry, anxious, self-conscious and impulsive. High scores on these would need to be discussed carefully as people may worry about what this 'means'. If you can discuss instead terms like 'sensitive' emotional and prone to experience upsetting feelings, it certainly sounds less harsh!

Those of you also trained in the area will know the importance of understanding the limits of the tests, how far we can interpret them, the importance of using the correct norms, and issues of confidentiality etc. As these apply to all tests we will discuss them on a separate thread.

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Dr Stephanie Morgan
Crosslight Management
www.crosslight.co.uk