LECTURE NOTES 7

Conscientiousn
ess:
Industriousness
& Orderliness
Lecture Notes 7

Discovering Personality​ with​ Dr. Jordan B. Peterson 

 LECTURE NOTES 7

This lecture introduces the Big Five personality trait of conscientiousness.​ ​Conscientious people
are careful, reliable, organized, self-disciplined, and persevering. Unconscientious people are
carefree, laid-back, happy-go-lucky, messy, and inattentive.

What is conscientiousness?

Conscientiousness is the Big Five personality trait associated with work and organization. It is
composed of two aspects: industriousness and orderliness​.

Industrious​ people carry out their plans, avoid wasting time, finish what they start, and always
know what they are doing. They are typically hard-working. Traits of industrious people include:
● Carry out my plans
● Don’t waste time
● Don’t find it difficult to get down to work
● Finish what I start
● Get things done quickly (don’t postpone)
● Always know what I’m doing
● Not easily distracted

Orderly ​people keep things tidy, use a schedule, and like routines and details. They are often
described as clean and organized. Traits of orderly people include:
● Tidy
● Like order
● Bothered by messy people
● Want everything to be just right
● Bothered by disorder
● Like routine
● See that rules are observed
● Want every detail taken care of

Discovering Personality​ with​ Dr. Jordan B. Peterson 

 LECTURE NOTES 7

Conscientiousness is one of the best predictors of life success,​ second only to IQ. Despite
its high predictive utility, conscientiousness has continually evaded the efforts of personality
psychologists to link it to other theories. Dr. Peterson’s research team initially believed
conscientiousness would map activity in the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which is associated
with the human behavior of planning. However, when they investigated this hypothesis, they
found no correlation. Dr. Peterson and his students then tried to link conscientiousness to a
variety of tasks having to do with detail orientation, delay of gratification, and IQ, but again,
found no correlations.

Despite this, conscientiousness continues to predict life success (in terms of financial
and career success) better than almost any other psychological construct.

Disgust Sensitivity

Conscientiousness, particularly orderliness, is associated with a higher disgust

sensitivity. Disgust is a kind of negative emotion but is not related to neuroticism.

Although we cannot detect bacteria, viruses, and parasites directly, we have evolved to feel
disgusted by things that correlate with their presence, such as bad odors, bodily fluids, and
unclean surroundings. Interestingly, psychology research has shown that disgust can also be
applied socially. When we describe someone’s behavior as disgusting, we are drawing on the
same circuits that protect us from physical contamination.

The association of conscientiousness and disgust sensitivity has important sociopolitical

ramifications. Researchers have found that pathogen prevalence, as measured in blood, is
strongly associated with authoritarian politics. At 0.42, the correlation is very high, approaching
the strength of the relationship between IQ and academic performance.

Conservative forms of political belief are part of the process by which we put borders and
barriers around things. Borders and barriers, while they can limit the free flow of ideas, can

Discovering Personality​ with​ Dr. Jordan B. Peterson 

 LECTURE NOTES 7

protect us from pathogens. Some of the worst epidemics in human history occurred because
travelers brought them from a foreign land.

Disorders of Excessive Conscientiousness

There are two main mental disorders associated with excessive conscientiousness: anorexia
nervosa and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
● Anorexia nervosa ​is a kind of hyper-obsession with bodily purity (or disgust with one’s
body), and mostly affects upper-middle class women. Dr. Peterson believes this may be
related to the fact that members of the upper-middle class are more likely to be
conscientious. (See additional materials.)
● Obsessive-compulsive disorder​ is a mental illness that often fixates around germs. It
is common for OCD patients to wash their hands excessively because they feel
contaminated. The illness is more complicated than this, but the link between OCD and
orderliness is fairly obvious. (See additional materials.)

Business Success and the Conscientiousness Correlation

There are two main types of people who will help a business to succeed: conscientious and
open people.
● Conscientious people​ are good at implementation and management, especially if they
are also high in IQ.
● Open people​ are good at thinking up new ideas and changing the direction of the
company. Businesses need open, creative, and entrepreneurial people to make sure
they aren’t missing out on potentially fruitful opportunities.

Successful businesses tend to capitalize on the complementary strengths of both highly

conscientious and highly open people.

Discovering Personality​ with​ Dr. Jordan B. Peterson 

 LECTURE NOTES 7

Key Takeaways

1. Conscientiousness is the Big Five trait that is associated with hard work
(industriousness) and organization:
○ Traits of Industriousness
■ Carry out my plans
■ Don’t waste time
■ Don’t find it difficult to get down to work
■ Finish what I start
■ Get things done quickly (don’t postpone)
■ Always know what I’m doing
■ Not easily distracted
○ Traits of Orderliness
■ Tidy
■ Like order
■ Bothered by messy people
■ Want everything to be just right
■ Bothered by disorder
■ Like routine
■ See that rules are observed
■ Want every detail taken care of
○ Overall Traits of Conscientiousness:
■ Conscientious
■ Careful
■ Reliable
■ Well-organized
■ Self-disciplined
■ Perseverant

Discovering Personality​ with​ Dr. Jordan B. Peterson 

 LECTURE NOTES 7

2. Conscientiousness is related to ​disgust sensitivity​, a kind of negative emotion that

evolved to protect us from parasites and pathogens. We can also feel disgust toward
other people or other people’s behaviors.
○ Adolf Hitler used cleanliness metaphors to advance his ideas, and viewed the
Aryan people as a body that was under assault by pathogens. Disgust drove
Hitler. This is very likely related to his hyper-conscientiousness.
3. Conservative forms of political belief contribute to the tendency to “organize”,
“categorize”, “segregate” or "put borders and barriers between things", which can then
be reflected in authoritarian politics.
4. Obsession with detail can often cause conscientious people to lose sight of the bigger
picture and make it harder to achieve the overall vision.
5. Conscientious people are great when it comes to implementation, but open people are
generally better at creative tasks. Both personality types are critical to the success of
businesses.

Discovering Personality​ with​ Dr. Jordan B. Peterson 

 LECTURE NOTES 7

Additional Reading & Mentions

This is a list of additional resources mentioned by Dr. Peterson in this lecture, as well as reading
materials, studies, and videos to deepen your study.

● More research by Jonathan Haidt (mentioned 13:03 and also in Lecture 5):
○ Book:
■ The Happiness Hypothesis ​(paid)
○ Videos:
■ Youtube Channel
● Pathogens and Politics: Further Evidence That Parasite Prevalence Predicts
Authoritarianism​ (mentioned 14:15) (free)
● Hitler’s Table Talk, 1941-1944: His Private Conversations​ (mentioned 28:00) (paid)
● The Big Lebowski Movie (mentioned 38:45) ​Rent or Buy on Amazon
● Additional research on anorexia nervosa (mentioned 24:20):
○ Studies:
■ Anorexia Nervosa​ (free),
■ New Insights on Anorexia Nervosa​ (free)
● Additional research on obsessive-compulsive disorder (mentioned 36:24):
○ Studies:
■ Management of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder​ (free)
■ Clinical Treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorde​r (free)
■ Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Advances in Diagnosis and Treatment
(paid)
● The correlation between conscientiousness and success:
○ Studies:
■ A Century of Research on Conscientiousness at Work​ (paid),
■ Who Does Well in Life?​ (free)

Discovering Personality​ with​ Dr. Jordan B. Peterson