"You might say that people who are agreeable are not only kind but also able to zero in on the emotional needs of others. Step one in being kind does seem to need this ability to empathize. According to North Dakota State University's (NDSU's) Michael Robinson and colleagues (2025), unlike the other FFM traits, agreeableness has an emotional component. In their words, "trust, warmth, compassion, and friendliness... seem to require a feeling component to be enacted successfully.""
"As one trait in the Five Factor Model (FFM) of personality, agreeableness takes on the role of accounting for why people are high in prosocial or altruistic motivation, are able to empathize, and care about other people. The other traits in the FFM ( conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, and openness to experience) each have their own roles to play, but it's agreeableness that uniquely helps explain why you might like someone without being able to say exactly why."
Agreeableness describes a pattern of kindness, care, concern, and an unselfish desire to help others that makes pleasant social impressions. As a dimension of the Five Factor Model, agreeableness explains prosocial or altruistic motivation and the capacity to empathize, distinguishing it from conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, and openness. The emotional component of agreeableness enables people to detect and respond to others' needs rather than relying solely on detached reasoning. Innovative tests indicate that agreeable individuals tend to favor feeling ('heart') over analytic judgment ('head') when defining themselves, supporting empathy-driven prosocial behavior.
Read at Psychology Today
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