Would you call people with extreme personality traits neurodivergent?

[Hans de Vries]

I mean extreme scores of the Big Five traits.

Someone who scores lets say in the 10th highest percentile in Extraversion and 20th percentile in Openness is not disabled but their needs and preferred lifestyle are very different compared to an average person and trying to squeeze them into mainstream society would be quite difficult. 

[TheVat]

Would I call them a term whose meaning I only vaguely understand if at all?   No.   What does neurodivergent mean?   

To your example,  I'd call someone at the top of the scale in extroversion "very outgoing. "  Or "quite gregarious. "  

[iNow]

2 hours ago, TheVat said:

What does neurodivergent mean?   

It’s generally antipodal to neurotypical and used to indicate someone on the autism spectrum (or even bipolar and related conditions in some cases), but I agree with your primary point. No, it doesn’t seem to fit here.. at least not until more information is provided. 

[Peterkin]

8 hours ago, Hans de Vries said:

I mean extreme scores of the Big Five traits.

Someone who scores lets say in the 10th highest percentile in Extraversion and 20th percentile in Openness is not disabled but their needs and preferred lifestyle are very different compared to an average person and trying to squeeze them into mainstream society would be quite difficult. 

Many people find it hard to be 'mainstream', for any number of reasons. If their non-standard character traits are evident, we already have lots and lots of words to describe people who stand out in some way, including the less popular extremes : shrinking violet, drama queen, hot dog, bully, etc.  If their non-standard characteristics are not evident to other people, it means they've managed to integrate with society. It's not up to other people to squeeze anyone into their notion of mainstream.

Edited October 9, 2021 by Peterkin
repetition

[MigL]

You can call them whatever you want.
But they might not answer you.

[Phi for All]

50 minutes ago, Peterkin said:

If their non-standard characteristics are not evident to other people, it means they've managed to integrate with society.

This suggests there might be a big difference between neurodivergent processing and the "extreme personality traits" mentioned in the title, maybe as basic as thoughts vs actions. Extreme personalities tend to resist integration, and they're much more evident to others.

[iNow]

48 minutes ago, MigL said:

You can call them whatever you want.
But they might not answer you.

From now on, I want you all to call me Loretta. 😂 

[TheVat]

Can I call you a taxi?  

[iNow]

Sure, just don’t call me neurotypical. 

[MigL]

You are far from typical, Loretta.

[Peterkin]

2 hours ago, Phi for All said:

3 hours ago, Peterkin said:

f their non-standard characteristics are not evident to other people, it means they've managed to integrate with society.

This suggests there might be a big difference between neurodivergent processing and the "extreme personality traits" mentioned in the title, maybe as basic as thoughts vs actions. Extreme personalities tend to resist integration, and they're much more evident to others.

I don't think all non-standard personality traits are extreme. I expect a scale from low to high in each category being tested and can't imagine any functional person having one overwhelminingly dominant trait. I imagine people with extremely divergent traits are in prisons, palaces or hospitals.

[Markus Hanke]

11 hours ago, Hans de Vries said:

I mean extreme scores of the Big Five traits.

Someone who scores lets say in the 10th highest percentile in Extraversion and 20th percentile in Openness is not disabled but their needs and preferred lifestyle are very different compared to an average person and trying to squeeze them into mainstream society would be quite difficult. 

I don’t know if there is any objective definition of the term. Personally I would use it only in cases where there are demonstrable neurological differences (as the term itself implies), such as is the case for for autism, or Down Syndrom; the profiles here are often spiky, meaning they have large variations between traits. A single outlier on an otherwise typical profile doesn’t qualify, in my opinion.

[CharonY]

13 hours ago, Hans de Vries said:

I mean extreme scores of the Big Five traits.

Someone who scores lets say in the 10th highest percentile in Extraversion and 20th percentile in Openness is not disabled but their needs and preferred lifestyle are very different compared to an average person and trying to squeeze them into mainstream society would be quite difficult. 

Well, if you are wondering about that, perhaps you need to figure out what neurodivergence means in a given context. Is there for example a classification system? A second thing to look into is whether any of the trait scores correlate with that measure. 

[Hans de Vries]

On 10/10/2021 at 2:14 AM, CharonY said:

Well, if you are wondering about that, perhaps you need to figure out what neurodivergence means in a given context. Is there for example a classification system? A second thing to look into is whether any of the trait scores correlate with that measure. 

Neurodivergence is the state when someone's brain functions in a way that is in one or more ways, significantly different than typical.

Normally it is used to describe individuals with Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia and a few other disorders - but when you take just the definition it could apply to other things as well.

Does a brain with someone who is in 10th highest percentile in both Extraversion and Agreeableness significantly different from average? IMO it is

[CharonY]

So the question is what is the baseline of normal? So what precisely do you measure and what value does it need to be considered neurodivergent?