To have a Sheldon Cooper as a friend - is his personality attractive?

If you enjoy watching episodes of a certain hilarious sitcom, The Big Bang Theory, this post can give you a hint about the personality of the most controversial character of the series: Dr. Sheldon Lee Cooper, PhD.

What can be said about his personality based on observational data from various comments and behaviors of this character? To describe Cooper I will use 5 personality traits, known as The Big Five. These traits are: Openness to experience, Neuroticism, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Extraversion.

So, let me take a closer look at Dr. Cooper's openness to experience. Most of the BBT fans would agree that Sheldon does not express too much openness to experiences in his life, especially new ones that are not part of his daily or weekly routine. Simply try to envision his great opposition to any kind of change, novelty, or even brief departure from a plan. He is unable to eat anything different than oatmeal on Mondays, even if he thinks that the alternative food being offered to him is very tasty. What's more, he prepared a "roommate agreement", which contains clauses for almost all possible situations and the rules for dealing with them. Obviously, he hates surprises and in general tries to be ready for anything the world can bring. There is also probably no need to mention his attachment to "his spot" on the couch.

Here you can introduce yourself with his detailed weekly schedule (http://wiki.the-big-bang-theory.com/wiki/Schedule):

Monday: Oatmeal for breakfast. Thai takeout night - Sheldon orders mee krob and chicken satay with extra peanut sauce from Siam Palace.

Tuesday: The boys eat at The Cheesecake Factory; Sheldon always has the barbecue bacon cheeseburger; barbecue, bacon and cheese on the side.

Wednesday: Halo Night, beginning at 8:00 pm, and Comic Book Night.

Thursday: used to be Souplantation night, but Sheldon apparently changed it to Big Boy night when he discovered the barbecue burger at The Cheesecake Factory. In 2008, this changed to pizza from Giacomo's; Sheldon orders his with sausage, mushrooms, and light olives. In April 2008, the boys decided to make the third Thursday of every month "Anything Can Happen Thursday", but Sheldon's digestive system had a little problem with the change.

Friday: Chinese food and Vintage Game Night.

Saturday: Sheldon eats a bowl of cereal with 1/4 of a cup of 2 % milk for breakfast while watching Doctor Who on BBC America. Sheldon's laundry night, 8:15 pm.

 

As you see, trying to assess Sheldon's openness to experience, we would say that he is placed very low on this dimension. But openness to experience is also characterized by the ability of being creative, intelectually curious and having a rich imagination, all being a good representation of Sheldon's cognitive style. That's why at the end of the day Sheldon probably would be scored more near the middle or high areas of the openness dimension, even though that assessment would be mostly from the perspective of Sheldon himself rather than others: for example, Sheldon would consider himself to be open to new ideas, but only when he came up with them or considers himself unaware of the topic (learning languages, swimming, or social conventions); in contrast, when he believes himself to be an expert on the topic, he disregards opinions of others even if they are correct (case in point: Raj's contribution to Sheldon's research that got Raj's hired by Sheldon). Additionally, even when Sheldon does not consider himself an expert, he gets discouraged very rapidly if he cannot learn the topic quickly enough, concluding that the topic is hokum or that others know less than he does; good examples of that are his studies of acting and driving.

 

The questions is: Is it hard to live with such a closed attitude? I would envision that it is most difficult, promoting a lot of frustration for both Sheldon and his friends. Should we expect any change in his predisposition for openness to experience? I don't think so, as personality traits are not prone to being changed, especially if one does see them as his positive and adaptive characteristics. Citing Sheldon: 'I have spent my entire life, trying to bring order into the universe.' I believe he will be still doing it.

But is he happy with himself? Probably, yes. If we think of happiness as the opportunity and ability of following one's beliefs, attitudes and visions. Definitely, Sheldon seems to be one of the happiest people on this planet.

 

Wanna know about Sheldon's 4 other traits? Check in here next Saturday and share your opinion about Dr. Cooper and his attitude to novelty in the comments section!