Personality Structure: Classifying Traits

Question 1

Fundamental Lexical Hypothesis: personality traits

Answer 1

“The most important individual differences in human transactions will come to be encoded as single terms in all of the world’s languages.”

(Goldberg, 1990)

Question 2

Lexical Approach: Early Attempts (I)

Answer 2

Baumgarten (1933), in German

Allport & Odbert (1936), in English
18,000 English words
Traits: approx. 4,500
States: approx. 4,500
Evaluations (good/bad): approx. 5,200
Miscellaneous : approx. 3,600

Question 3

Factor Analysis (FA): statistical technique

Answer 3

Exploratory FA (EFA)

Confirmatory FA (CFA)

Question 4

Exploratory FA (EFA)

Answer 4

Data reduction technique: aims to explain a pattern of correlations between large numbers of variables

Generates hypotheses

Example: Self-Report

• Questionnaire
• Correlations
• Factors and Factor Loadings

Question 5

Confirmatory FA (CFA)

Answer 5

Statistical technique for model testing

Tests hypotheses

Question 6

Early Attempts (II) - Cattell

Answer 6

First factor analysis of 35 traits

12 traits found + 4 added later =16PF (1949)

Question 7

Cattell’s 16PF

Answer 7

1. Abstractedness
2. Apprehension
3. Dominance
4. Emotional Stability
5. Liveliness
6. Openness to Change
7. Perfectionism
8. Privateness
9. Reasoning
10. Rule-Consciousness
11. Self-Reliance
12. Sensitivity
13. Social Boldness
14. Tension
15. Vigilance
16. Warmth

Question 8

Converging Evidence:
Factor Analyses (early lexical studies III)

Answer 8

Tupes & Christal (1961, 1992): 5 factors

Norman (1963, 1967): 5 factors

Costa & McCrae (1985, 1991): 5 factors

Goldberg (1990, 1992): 5 factors

Different samples, ages and nations: 5 factors

Question 9

Same 5 Factors with different measures

Answer 9

Trait descriptive adjectives

Statements describing affect, cognitions, and behaviour

Self-ratings vs. observer ratings

Nonverbal measures

Question 10

Five-Factor Model of Personality /“Big Five”

Pervin et al., 2005

Answer 10

Openness (O)
Conscientiousness (C)
Extraversion (E)
Agreeableness (A)
Neuroticism (N)

Question 11

Neuroticism (N)

Answer 11

Assesses maladjustment vs. 
emotional stability

Identifies individuals prone to:

• Psychological distress
• Unrealistic ideas
• Excessive cravings or urges
• Maladaptive coping responses

Question 12

Extraversion (E)

Answer 12

Assesses quantity and intensity of :

• Interpersonal interaction
• Activity level
• Need for stimulation
• Capacity for joy

Question 13

Openness (O)

imagination/intellect

Answer 13

Proactive seeking and appreciation of experience for its own sake

Toleration for and exploration of the unfamiliar

Question 14

Agreeableness (A)

Answer 14

Quality of one’s interpersonal orientation along a continuum from compassion to antagonism in:

• thoughts
• feelings
• actions

e.g. kind - unkind

Question 15

Conscientiousness (C)

Answer 15

Assesses the individual’s 
degree of:

• organisation
• persistence
• motivation in goal-directed behaviour

e.g. lazy = hardworking

Question 16

Why are the Big Five so important?

Answer 16

Help us sort out the confusion of different models and measures of personality

Provide a kind of “compass” (mapping system) to understand where in the personality space to place specific traits we want to know more about.

Question 17

Big Five: Integration of 
Cattell’s 16PF

Answer 17

Examples

Question 18

Neuroticism

Answer 18

Anxiety
Emotional Stability (-)

Question 19

Extraversion

Answer 19

Social Assertiveness Introversion (-)

Question 20

Openness

Answer 20

Openmindedness


Intellect

Question 21

Agreeableness

Answer 21

Warmth


Aggressiveness (-)

Question 22

Conscientiousness

Answer 22

Dutifulness


Perfectionism

Question 23

Big Five Facets: Development of the NEO-Five Factor Scales

Answer 23

NEO Personality Inventory
(NEO-PI)

NEO-Five Factor Inventory 
(NEO-FFI)

NEO Personality Inventory-Revised
(NEO-PI-R)

Question 24

NEO Personality Inventory
(NEO-PI)

Costa & McCrae (1985)

Answer 24

Derived from analyses of Cattell’s 16 PF:

3 Scales: N, E and O

Question 25

NEO-Five Factor Inventory 
(NEO-FFI) Costa & McCrae
(1991)

Answer 25

Adopted five-factor personality model and added A and C: 5 Scales with 12 items each: N, E, O, A and C

Question 26

NEO Personality Inventory-Revised
(NEO-PI-R) Costa & McCrae
(1992)

Answer 26

Measures 6 facets of each of the Big Five dimensions 30 Scales with 8 items of each facet: N, E, O, A and C domain and facet scores

Question 27

Extraversion (E)

Answer 27

``` E1: Warmth E2: Gregariousness (socially outgoing) E3: Assertiveness E4: Activity E5: Excitement Seeking E6: Positive Emotions ```

Question 28

Openness to Experience (O) | Where they draw the big different

Answer 28

``` O1: Fantasy O2: Aesthetics O3: Feelings O4: Actions O5: Ideas O6: Values ```

Question 29

Agreeableness (A)

Answer 29

``` A1: Trust A2: Straightforwardness A3: Altruism A4: Compliance A5: Modesty A6: Tender-Mindedness ```

Question 30

Example: Self-Pity Big Five Dimensions and Facets as a “compass”

Answer 30

To see which dimension and facets are related to self-pity Dimensions -> Neuroticism Facets -> Depression

Question 31

Five-Factor Model of Personality - summary

Answer 31

A very useful taxonomic system A common language to communicate traits A “compass” where to map personality characteristics

Question 32

Is the Five-Factor Model the final answer?

Answer 32

Seems to capture Western personality language dimensions better than Eastern Does not always replicate, not even in Western cultures: “Big 5 plus or minus 2”

Question 33

What's missing in the Big 5?

Answer 33

Honesty/humility

Question 34

``` HEXACO Model (Ashton et al., 2004; Lee & Ashton, 2004, 2006) ```

Answer 34

``` Humility Emotionality Extraversion Agreeableness Conscientiousness Openness ```

Question 35

Five vs. Six Factors

Answer 35

Strong similarity in the facet content of three factors: - Extraversion - Conscientiousness - Openness

Question 36

Facet differences:

Answer 36

Agreeableness &Emotionality

Question 37

``` Five-factor (Neo): Tendermindedness Compliance Trust Altruism Modesty Straightforwardness ```

Answer 37

``` Six-factor (HEXACO): Gentleness Flexibility Forgiveness Patience ```

Question 38

``` Anxiety Angry Hostility Depression Self-consciousness Impulsiveness Vulnerability ```

Answer 38

Anxiety Fearfulness Dependence Sentimentality

Question 39

Example: Psychopathy (Gaughan, Miller & Lynham, 2012)

Answer 39

Using, the NEO PI-R and the HEXACO as “compasses”, which scale provides a better map – and thus better understand of Psychopathy?

Question 40

Findings: Psychopathy (total score)

Answer 40

Both Big Five and HEXACO predicted psychopathy HEXACO predicted slightly better, as it explains more in each dimension

Question 41

Six personality traits ≠ six personalities

Answer 41

Each trait dimensions has multiple facets = Different combinations per individual Each individual varies in their overall score on each trait

Question 42

Still researchers claim to have found “distinct” personalities (big 5; Asendorpf, 2003)

Answer 42

Resilient: low N, high A, C, O, E Internalising: low E, high N Externalising: low A & C Not reliable, sample sample

Question 43

Gerlach, Farb, Revelle & Amaral (2018)

Answer 43

Added a 4th “personality type” Have 1.5 million participants

Question 44

Criticisms of Gerlach, Farb, Revelle & Amaral (2018)

Answer 44

These precise combinations are not very common This problem remains even in large samples. Using personality types to predict personality is less accurate than using trait levels.

Question 45

Through finding the fundamental personality dimensions

Answer 45

Researchers are able to efficiently & comprehensively measure personality

Question 46

Factor analyses is a technique used to...

Answer 46

identify the major dimensions of personality

Question 47

Early factor analyses of English words in lexical studies yielded five factors “the Big 5” personality traits:

Answer 47

``` Neuroticism Extraversion Agreeableness Conscientiousness Openness (imagination/intellect) ```

Question 48

Later lexical studies in different languages and have reliably found six personality dimensions:

Answer 48

``` Honesty-humility Emotionality Extraversion Agreeableness Conscientiousness Openness ```

Question 49

Two main scales for measuring personality:

Answer 49

Big 5 - NEO scales (Costa & McCrae, 1991, 1992) 6 factor - HEXACO (Ashton & Lee, 2009; Lee & Ashton, 1994)