The General Factor of Personality

Question 1

What is the General Factor of Personality?

Answer 1

A hypothesised top of the hierarchical structure of personality models which comprises all of the subsequent domains. The main supporting evidence is psychometric and by Rushton et al..

Question 2

What did Digman/DeYoung do?

Answer 2

Split the GFP into alpha (stability) and beta (plasticity).

Question 3

What are alpha and beta split into?

Answer 3

Stability (a) into neuroticism, agreeableness and conscientiousness and plasticity (beta) into extraversion and openness (Costa, McCrae and Goldberg).

Question 4

Outline the r-K theory of reproductive strategies (MacArthur & Wilson, 1967)

Answer 4

In unpredictable environments, r strategies are adopted. We have a larger number of offspring, low parental care. In predictable environments K strategies are adopted - fewer offspring, higher parental care.

Question 5

Outline Rushton’s (1985) theory of GFP based on differential K theory.

Answer 5

States that K-selected individuals are characterised by high intelligence, altruism and cooperation and that this is the driving force of GFP.

Question 6

Outline GFP evolutionary theory.

Answer 6

Normal personality traits co-vary together as co-evolved adaptive life history traits meet the adaptive challenges of life.
These are organised hierarchically with a single higher-order factor
GFP evolved via directional selection like intelligence (g).

Question 7

What does directional selection predict about GFP?

Answer 7

That the high end of a normal distribution of GFP are more likely to survive and reproduce

• High GFP = socially desirable, mate selection
• Low GFP = psychopathology

Question 8

What is directional selection?

Answer 8

The presence of genetic dominance effects reflecting more recent natural selection.

Question 9

What are the claims made by the GFP?

Answer 9

1. Personality is organised hierarchically with a single higher-order factor.
2. Directional selection is the presence of genetic dominance effects reflecting more recent natural selection.
3. High GFP equates to socially desirable mate selection and low GFP to psychopathology

Question 10

What evidence is there against the claim that personality is organised hierarchically with a single higher-order factor?

Answer 10

There are fairly high correlations between the aspects of the hierarchy (alpha and beta, which according to this model should be independent), and reasonably high correlations using multi-trait multi-method matrix.

Question 11

What approach did Rushton et al. use in their support of the GFP?

Answer 11

A non-systematic approach:
- Mixed exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses - post-hoc modification, lots of statistical problems.
- No cross-validation
- Used existing data sets
Don’t report all the necessary statistics (Scree).

Question 12

What did Biesanz and West (2004) show?

Answer 12

That when multiple perspectives are used and method factors are included, orthogonality is observed.

Question 13

What did DeYoung (2006) state?

Answer 13

While the 5 factors are inter-correlated, this may reflect people’s expectations about how traits co-vary.

Question 14

What did McCrae et al. (2008)do?

Answer 14

Used a mixture of twin and multi-informant data to compare substance (correlations across twins or informants) with artefact (correlations with twins or informants). Found that when social desirability is controlled for (e.g. using the overclaiming technique, asking people which things they know of a list of lies) the GFP disappears - the 5 factors are not related.

Question 15

What did Ashton et al. (2009) find?

Answer 15

A slight positive correlation between lower-order blends; friendliness can be considered a lower split that leads to both extraversion and agreeableness.

Question 16

What genetic evidence is there for the dominance effect predicted by the GFP?

Answer 16

Three studies:
- Effect found (Rushton, Bons & Hur, 2008)
- Effect not found (Rushton, Bons, Ando et al., 2009)
- No difference between models which did and didn’t include dominance effects (Figueredo and Rushton, 2009)
Essentially, there is no evidence for dominance/directional selection.

Question 17

What evolutionary evidence is there for directional selection in the GFP?

Answer 17

Human personality isn’t a function of directional selection - GFP and ‘g’ aren’t associated and in terms of links to fitness outcomes, body fluctuating asymmetries are linked to ‘g’ but not personality and reproduction shows high N when E is low.

Question 18

What heritability evidence is there for the GFP?

Answer 18

None - GFP is no more heritable than its components - if hierarchical, should be more heritable as it should account for combined heritability.

Question 19

What evidence is there from personality disorders that high GFP equates to socially desirable mate selection and low GFP to psychopathology?

Answer 19

According to GFP theory, low GFP (high N, low A, low E, low C and low E) is linked to personality disorder (PD), but this isn’t the case:

• Histrionic PD has profile of low N and high E, A and C (opposite of the GFP predictions)
• High E is related to histrionic and dependent PDs
• High C to obsessive-complusive PD
• High A is related to dependent PD

Question 20

What evidence is there from sexual selection that high GFP equates to socially desirable mate selection and low GFP to psychopathology?

Answer 20

Consensual agreement on A, C and O only
Men and women prefer different traits
People alter their trait displays
Traits preference depends on the type of relationship
Little evidence for assortive mating other than O (closest to IQ, which IS assortively mated).