Monday, February 5, 2018

Five Factor Model of Personality

The five factor model of personality (FFM), also known as the Big Five personality traits, is a prominent personality model based on five broad trait dimensions: Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism (OCEAN).  It applies a lexical approach which is based on the assumption that the most important personality traits are encoded as words in natural languages and that the analysis of the structure of those words may lead to a scientifically acceptable personality model.


History

In 1936, psychologists Gordon Allport and Henry Odbert extracted approximately 4,500 terms from Webster’s New International Dictionary which described types of behavior or personality traits.(3)

In the 1940s, Raymond Cattell reduced Allport and Odbert's list of traits to 171 words by eliminating synonyms. From there he applied a statistical procedure known as factor analysis to "analyze the correlations among traits and to identify the most important ones. On the basis of his research, he identified what he called “source” (more important) and “surface” (less important) traits, and he developed a measure that assesses 16 dimensions of traits based on personality adjectives taken from everyday language."(4)

"Investigation into the five factor model started in 1949 when D.W. Fiske was unable to find support for Cattell’s expansive 16 factors of personality, but instead found support for only five factors. Research increased in the 1980s and 1990s, offering increasing support for the five factor model. The five factor personality traits show consistency in interviews, self-descriptions, and observations, as well as across a wide range of participants of different ages and from different cultures. It is the most widely accepted structure among trait theorists and in personality psychology today, and the most accurate approximation of the basic trait dimensions."(5)

"Because this model was developed independently by different theorists, the names of each of the five factors—and what each factor measures—differ according to which theorist is referencing it."(5) "At least four sets of researchers have worked independently for decades on this problem and have identified generally the same five factors: Tupes and Christal were first, followed by Goldberg at the Oregon Research Institute, Cattell at the University of Illinois, and Costa and McCrae at the National Institutes of Health."(6)



The Big Five Personality Traits

Openness to experience (inventive/curious vs. consistent/cautious).
This trait includes appreciation for art, emotion, adventure, unusual ideas, curiosity, and variety of experience. Openness reflects a person’s degree of intellectual curiosity, creativity, and preference for novelty and variety. It is also described as the extent to which a person is imaginative or independent; it describes a personal preference for a variety of activities over a strict routine. Those who score high in openness to experience prefer novelty, while those who score low prefer routine.(5)


Facets:(1)
Fantasy prone
Open to feelings
Open to diverse behaviors
Open to new and different ideas
Open to various values and beliefs

 Openness to Experience: Wikipedia


 Conscientiousness (efficient/organized vs. easy-going/careless).
This trait refers to one’s tendency toward self-discipline, dutifulness, competence, thoughtfulness, and achievement-striving (such as goal-directed behavior). It is distinct from the moral implications of “having a conscience”; instead, this trait focuses on the amount of deliberate intention and thought a person puts into his or her behavior. Individuals high in conscientiousness prefer planned rather than spontaneous behavior and are often organized, hardworking, and dependable. Individuals who score low in conscientiousness take a more relaxed approach, are spontaneous, and may be disorganized. Numerous studies have found a positive correlation between conscientiousness and academic success.(5)

 Facets:(1)
Competent
Orderly
Dutiful
Achievement oriented
Self-disciplined
Deliberate

Conscientiousness: Wikipedia
Extraversion (outgoing/energetic vs. solitary/reserved).
An individual who scores high on extraversion is characterized by high energy, positive emotions, talkativeness, assertiveness, sociability, and the tendency to seek stimulation in the company of others. Those who score low on extraversion prefer solitude and/or smaller groups, enjoy quiet, prefer activities alone, and avoid large social situations. Not surprisingly, people who score high on both extroversion and openness are more likely to participate in adventure and risky sports due to their curious and excitement-seeking nature(5)

Facets:(1)
Gregarious
Warm
Assertive
Active
Excitement-seeking
Positive emotionality

 Extraversion and Introversion: Wikipedia
Agreeableness (friendly/compassionate vs. challenging/detached).
This trait measures one’s tendency to be compassionate and cooperative rather than suspicious and antagonistic towards others. It is also a measure of a person’s trusting and helpful nature and whether that person is generally well-tempered or not. People who score low on agreeableness tend to be described as rude and uncooperative.(5)


Facets:(1)
Trusting
Straightforward
Altruistic
Compliant
Modest
Tender-minded

Agreeableness: Wikipedia


 Neuroticism (sensitive/nervous vs. secure/confident).
High neuroticism is characterized by the tendency to experience unpleasant emotions, such as anger, anxiety, depression, or vulnerability. Neuroticism also refers to an individual’s degree of emotional stability and impulse control. People high in neuroticism tend to experience emotional instability and are characterized as angry, impulsive, and hostile. Watson and Clark (1984) found that people reporting high levels of neuroticism also tend to report feeling anxious and unhappy. In contrast, people who score low in neuroticism tend to be calm and even-tempered.(5)

 Facets:(1)
Anxious
Angry
Depressed
Self-consciousness
Impulsive
Vulnerable

Neuroticism: Wikipedia
Traits Are Mostly Independent

Scores on the Big Five traits are mostly independent. That means that a person’s standing on one trait tells very little about their standing on the other traits of the Big Five. For example, a person can be extremely high in Extraversion and be either high or low on Neuroticism. Similarly, a person can be low in Agreeableness and be either high or low in Conscientiousness. Thus, in the Five-Factor Model, you need five scores to describe most of an individual’s personality.(1)


Five Factor Personality Assessment Tools

There are a number of personality assessment tools which measure the Big Five. These include:

International Personality Item Pool (IPIP)
NEO-PI-R
The Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) and the Five Item Personality Inventory (FIPI) are very abbreviated rating forms of the Big Five personality traits.
Self-descriptive sentence questionnaires
Lexical questionnaires
Self-report questionnaires
Relative-scored Big 5 measure (6)

Much of the evidence on the measures of the Big 5 relies on self-report questionnaires, which makes self-report bias and falsification of responses difficult to deal with and account for. It has been argued that the Big Five tests do not create an accurate personality profile because the responses given on these tests are not true in all cases. For example, questionnaires are answered by potential employees who might choose answers that paint them in the best light.(6)
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