Summary
Contents
Subject index
A definitive, authoritative and up-to-date resource for anyone interested in the theories, models and assessment methods used for understanding the many factes of Human personality and individual differences. Volume 1: Personality Theories and Models deals with the major theoretical models underlying personality instruments.
Empirical and Theoretical Status of the Five-Factor Model of Personality Traits
Empirical and Theoretical Status of the Five-Factor Model of Personality Traits
Progress sometimes seems elusive in psychology, where old methods such as the Rorschach endure despite decades of criticism (Costa and McCrae, 2005), and where new research is often based on passing fads (Fiske and Leyens, 1997) rather than cumulative findings. It is remarkable, therefore, when clear progress is made, and there are few more dramatic examples than the rise to dominance of the Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality traits in the past quarter century. Before that time, trait psychology had endured a Thirty Years’ War of competing trait models, with Guilford, Cattell, and Eysenck only the most illustrious of the combatants. The discovery of the FFM by Tupes and Christal (1961/1992) in the midst of that war was largely ignored, but its rediscovery 20 years later quickly led to a growing acceptance. Today it is the default model of personality structure, guiding not only personality psychologists, but increasingly, developmentalists (Kohnstamm et al., 1998), cross-cultural psychologists (McCrae and Allik, 2002), industrial/organizational psychologists (Judge et al., 1999), and clinicians (J.A. Singer, 2005).
This chapter has two parts. The first is an overview of the FFM and associated research findings, and may appeal primarily to the general reader. The second half, ‘Challenges to the FFM’, contains more detailed and technical accounts of current controversies, and is addressed chiefly to personality researchers.
Origins and Accomplishments of the FFM
The FFM is the most widely accepted solution to the problem of describing trait structure — that is, finding a simple and effective way to understand relations among traits. Trait adjectives (such as nervous, energetic, original, accommodating, and careful) describe individual differences that usually show a bell-shaped distribution: For example, a few people are very energetic, most people are somewhat energetic, and a few are lethargic. There are thousands of such terms in the English language, and many other traits have been identified by psychologists (such as ego strength, tolerance of ambiguity, and need for achievement). It was recognized long ago that these traits overlap: Someone who is described as nervous is also likely to be described as worried, jittery, anxious, apprehensive, and fearful. Beyond semantic similarity, psychologists realized that some classes of traits were closely related. For example, there is a clear difference between being sad and being scared, but people who are frequently sad are also frequently scared.
To summarize trait information in a manageable number of constructs, psychologists used factor analysis, a statistical technique that in effect sorts variables into groups of related traits that are more or less independent of the other groups. For example, sad and scared would define the high pole of a factor (or dimension) called ‘neuroticism’ (N), because it was first observed in psychiatric patients diagnosed with a neurosis. The opposite pole of the same dimension would be defined by traits such as calm and stable. A completely different factor, ‘extraversion’ (E), contrasts warm, outgoing, and cheerful with reserved, solitary, and somber. Just as any place on Earth can be specified by the three dimensions of latitude, longitude, and altitude, so anyone's personality can be characterized in terms of the five dimensions of the FFM.
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