The Big Five factors in personality. A primer.

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1 by Paul O Olson, MBA, Mc Psychology Introduction This paper explains the Big Five or Five Factor Model of personality and its application in the IEF Cultural survey. This model is state of the art of personality psychology and is used in psychological research worldwide by virtually all universities. The paper also shows the similarity with the and the personality tests, which are based upon the same theoretical model. Finally, because the International Personality Item Pool is freeware and open down to its smallest components, it is possible for a trained psychologist to construct ad hoc surveys and connect them to group processes or create a more detailed test to assess emotional suitability for coaching. uch exercises should of course only be done by qualified professionals. hort history Of course, no model of personality can do justice to the complexity of human nature and no personality model can accurately predict human behaviour. Until about 1990 personality models were based upon many interesting ideas, that were neither rooted in good theory nor in empirical research. Many of these ideas were believable then and are in continued use today, despite lack of evidence that they actually describe personality at all. As one professor said: All personality tests measure something, but most do not measure personality and should not be used as such. Personality psychology has now provided a different path, based upon the assumption that many adjectives (good, kind, assertive, bad, ) describe personality traits: This is how I am or This is how he is as opposed to his behaviour, which may or may not reflect his or her personality. Those traits that are most important will have more synonyms attached to it (The Lexical Hypothesis). The approach has worked very well indeed and through advanced statistical analyses and verification against theory, the result has been a consistent set of five personality domains (hence The Big Five) and sub areas (often called facets) that specify further their respective domains. A solid model that connects with psychological research at universities all over the world should be the obvious choice. Bad theory (Myers Brigg Type Indicator for one) will get you wrong predictions that will lead to failure sooner or later. (I do not get paid for saying this!) This is not to say that the FFM has replaced other tests, but the trend is there. Even if FFM is the strongest personality model available to us, it is not a complete model of personality. In China a sixth factor has come forward in the statistical analysis tradition, which would sound like a cultural factor (collectivism) but if it were, it would have been a constant instead of a factor. Other factors are also important but are not reflected in the Lexical hypothesis. Gender, intelligence and religion are such areas. 1

2 Team analysis In the end effect, it is the interaction between personality, role and situation which determines our behaviour. Group dynamics interfere through stages, majority, minority, identity, groupthink, comparisons, categorisation, in group v out group and leadership activity it is all part of team analyses. For personality theory it simply means that roles are different and that people need to be different to fill the roles. All of us will have some traits with high values, some with medium and some with low the balance of these is what determines the dynamics of our personality. A team analysis takes this further and is concerned with the totality of the team s profiles, processes and emotional patterns. In the below, is a rather typical profile for a sales director and P rather typical for e.g. a plant manager. They report to M, the general manager. Domain Low Medium High E Extraversion Introvert P Ambivert Extravert,M A Agreeableness Challenger Negotiator Adapter P,M C Conscientiousness Flexible Balanced Focused P,M Emotional stability Reactive M Responsive Resilient P O Openness Preserver P,M Moderate Explorer A sales department with people like will be very competitive and social, but may not see a need to help each other and work as a team. Or they may want teamwork, but it becomes too low a priority. Also, in this case, the managing director M may be irritated by P s lack of outspokenness (low E) and may even agree with that P is a weak person (!) despite a high factor. Hopefully, M is helpful enough (medium A) to build bridges between his two subordinates rather than team up with, as happens too often between powerful persons. But it is still 2:1. Patterns such as these will be revealed by a more detailed personality test, which are discussed with the participants in 1:1 debriefings. Group processes will be observed and/or discussed in one or more facilitated workshops. The format will depend on the purpose of the analysis (team building, conflict solving, integration of new members, acquisitions, mergers, problem solving, project work etc). Individual testing and team analysis are but two useful applications from modern personality psychology. A minimal personality test In a survey to look at how people develop their cultural values as they move about the world, it was necessary to include a self selection hypothesis, i.e. not everybody is interested to live and work outside one s familiar community or home country. ome level of extraversion or social skills is probably present, as is a certain level of openness. But if so, these factors probably also accelerate cultural adjustment. Global managers may not be representative, right? 2

3 We therefore construct a small test, a 50 item personality test at factor/domain level. We do not believe in significant similarities below that level. The items are included later as an example, the items have been taken from International Personality Item Pool, which is available for free and unrestricted usage. In the tables later in the paper we have also listed the facet names in four models based upon Big Five. In addition to, we have also included the (the Costa McCrae model), OAK PX (Econova) and to show that the different implementations have clear family resemblances! The five factors The names used vary with the angle of description, but domains and factors are basically the same. Factors is the term more connected to statistical methods (factor analysis), while domains is more connected with the theory as such. ub factors and facets are a parallel to this. For practical uses they are synonyms. For each of the factors below, facet names have been listed to indicate the type of adjectives that belong to the factor. The items used in the urvey are also listed, together with the statistical reliability of the items taken together. This is known as Cronbach s alpha, which should as a rule of thumb be above.70. These are therefore very reliable scales even with only 50 questions, in fact 100 questions does not increase reliability enough to be of any value in this survey. Each item is rated by the respondent from 1 (very untrue) to 5 (very true) or some similar wording. ome questions are reversed for natural reasons or to increase consistency, i.e. you would answer those opposite to the others. Factor I Extraversion This factor describes willingness, ability and priority to be a player on the social field. It may be more competitive than helpful, more influential than supportive. Friendliness, Gregariousness, Assertiveness, Activity level, Excitement seeking, Cheerfulness Impact: Liveliness, Friendliness, Dynamism, Boldness, Influence Warmth, Gregariousness, Assertiveness, Activity, Excitement seeking, Positive emotions Gregariousness, Friendliness, Assertiveness, Poise, Leadership, Provocativeness, elf disclosure, Talkativeness, ociability 10 item scale (Alpha =.87) + keyed Am the life of the party. Feel comfortable around people. tart conversations. Talk to a lot of different people at parties. Don't mind being the center of attention. keyed Don't talk a lot. Keep in the background. Have little to say. Don't like to draw attention to myself. Am quiet around strangers. 3

4 Factor II Agreeableness Basically this factor describes a willingness, priority and/or ability to cooperate with others, to be helpful and to be a good and considerate team player. Trust, Morality, Altruism, Cooperation, Modesty, ympathy ervice orientation: upportiveness, Warm heartedness, Trust, Empathy, Tolerance Trust, traightforwardness, Altruism, Compliance, Modesty, Tendermindedness Understanding, Warmth, Morality, Pleasantness, Empathy, Cooperation, ympathy, Tenderness, Nurturance 10 item scale (Alpha =.82) + keyed Am interested in people. ympathize with others' feelings. Have a soft heart. Take time out for others. Feel others' emotions. Make people feel at ease. keyed Am not really interested in others. Insult people. Am not interested in other people's problems. Feel little concern for others. Factor III Conscientiousness This factor is about the way we organise ourselves and our surroundings. elf efficacy, Orderliness, Dutifulness, Achievement striving, elf discipline, Cautiousness Excellence: Dependability, Work Discipline, Orderliness, olidity, Organisation Competence, Order, Dutifulness, Achievement striving, elf discipline, Deliberation Conscientiousness, Efficiency, Dutifulness, Purposefulness, Organisation, Cautiousness, Rationality, Perfectionism, Orderliness 10 item scale (Alpha =.79) + keyed Am always prepared. Pay attention to details. Get chores done right away. Like order. Follow a schedule. Am exacting in my work. keyed Leave my belongings around. Make a mess of things. Often forget to put things back in their proper place. hirk my duties. 4

5 Factor IV Emotional tability This factor describes how we operate at the emotional level as opposed to our activities, which are better described by the other factors. Anxiety, Anger, Depression, elf consciousness, Immoderation, Vulnerability tability: Harmony, ecurity, Contentment, Cool heartedness, Impulse control Anxiety, Angry hostility, Depression, elf consciousness, Impulsiveness, Vulnerability tability, Happiness, Calmness, Moderation, Toughness, Impulse control, Imperturbability, Cool headedness, Tranquility 10 item scale (Alpha =.86) + keyed Am relaxed most of the time. eldom feel blue. keyed Get stressed out easily. Worry about things. Am easily disturbed. Get upset easily. Change my mood a lot. Have frequent mood swings. Get irritated easily. Often feel blue. Factor V Openness This factor measures our level of interest beyond our immediate surroundings. Imagination, Artistic interests, Emotionality, Adventurousness, Intellect, Liberalism Development: Intellect, Creativity, Reflection, Rationality, olutions Fantasy, Aesthetics, Feelings, Actions, Ideas, Values Intellect, Ingenuity, Reflection, Competence, Quickness, Introspection, Creativity, Imagination, Depth 10 item scale (Alpha =.84) + keyed Have a rich vocabulary. Have a vivid imagination. Have excellent ideas. Am quick to understand things. Use difficult words. pend time reflecting on things. Am full of ideas. keyed Have difficulty understanding abstract ideas. Am not interested in abstract ideas. Do not have a good imagination. 5

6 Further reading Goldberg, L. R., Johnson, J. A., Eber, H. W., Hogan, R., Ashton, M. C., Cloninger, C. R., & Gough, H. C. (2006). The International Personality Item Pool and the future of public domain personality measures. Journal of Research in Personality, 40, International Personality Item Pool: A cientific Collaboratory for the Development of Advanced Measures of Personality Traits and Other Individual Differences ( Web ite. Pennington, D (2003): Essential Personality. New York: Oxford University Press. Pervin, L A (2001): Current controversies and issues in personality. Princeton, NJ: John Wiley & ons. Piedmont, R L (1998): The Revised NEO Personality Inventory: Clinical and Research s. New York: Plenum Press. Rust, J and Golombok (1999): Modern Psychometrics. The science of psychological assessment. 2 nd ed. London: Routledge. 6