Five Factor Model of Personality (Helen Walters)

What is the lexical hypothesis

states that important personality traits become encoded in language, so key individual differences are reflected in everyday words

What is factor analysis

• statistical analysis technique for data reduction

• a more complex version of correlational analysis

• instead of looking at 2 variables, factor analysis looks at the relationship between many variables

• attempts to find patterns of association in a set of variables

• applied by Cattell to find similar traits that can be meaningfully organised into named clusters

What are the five factors in the Five Factor Model of Personality

• extraversion

• neuroticism

• conscientiousness

• agreeableness

• openness

What is extraversion

• a measure of an individual’s sociability

• individuals with high scores are labelled extraverts

  • described as sociable, energetic, friendly, optimistic, and assertive

• individuals with low scores are labelled introverts

  • described as being reserved, reflective, independent, and consistent

What is neuroticism

• measures an individual’s emotional stability and adjustment

• Costa and McCrae (1992) suggest that there are a range of emotions and those scoring highly on one also score highly on others

  • in psychological terms, emotional states are highly correlated with one another

  • individuals who score highly on neuroticism may experience mood swings and volatile (unpredictable) emotions

  • individuals with low scores are considered calm, well-adjusted and not prone to extreme emotions

What is conscientiousness

• described our level of self-discipline and control

• individuals with high conscientiousness scores are determined, organises, perseverant, and plan for life events

• individuals with low scores ten to be careless, unreliable, and easily distracted from their goals or tasks that they are carrying out

What is agreeableness

• refers to the characteristics of an individual in relation to social interaction

• individuals with high scores are trusting, helpful, warm-hearted, and empathetic

• those with low scores are suspicious, unfriendly, unhelpful, sceptical, argumentative, and uncooperative

What is openness

• relates to the openness of an individual to new experiences

• includes characteristics such as intellectual curiosity, flexible thinking, creativity, and a willingness to consider new ideas

• individuals scoring highly on openness are innovative and independent thinkers

• individuals with low scores are more conventional and prefer familiarity over new experiences

What did Roberts et al., 2006 suggest

that personality traits, although relatively stable, can change over the life course

What did DeYoung et al., (2010); Jang et al., (1996) argue

there is a significant genetic component to personality traits, as indicated by twin studies

• it suggests that personality traits are partly inherited

• twin studies show that identical twins (100%) are more similar in personality than fraternal twins (50%), even when raised apart.

  • This indicates that genes make a significant contribution to personality differences.

What did Vazsonyi et al., 2015 argue

cross-cultural studies suggest that the Five Factor Model predicts adolescent emotional adjustment and wellbeing

How does the Five-Factor Model relate to mental health outcomes (Kang et al., 2023)

analysed data from 12,007 participants (> 16 years( from the British Household Panel Study

• neuroticism was positively related to anxiety and depressive symptoms

• extraversion was negatively related to social dysfunction. anhedonia (inability to experience joy), anxiety, and depressive symptoms

• agreeableness and conscientiousness were negatively related to social dysfunction, anhedonia (inability to experience joy), and loss of confidence

• openness was negatively related to anxiety and depressive symptoms

What did Zhu et al. (2023) find about personality traits and emotion regulation

examined the personality traits in relation to emotion regulation strategies

• found that individuals who scored high on extraversion tend to use more adaptive emotion regulation strategies (e.g. problem-solving)

• high neuroticism was related to more maladaptive strategies (e.g. avoidance)

• extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness were associated with more adaptive emotion regulation strategies

  • but extraversion and openness had a relationship with more maladaptive strategies (e.g. fantasy distraction)

How can the Five-Factor Model of personality be evaluated

• description

  • organised personality traits into five broad dimensions, simplifying a myriad of human behaviours and attitudes

 

• explanation

  • does well at describing typical behaviours associated with each trait

 

• empirical validity

  • multiple studies have found consistent empirical support for the model

 

• testable concepts

  • the concepts are operationalised through various validated scales (such as the 240-item Personality Inventory Revised), making them easily measurable

 

• comprehensiveness

  • captures a broad range of human personality traits but may miss some culturally-specific or niche traits

 

• parsimony

  • parsimonious as it condenses the vast array of human personalities into five broad categories

 

• heuristic value

  • stimulated a significant amount of research in the area of personality psychology, not just to understand and expand upon it but also to critique and refine it

 

• applied value

  • key applications in job recruitment, therapeutic settings, and relationship counselling highlight its practical utility in real-world scenarios