The Big Five (Five Factor Model)

Fundamental lexical hypothesis

Important concepts are cultural universals, more important concepts have more words to describe them

Superfactors: Extraversion

Also known as positive emotionality, someone who is outgoing/interactive

Superfactors: Neuroticism

Also known as negative emotionality, someone marked with anxiety who is emotionally unstable

Superfactors: Psychoticism

Also known as constraint, someone who is obsessive, manipulative, creative, etc.

Extraversion r+

Talkative, assertive, energetic

Extraversion r-

Quiet, reserved, shy

Agreeableness r+

Sympathetic, kind, appreciative

Agreeableness r-

Fault-finding, cold, unfriendly

Conscientousness r+

Organized, thorough, efficient

Conscientousness r-

Careless, disorderly, irresponsible

Neuroticism r+

Tense, anxious, moody

Neuroticism r-

Stable, calm, content

Openness r+

Wide interests, imaginative, insightful

Openness r-

Commonplace, simple, shallow

Universality of Big 5

Agreeableness, conscientousness, extraversion - pretty universal, neuroticism shows up more frequently than not, openness is weakest factors, accounts for least amount of variance

Stability of Big 5

People do change, however traits stay relatively stable and become more stable later on in life

Big Five areas

1) Factor Analysis of large sets of trait terms in language

2) Cross-cultural research for testing the universality of trait dimensions

3) The relation of trait questionnaries to other questionnaries and ratings

Facets

More specific traits or components that make up each of the big 5 factors

Five-factor theory

Treat traits as things that really exist, each person possess a certain level of each trait