David Normansell

Intro to the Big Five History & Development Dimensions Examples of Tests Psychometric Properties Personality Studies

• Job Performance• Counterproductive Behaviors• Leadership

Personality• Enduring characteristics of a particular

individual

The “Big Five” • Broad dimensions used to categorize and

describe personality.• Each dimension consists of a range of more

specific traits. Synonymous: Five-Factor Model (FFM)

• Developed by Costa & McCrae (1988)

The study of personality is derived from the Lexical hypothesis.

• Important human personality dimensions will be represented in every language.

• The more important the attribute, the more synonyms it will acquire. E.g., for dominance: bossy, assertive,

powerful, pushy, forceful, domineering, etc.

Allport and Odbert:• Often credited as being the first to use the lexical approach to

define personality. • Went through an English-language dictionary - obtained 17000

traits which were then reduced to about 4500 words that described specific personality traits.

Cattell:• Reduced 4,000 terms to about 171 clusters by a rating scheme.• Used factor analysis to identify “bipolar pairs” of traits that

were closely related to one another• Eventually reduced his list to 16 key personality factors.

Eysenck:• Three dimensions

Introversion-extroversion Neuroticism-emotional Psychoticism

Tupes & Christal• Air Force Researchers• Factor analysis using Cattell’s traits and suggested that

only 5 traits were predominant

Goldberg• Replicated Cattell’s methods• 5 factors:

Surgency, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, Culture

Costa & McCrae• Somewhat intuitively consolidated traits

• Factor Analysis

• Discovered Extroversion, Neuroticism, and Openness.

• Added Agreeableness and Conscientiousness to fit with the 5 factors of Goldberg

High Pole• Active• Assertive• Seek Stimulation• Outgoing• Talkative• Energetic

Low Pole• Reserved• Quiet• Shy• Unexpressive

High Pole• Anxious• Self-pitying• Tense• Touchy• Worrying

Low Pole• Calm• Stable• Relaxed• Positive

High Pole• Artistic• Curious • Imaginative• Insightful• Original• Cultured

Low Pole• Traditional• Simple• Routine

High Pole• Appreciative• Forgiving• Generous• Kind• Trusting

Low Pole• Cold• Aggressive• Uncaring

High Pole• Efficient• Organized• Reliable• Attentive to detail

Low Pole• Lazy• Careless• Frivolous

NEO Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI)• (Costa & McCrey , 1988)

NEI-PI-R – (Costa & McCrea, 1992)• Revised NEO personality inventory

Big Five Inventory (BFI)• (John & Srivastava, 1999)

Trait Descriptive Adjectives TDI • (Goldberg, 1992)

John and Srivastava (1991):• Looked at the validity and reliability of three

commonly used instruments:

NEO-FFI TDA BFI

Robins, et al. (2001) A longitudinal study of personality change in young adulthood.• College Students• NEO-FFI

Agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness increased.

Extroversion: no change Neuroticism: decreased

• Problems with the study?

Barrick, M. R., & Mount, M. K. (1991)

• Conscientiousness: consistent relation with all job performance criteria (i.e., turnover or tenure) and occupational group (i.e., police)

• Extroversion: predicted success in management and sales

• Openness and extroversion predicted training proficiency

• Agreeableness and Neuroticism: some evidence to suggest that they contribute to performance in group settings.

Salgado, J. F. (2002) conducted a meta-analysis of studies investigating the relationship of the big five to counterproductive work behaviors

Results• Conscientiousness: predicted deviant behaviors

and turnover • Emotional Stability (N) and Conscientiousness

were the strongest predictors of turnover

Judge et al. (2002) studied the relationship between the Big 5 leadership emergence and leadership success

• Extroversion and Conscientiousness predicted leader emergence

Judge & Bono (2000): Transformational Leadership• TL is the ability to inspire followers with a vision beyond

their own self interest. Idealized influence Charisma Inspirational motivation Articulation of vision

• Agreeableness, extroversion, and openness all correlated with Transformational Leadership.