16 Personality Factors
Encyclopedia
The 16 Personality Factors, measured by the 16PF Questionnaire
, were derived using factor-analysis
by psychologist
Raymond Cattell
.
Below is a table outlining this model.
and Raymond Cattell
. Cattell referred to the 16 factors listed below as primary factors. They were developed in the 1940s and 1950s by scientifically sampling the widest possible range of behaviors, including using ratings by observers, questionnaires, and objective measurements of actual behavior. This took more than a decade, and was later validated in a range of international cultures over time. Thus, these factors were seen to represent a fairly comprehensive listing of the basic dimensions of human personality.
He then factored these primary traits (i.e., performed a second-order factor analysis) and discovered a smaller number of over-arching personality factors or domains that provided the overall structure and meaning for the primary traits. He labelled these Second-Order or Global Factors. For example, Extraversion was found to be a Global Factor that contained primary factors Warmth/Reserve(A), Social Boldness/Shyness (H), Liveliness/Seriousness (F), Group-Orientation/Self-Sufficiency (Q2), and Forthrightness/Privatness (N).
In the original Fourth and Fifth Editions of the 16PF, there were five global factors that correspond fairly closely to the later "Big Five
" (BF): BF Openness => 16PF Openness/Tough-mindedness; BF Conscientiousness => 16PF Self-Control; BF Extraversion => 16PF Extraversion; BF Agreeableness/Dis-Agreeablenss => 16PF Independence/Accommodation; and BF Neuroticism => 16PF Anxiety (Conn & Rieke, 1994). In fact, the development of the Big-Five factors began by factor-analyzing the original items of the 16PF .
However, one big technical difference between Cattell's five Global Factors and popular Five-Factor models was Cattell's insistence on using scientific, oblique rotations, whereas Goldberg
and Costa & McCrae used orthogonal rotations. Oblique rotation allows the factors to locate and define themselves, whereas orthogonal rotation forces the factors to arbitrarily be unrelated to each other (at 90 degrees to each other)--a quality which is true of very few known personality traits. However, this makes the factors easier to agree upon and to work on statistically in research. This forced the Big-Five traits into somewhat skewed definitions compared to the 16PF Global factors. For example, in Cattell's model, the basic personality trait of Dominance (Factor E) is strongly located in the Independence/Accommodation Factor (i.e., Big-Five Agreeableness) which represents a quality of fearless, original thinking and forceful, independent actions. However, other popular big five models consider Dominance as a facet of several Big-Five traits, including Extraversion, Dis-Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. Thus Dominance is spread very thinly across a range of Big-Five factors with little influence on any one (Cattell & Mead, 2008).
and H.S. Odbert hypothesized that:
This statement has become known as the Lexical Hypothesis.
Allport and Odbert had worked through two of the most comprehensive dictionaries
of the English language available at the time, and extracted 18,000 personality-describing words. From this gigantic list they extracted 4500 personality-describing adjectives which they considered to describe observable and relatively permanent traits.
In 1946 Raymond Cattell used the emerging technology of computer
s to analyse the Allport-Odbert list. He organized the list into 181 clusters and asked subjects to rate people whom they knew by the adjectives on the list. Using factor analysis
Cattell generated twelve factors, and then included four factors which he thought ought to appear. The result was the hypothesis that individuals describe themselves and each other according to sixteen different, independent factors.
With these sixteen factors as a basis, Cattell went on to construct the 16PF Personality Questionnaire, which remains in use by universities and businesses for research personnel selection and the like. Although subsequent research has failed to replicate his results, and it has been shown that he retained too many factors, the current 16PF takes these findings into account and is considered to be a very good test. In 1963, W.T. Norman
replicated Cattell’s work and suggested that five factors would be sufficient.
16PF Questionnaire
The Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire , is a multiple-choice personality questionnaire which was developed over several decades of research by Raymond B. Cattell and his colleagues...
, were derived using factor-analysis
Factor analysis
Factor analysis is a statistical method used to describe variability among observed, correlated variables in terms of a potentially lower number of unobserved, uncorrelated variables called factors. In other words, it is possible, for example, that variations in three or four observed variables...
by psychologist
Psychologist
Psychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
Raymond Cattell
Raymond Cattell
Raymond Bernard Cattell was a British and American psychologist, known for his exploration of many areas in psychology...
.
Below is a table outlining this model.
Raymond Cattell's 16 Personality Factors
| Descriptors of Low Range | Primary Factor | Descriptors of High Range |
|---|---|---|
| Impersonal, distant, cool, reserved, detached, formal, aloof (Schizothymia Schizothymia Schizothymia is a temperament related to schizophrenia in a way analogous to cyclothymia's relationship with bipolar disorder. A schizothymic individual displays a flat affect and a high degree of introversion, withdrawing from social relations generally; nevertheless, some individuals with this... ) |
Warmth (A) |
Warm, outgoing, attentive to others, kindly, easy-going, participating, likes people (Affectothymia) |
| Concrete thinking, lower general mental capacity, less intelligent, unable to handle abstract problems (Lower Scholastic Mental Capacity) | Reasoning (B) |
Abstract-thinking, more intelligent, bright, higher general mental capacity, fast learner (Higher Scholastic Mental Capacity) |
| Reactive emotionally, changeable, affected by feelings, emotionally less stable, easily upset (Lower Ego Strength) | (C) |
Emotionally stable, adaptive, mature, faces reality calmly (Higher Ego Strength) |
| Deferential, cooperative, avoids conflict, submissive, humble, obedient, easily led, docile, accommodating (Submissiveness) | Dominance (E) |
Dominant, forceful, assertive, aggressive, competitive, stubborn, bossy (Dominance) |
| Serious, restrained, prudent, taciturn, introspective, silent (Desurgency) | Liveliness (F) |
Lively, animated, spontaneous, enthusiastic, happy go lucky, cheerful, expressive, impulsive (Surgency Surgency Surgency is a personality attribute that is part of the Big Five personality traits, or the Five-factor model . It is most commonly referred to as the dimension of Extraversion.... ) |
| Expedient, nonconforming, disregards rules, self indulgent (Low Super Ego Strength) | Rule-Consciousness Conscientiousness Conscientiousness is the trait of being painstaking and careful, or the quality of acting according to the dictates of one's conscience. It includes such elements as self-discipline, carefulness, thoroughness, organization, deliberation , and need for achievement. It is an aspect of what has... (G) |
Rule-conscious, dutiful, conscientious, conforming, moralistic, staid, rule bound (High Super Ego Strength) |
| Shy, threat-sensitive, timid, hesitant, intimidated (Threctia) | Social Boldness (H) |
Socially bold, venturesome, thick skinned, uninhibited (Parmia) |
| Utilitarian, objective, unsentimental, tough minded, self-reliant, no-nonsense, rough (Harria) | Sensitivity Sensitivity (human) The sensitivity or insensitivity of a human, often considered with regard to a particular kind of stimulus, is the strength of the feeling it results in, in comparison with the strength of the stimulus... (I) |
Sensitive, aesthetic, sentimental, tender minded, intuitive, refined (Premsia) |
| Trusting, unsuspecting, accepting, unconditional, easy (Alaxia) | Vigilance (L) |
Vigilant, suspicious, skeptical, distrustful, oppositional (Protension) |
| Grounded, practical, prosaic, solution oriented, steady, conventional (Praxernia) | Abstractedness (M) |
Abstract, imaginative, absent minded, impractical, absorbed in ideas (Autia) |
| Forthright, genuine, artless, open, guileless, naive, unpretentious, involved (Artlessness) | Privateness (N) |
Private, discreet, nondisclosing, shrewd, polished, worldly, astute, diplomatic (Shrewdness) |
| Self-Assured, unworried, complacent, secure, free of guilt, confident, self satisfied (Untroubled) | Apprehension Neuroticism Neuroticism is a fundamental personality trait in the study of psychology. It is an enduring tendency to experience negative emotional states. Individuals who score high on neuroticism are more likely than the average to experience such feelings as anxiety, anger, guilt, and depressed mood... (O) |
Apprehensive, self doubting, worried, guilt prone, insecure, worrying, self blaming (Guilt Proneness) |
| Traditional, attached to familiar, conservative, respecting traditional ideas (Conservatism) | Openness to Change (Q1) |
Open to change, experimental, liberal, analytical, critical, free thinking, flexibility (Radicalism) |
| Group-oriented, affiliative, a joiner and follower dependent (Group Adherence) | Self-Reliance Self-sufficiency Self-sufficiency refers to the state of not requiring any outside aid, support, or interaction, for survival; it is therefore a type of personal or collective autonomy... (Q2) |
Self-reliant, solitary, resourceful, individualistic, self-sufficient (Self-Sufficiency) |
| Tolerates disorder, unexacting, flexible, undisciplined, lax, self-conflict, impulsive, careless of social rules, uncontrolled (Low Integration) | Perfectionism Perfectionism (psychology) Perfectionism, in psychology, is a belief that a state of completeness and flawlessness can and should be attained. In its pathological form, perfectionism is a belief that work or output that is anything less than perfect is unacceptable... (Q3) |
Perfectionistic, organized, compulsive, self-disciplined, socially precise, exacting will power, control, self-sentimental (High Self-Concept Control) |
| Relaxed, placid, tranquil, torpid, patient, composed low drive (Low Ergic Tension) | Tension (Q4) |
Tense, high energy, impatient, driven, frustrated, over wrought, time driven. (High Ergic Tension) |
| Primary Factors and Descriptors in Cattell's 16 Personality Factor Model (Adapted From Conn & Rieke, 1994). | ||
Relationship to the Big Five
This article is a very brief summary of the in-depth information that appears under the main listings--16PF Questionnaire16PF Questionnaire
The Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire , is a multiple-choice personality questionnaire which was developed over several decades of research by Raymond B. Cattell and his colleagues...
and Raymond Cattell
Raymond Cattell
Raymond Bernard Cattell was a British and American psychologist, known for his exploration of many areas in psychology...
. Cattell referred to the 16 factors listed below as primary factors. They were developed in the 1940s and 1950s by scientifically sampling the widest possible range of behaviors, including using ratings by observers, questionnaires, and objective measurements of actual behavior. This took more than a decade, and was later validated in a range of international cultures over time. Thus, these factors were seen to represent a fairly comprehensive listing of the basic dimensions of human personality.
He then factored these primary traits (i.e., performed a second-order factor analysis) and discovered a smaller number of over-arching personality factors or domains that provided the overall structure and meaning for the primary traits. He labelled these Second-Order or Global Factors. For example, Extraversion was found to be a Global Factor that contained primary factors Warmth/Reserve(A), Social Boldness/Shyness (H), Liveliness/Seriousness (F), Group-Orientation/Self-Sufficiency (Q2), and Forthrightness/Privatness (N).
In the original Fourth and Fifth Editions of the 16PF, there were five global factors that correspond fairly closely to the later "Big Five
Big Five personality traits
In contemporary psychology, the "Big Five" factors of personality are five broad domains or dimensions of personality which are used to describe human personality....
" (BF): BF Openness => 16PF Openness/Tough-mindedness; BF Conscientiousness => 16PF Self-Control; BF Extraversion => 16PF Extraversion; BF Agreeableness/Dis-Agreeablenss => 16PF Independence/Accommodation; and BF Neuroticism => 16PF Anxiety (Conn & Rieke, 1994). In fact, the development of the Big-Five factors began by factor-analyzing the original items of the 16PF .
However, one big technical difference between Cattell's five Global Factors and popular Five-Factor models was Cattell's insistence on using scientific, oblique rotations, whereas Goldberg
Lewis Goldberg
Lewis R. Goldberg is an American personality psychologist and a professor emeritus at the University of Oregon who is closely associated with the Big Five taxonomy of personality...
and Costa & McCrae used orthogonal rotations. Oblique rotation allows the factors to locate and define themselves, whereas orthogonal rotation forces the factors to arbitrarily be unrelated to each other (at 90 degrees to each other)--a quality which is true of very few known personality traits. However, this makes the factors easier to agree upon and to work on statistically in research. This forced the Big-Five traits into somewhat skewed definitions compared to the 16PF Global factors. For example, in Cattell's model, the basic personality trait of Dominance (Factor E) is strongly located in the Independence/Accommodation Factor (i.e., Big-Five Agreeableness) which represents a quality of fearless, original thinking and forceful, independent actions. However, other popular big five models consider Dominance as a facet of several Big-Five traits, including Extraversion, Dis-Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. Thus Dominance is spread very thinly across a range of Big-Five factors with little influence on any one (Cattell & Mead, 2008).
Origins
In 1936 Gordon AllportGordon Allport
Gordon Willard Allport was an American psychologist. Allport was one of the first psychologists to focus on the study of the personality, and is often referred to as one of the founding figures of personality psychology...
and H.S. Odbert hypothesized that:
This statement has become known as the Lexical Hypothesis.
Allport and Odbert had worked through two of the most comprehensive dictionaries
Dictionary
A dictionary is a collection of words in one or more specific languages, often listed alphabetically, with usage information, definitions, etymologies, phonetics, pronunciations, and other information; or a book of words in one language with their equivalents in another, also known as a lexicon...
of the English language available at the time, and extracted 18,000 personality-describing words. From this gigantic list they extracted 4500 personality-describing adjectives which they considered to describe observable and relatively permanent traits.
In 1946 Raymond Cattell used the emerging technology of computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
s to analyse the Allport-Odbert list. He organized the list into 181 clusters and asked subjects to rate people whom they knew by the adjectives on the list. Using factor analysis
Factor analysis
Factor analysis is a statistical method used to describe variability among observed, correlated variables in terms of a potentially lower number of unobserved, uncorrelated variables called factors. In other words, it is possible, for example, that variations in three or four observed variables...
Cattell generated twelve factors, and then included four factors which he thought ought to appear. The result was the hypothesis that individuals describe themselves and each other according to sixteen different, independent factors.
With these sixteen factors as a basis, Cattell went on to construct the 16PF Personality Questionnaire, which remains in use by universities and businesses for research personnel selection and the like. Although subsequent research has failed to replicate his results, and it has been shown that he retained too many factors, the current 16PF takes these findings into account and is considered to be a very good test. In 1963, W.T. Norman
Big Five personality traits
In contemporary psychology, the "Big Five" factors of personality are five broad domains or dimensions of personality which are used to describe human personality....
replicated Cattell’s work and suggested that five factors would be sufficient.
See also
- Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
- Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Personality Inventory (NEO-PI)
- Trait theoryTrait theoryIn psychology, Trait theory is a major approach to the study of human personality. Trait theorists are primarily interested in the measurement of traits, which can be defined as habitual patterns of behavior, thought, and emotion. According to this perspective, traits are relatively stable over...
- SocionicsSocionicsSocionics , in psychology, is a theory of information processing and personality type, distinguished by its information model of the psyche and a model of interpersonal relations. It incorporates Carl Jung's work on Psychological Types with Antoni Kępiński's theory of information metabolism...
- Enneagram of personalityEnneagram of PersonalityThe Enneagram of Personality is a model of human personality which is principally used as a typology. Principally developed by Oscar Ichazo and Claudio Naranjo, it is also partly based on earlier teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff...