Five into One doesn't go: A Critique of the General Factor of Personality

The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Individual Differences

Volumn , Issue , 2011, Pages 162-186

  Ferguson, Eamonn ^a   Chamorro Premuzic, Tomas ^b   Pickering, Alan ^b   Weiss, Alexander ^c  

^a UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM   (United Kingdom)

^b UNIVERSITY OF LONDON   (United Kingdom)

^c UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Anusic, Schimmack, Pinkus, and Lockwood (2009) halo factor evidence in personality measurement; Evaluation of psychometric evidence presented for GFP; Evidence for GFP from Rushton and colleagues, psychometric and behavioral genetic studies; Five Into One Doesn't Go a critique of general factor of personality; GFP linked to fitness longevity, general index of fitness evidence that C is related to longevity; GFP proponents, covariation among FFM domains substantive, theoretical basis in life history theory; Mixed EFA CFA approach measures known to conform to structures used; Other challenges to GFP predictive validity over and above FFM domains; Personality disorder, psychopathology and the GFP; Theory of the General Factor of Personality (GFP) domains of five factor model (FFM) 1 neuroticism (N), extraversion (E), openness (O), agreeableness (A), and conscientiousness (C) empirically intercorrelated

Indexed keywords

EID: 84985864603     PISSN: None     EISSN: None     Source Type: Book    
DOI: 10.1002/9781444343120.ch6     Document Type: Chapter

References (98)

1. Ackerman, P. L., & Heggestad, E. D. (1997). Intelligence, personality, and interests: Evidence for overlapping traits. Psychological Bulletin, 121, 219-245.
2. Anusic, I., Schmmack, U., Pinkus, R. T., & Lockwood, P. (2009). The nature and structure of the correlations among the Big Five ratings: The Halo-Alpha-Beta model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97, 1142-1156.
3. Ashton, M. C., Lee, K., Goldberg, L. R., & de Vries, R. E. (2009). Higher order factors of personality: Do they exist? Personality and Social Psychological Review, 13, 79-91.
4. Bäckström, M., Björklund, F., & Larson, M. R. (2009). Five factor inventories have a major general factor related to social desirability which can be reduced by framing items neutrally. Journal of Research in Personality, 43, 335-344.
5. Bagby, R. M., Costa, P. T., Jr., Widiger, T. A., Ryder, A. G., & Marshall, M. (2005). DSM-IV personality disorders and the five-factor model of personality: A multi-method examination of domain-and facet-level predictions. European Journal of Personality, 19, 307-324.
6. Ball, S. A., Tennen, H., Poling, J. C., Kranzler, H. R., & Rounsaville, B. J. (1997). Personality, temperament and character dimensions and the DSM-IV personality disorders in substance abusers. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 106, 545-553.
7. Barclay, P., & Willer, R. (2007). Partner choice creates competitive altruism in humans. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 274, 749-753.
8. Bates, T. C. (2007). Fluctuating asymmetry and intelligence. Intelligence, 35, 41-46.
9. Bentler, P. M. (2007). On tests and indices for evaluating structural models. Personality and Individual Differences, 42, 825-829.
10. Biesanz, J. C., & West, S. G. (2004). Towards understanding assessments of the Big Five:Multitrait-multimethod analyses of convergent and discriminant validity across measurement occasions and type of observer. Journal of Personality, 72, 845-876.
11. Borghans, L., Duckworth, A. L., Heckman, J. J., & ter Weel, B. (2008). The economics and psychology of personality traits. Journal of Human Resources, 43, 972-1059.
12. Bouchard, T. J., Jr., & Loehlin, J. C. (2001). Genes, evolution, and personality. Behavior Genetics, 31, 243-273.
13. Buss, D. M. (2009). How can evolutionary psychology successfully explain personality and individual differences? Perspectives on Psychological Science, 4, 359-366.
14. Buss, D. M., & Barnes, M. (1986). Preferences in human mate selection. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 559-570.
15. Buss, D. M., & Duntley, J. D. (2008). Adaptations for exploitation. Group Dynamics, 12, 53-62.
16. Buss, D. M., & Schmit, D. P. (1993). Sexual strategies theory: An evolutionary perspective on human mating. Psychological Review, 100, 204-232.
17. Camisa, K. M., Bockbrader, M. A., Lysaker, P., Rae, L. L., Brenner, C. A., & O'Donnell, B. F. (2005). Personality traits in schizophrenia and related personality disorders. Psychiatry Research, 133, 23-33.
18. Chamorro-Premuzic, T., & Furnham, A. (2005). Personality and intellectual competence. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
19. Chamorro-Premuzic, T., & Furnham, A. (2006). Intellectual competence and the intelligent personality: A third way in differential psychology. Review of General Psychology, 10, 251-267.
20. Clark, L. A., Vorhies, L., & McEwen, J. L. (1994). Personality disorder sympomatology from the five-factor model perspective. In P. T. Costa, Jr. & T. A. Widiger (Eds.), Personality disorder and the five-factor model of personality (pp. 95-116). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
21. Clarke, S., & Robertson, I. T. (2005). A meta-analytic review of the Big Five personality factors and accident involvement in occupational and non-occupational settings. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 78, 355-376.
22. Costa, P. T., Jr. & McCrae, R. R. (1990). Personality disorders and the five-factor model of personality. Journal of Personality Disorders, 4, 362-371.
23. Denissen, J. J. A., & Penke, L. (2008). Motivational individual reaction norms underlying the five-factor model of personality: First steps towards a theory-based framework. Journal of Research in Personality, 42, 1285-1302.
24. DeYoung, C. G. (2006). Higher-order factors of the Big Five in a multi-informant sample. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 1138-1151.
25. DeYoung, C. G., Peterson, J. B., Seguin, J. R., & Tremblay, R. E. (2008). Externalizing behavior and the higher order factors of the Big Five. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 117, 847-953.
26. Digman, J. M. (1997). Higher-order factors of the Big Five. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 1246-1256.
27. Dingemanse, N. J., & Réale, D. (2005). Natural selection and animal personality. Behaviour, 142, 1159-1184.
28. Eaves, L. J., Martin, N. G., Heath, A. C., Hewitt, J. K., & Neale, M. C. (1990). Personality and reproductive fitness. Behavior Genetics, 20, 563-568.
29. Eysenck, H. J. (1992). Four ways five factors are not basic. Personality and Individual Differences, 13, 667-673.
30. Ferguson, E. (2001). Intellect and somatic health: Associations with hypochondriacal concerns, perceived threat and fainting. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 70, 319-327.
31. Figueredo, A. J., & Rushton, J. P. (2009). Evidence for shared genetic dominance between the general factor of personality, mental and physical health, and life history traits. Twin Research and Human Genetics, 12, 555-563.
32. Figueredo, A. J., Vásquez, G., Brumbach, B. H., & Schneider, S. M. R. (2004). The heritability of life history strategy: The K-factor, covitality and personality. Social Biology, 51, 121-143.
33. Figueredo, A. J., Vásquez, G., Brumbach, B. H., & Schneider, S. M. R. (2007). The K-factor, covitality and personality. Human Nature, 18, 47-73.
34. Flory, K., Lynam, D., Milich, R., Leukefeld, C., & Clayton, R. (2002). The relations among personality, symptoms of alcohol and marijuana abuse, and symptoms of comorbid psychopathology:Results from a community sample. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 10, 425-434.
35. Friedman, N. P., Miyake, A., Young, S. E., DeFries, J. C., Corley, R. P., & Hewitt, J. K. (2008). Individual differences in executive functions are almost entirely genetic in origin. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 137, 201-255.
36. Glisky, M. L., Tatryn, D., Tobias, B. A., Kihlstrom, J. F., & McConkey, K. M. (1991). Absorption, openness to experience and hypnotizability. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 263-272.
37. Goldberg, L. R. (1992). The development of the markers for the Big-Five factor structure. Psychological Assessment, 4, 26-42.
38. Griskevicius, V., Tybur, J. M., Sundie, J. M., Cialdini, R. B., Miller G. F., & Kenrick, D. T. (2007). Blatant benevolence and conspicuous consumption: When romantic motives elicit strategic costly signals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93, 85-102.
39. Ingledew, D. H. K., & Brunning, S. (1999). Personality, preventative health behaviour and comparative optimism about health problems. Journal of Health Psychology, 4, 193-208.
40. Jang, K. L., Livesley, W. J., Ando, J., Yamagata, S., Suzuki, A., Angleitner, A., Ostendorf, F., Riemann, R., & Spinath, F. (2006). Behavioral genetics of the higher-order factors of the Big Five. Personality and Individual Differences, 41, 261-272.
41. Jensen-Campbell, L. A., Graziano, W. G., & West, S. G. (1995). Dominance, prosocial orientation, and female preferences: Do nice guys really finish last? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86, 427-440.
42. Johnson, W., Segal, N. L., & Bouchard, T. J., Jr. (2008). Fluctuating asymmetry and general intelligence: No genetic or phenotypic association. Intelligence, 36, 279-288.
43. Jokela, M., Kivimaki, M., Elovainio, M., & Keltikangas-Jarvinen, L. (2009). Personality and having children: A two-way relationship. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96, 218-230.
44. Kern, M. L., & Friedman, H. S. (2008). Do conscientious individuals live longer? A quantitative review. Health Psychology, 27, 505-512.
45. Li, A., & Bagger, J. (2006). Using the BIDR to distinguish the effects of impression management and self-deception on the criterion validity of personality measures: A meta-analysis. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 14, 131-141.
46. Livesley, W. J., Jang, K. L., & Vernon, P. A. (1998). Phenotypic and genetic structure of traits delineating personality disorder. Archives of General Psychiatry, 55, 941-948.
47. Loehlin, J. C., McCrae, R. R., Costa, P. T., Jr. & John, O. P. (1989). Heritabilities of the common and measure-specific components of the Big Five personality factors. Journal of Research in Personality, 32, 431-453.
48. Luxen, M. F., & Buunk, B. P. (2006). Human intelligence, fluctuating asymmetry and the peacock's tail: General intelligence (g ) as an honest signal of fitness. Personality and Individual Differences, 41, 897-902.
49. Lynam, D. R., & Widiger, T. A. (2001). Using the five-factor model to represent the DSM-IV personality disorders: An expert consensus approach. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 110, 401-412.
50. MacArthur, R. H., & Wilson, E. O. (1967). The theory of island biogeography. Princeton, NJ:Princeton University Press.
51. MacCallum, R. C., Roznowski, M., & Necowitz, L. B. (1992). Model modifications in covariance structure analysis: The problem of capitalization on chance. Psychological Bulletin, 111, 490-504.
52. MacDonald, K. (1995). Evolution, the five-factor model, and levels of personality. Journal of Personality, 63, 525-567.
53. Martin, L. T., & Kubzansky, L. D. (2005). Childhood cognitive performance and risk of mortality: A prospective cohort study of gifted individuals. American Journal of Epidemiology, 162, 887-890.
54. McCrae, R. R. (1991). The five-factor model and its assessment in clinical settings. Journal of Personality Assessments, 57, 399-414.
55. McCrae, R. R. (1996). Social consequences of experiential openness. Psychological Bulletin, 120, 323-337.
56. McCrae, R. R., Löckenhoff, C. E., & Costa, P. T., Jr. (2005). A step toward DSM-V: Cataloguing personality-related problems in living. European Journal of Personality, 19, 269-286.
57. McCrae, R. R., Yamagata, S., Jang, K. L., Riemann, R., Ando, J., Ono, Y., Angleitner, A., & Spinath, F. M. (2008). Substance and artefact in the higher-order factors of the Big Five. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 442-455.
58. Miller, G. F. (2000). The mating mind: How sexual choice shaped the evolution of human nature. New York: Doubleday.
59. Miller, G. F. (2007). Sexual selection for moral virtues. Quarterly Journal of Biology, 82, 97-125.
60. Musek, J. (2007). A general factor of personality: Evidence for the Big One in the five-factor model. Journal of Research in Personality, 41, 1213-1233.
61. Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (1998-2010). Mplus user's guide (6th ed). Los Angeles, CA:Muthén & Muthén.
62. Nettle, D. (2006). The evolution of personality variation in humans and other animals. American Psychologist, 61, 622-631.
63. O'Connor, B. P. (2005). A search for consensus on the dimensional structure of personality disorders. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 61, 232-345.
64. O'Connor, B. P., & Dyce, J. A. (2001). Rigid and extreme: A geometric representation of personality disorder in five-factor space. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 1119-1130.
65. Ozer, D. J., & Benet-Martinez, V. (2006). Personality and the prediction of consequential outcomes. Annual Review of Psychology, 57, 401-421.
66. Paulhus, D. L. (1984). Two-component models of socially desirable responding. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 598-609.
67. Penke, L., Denissen, J. J. A., & Miller, G. F. (2007). The evolutionary genetics of personality. European Journal of Personality, 21, 549-587.
68. Philips, T., Ferguson, E., & Rijsdijk., F. (2010). A link between altruism and sexual selection:Genetic influence on altruistic behaviour and mate preference towards it. British Journal of Psychology, 101, 809-819.
69. Philips, T., Ferguson, E., Reeder, T., & Barnard, C. (2008). Mate preference towards altruistic traits suggests a link between human altruism and sexual selection. British Journal of Psychology, 99, 555-572.
70. Piedmont, R. L., Sherman, M. F., Sherman, N. C., Dy-Liacco, G. S., & Williams, J. E. G. (2009). Using the five-factor model to identify a new personality disorder domain: The case of experiential permeability. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96, 1245-1258.
71. Prokosch, M. D., Yeo, R. A., & Miller, G. F. (2005). Intelligence tests with higher g-loadings show higher correlations with body symmetry: Evidence for a general fitness factor mediated by developmental stability. Intelligence, 33, 201-213.
72. Rauthmann, J. F., & Kolar, G. P. (2010). Implicit simplicity at low acquaintanceship: Evidence for a g-factor of personality in personality judgments. Personality and Individual Differences, 48, 522-526.
73. Rushton, J. P. (1985). Differential K Theory: The sociobiology of individual and group differences. Personality and Individual Differences, 6, 441-452.
74. Rushton, J. P., & Irwing, P. (2008). The general factor of personality (GFP) from two meta-analyses of the Big Five: Digman (1997) and Mount, Barrick, Scullen, and Rounds (2005). Personality and Individual Differences, 45, 679-683.
75. Rushton, J. P., & Irwing, P. (2009a). A general factor of personality in the Comrey Personality Scales, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2, and the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire. Journal of Research in Personality, 46, 437-442.
76. Rushton, J. P., & Irwing, P. (2009b). A general factor of personality in 16 sets of the Big Five, the Guilford-Zimmerman Temperament Survey, the California Psychology Inventory, and the Temperament and Character Inventory. Personality and Individual Differences, 47, 558-564.
77. Rushton, J. P., & Irwing, P. (2009c). A general factor of personality (GFP) from the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire. Personality and Individual Differences, 47, 571-567.
78. Rushton, J. P., & Irwing, P. (2009d). A general factor of personality in the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III, the Dimensional Assessment of Personality Pathology, and the Personality Assessment Inventory. Journal of Research in Personality, 43, 1091-1095.
79. Rushton, J. P. & Irwing (2009e). Is there a general factor of personality? Paper presented at 14th Biennial Conference of the International Society for the Study of Individual Differences, July 18-22, Evanston, IL.
80. Rushton, J. P., Bons, T. A., & Hur, Y. M. (2008). The genetics and evolution of the general factor of personality. Journal of Research in Personality, 42, 1173-1185.
81. Rushton, J. P., Bons, T. A., & Hur, Y. M. (2009). The genetics and evolution of the general factor of personality (corrigendum). Journal of Research in Personality, 43, 532.
82. Rushton, J. P., Bons, T. A., Ando, J., Hur, Y. M., Irwing, P., Vernon, P. A., Petrides, K. V., & Barbaranelli, C. (2009). A general factor of personality from multitrait-multimethod data and cross-national twins. Twin Research and Human Genetics, 12, 356-365.
83. Salgado, J. F. (1997). The five factor model of personality and job performance in the European community. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82, 30-43.
84. Samuel, D. B., & Widiger, T. A. (2008). A meta-analytic review of the relationship between the five-factor model and the DSM-IV-TR personality disorders: A facet level analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 28, 1326-1342.
85. Schermer, J. A., & Vernon, P. A. (2010). The correlation between general intelligence (g ), a general factor of personality (GFP), and social desirability. Personality and Individual Differences, 48, 187-189.
86. Smith, B. R., & Blumstein, D. T. (2008). Fitness consequences of personality: A meta-analysis. Behavioral Ecology, 19, 448-455.
87. Twenge, J. M. (2009). Generational changes and their impact in the classroom: Teaching Generation Me. Medical Education, 43, 398-405.
88. Trzesniewski, K. H., & Donnellan, M. B. (2010). Rethinking " Generation Me ": A study of cohort effects from 1976-2006. Perspectives in Psychological Science, 5, 58-75.
89. Van Oers, K., Klunder, M., & Drent, P. J. (2005). Context dependence of personalities, risk-taking behavior in a social and a nonsocial situation. Behavioral Ecology, 16, 716-723.
90. Van Oers, K., de Jong, G., van Noordwijk, A. J., Kempenaers, B., & Drent, P. J. (2005). Contribution of genetics to the study of animal personalities: A review of case studies. Behaviour, 142, 1185-1206.
91. Veselka, L., Schermer, J. A., Petrides, K. V., Chaerkas, L. F., Spector, T. D., & Vernon, P. A. (2009). A general factor of personality: Evidence form the HEXACO model and a measure of trait emotional intelligence. Twin Research and Human Genetics, 12, 420-424.
92. Viswesvaran, C., & Ones, D. S. (1999). Meta-analyses of fakability estimates: Implications for personality measurement. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 59, 197-210.
93. Webb, E. (1915). Character and intelligence. British Journal of Psychology Monograph Supplement (Vol. 3, pp. 1-113). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [See also review in Nature, 96, 1800.]
94. Weiss, A., Sutin, A. R., Duberstein, P. R., Friedman, B., Bagby, R. M., & Costa, P. T., Jr. (2009). The personality domains and styles of the five-factor model are related on incident depression in medicare recipients aged 65-100. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 17, 591-601.
95. Widaman, K. F. (1985). Hierarchically nested covariance structure models for multitrait-multimethod data. Applied Psychological Measurement, 9, 1-26.
96. Widiger, T. A., & Mullins-Sweatt, S. N. (2009). Five-factor model of personality disorder: A proposal for DSM-V. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 5, 197-220.
97. Wolfenstein, M., & Trull, T. J. (1997). Depression and openness to experience. Journal of Personality Assessment, 69, 614-632.
98. Wood, D., & Brumbaugh, C. C. (2009). Using revealed mate preferences to evaluate market forces and differential preference explanations for mate selection. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96, 1226-1244.