Comparative validity of Brief to Medium-Length Big Five and Big Six Personality Questionnaires.

Abstract

A general consensus on the Big Five model of personality attributes has been highly generative for the field of personality psychology. Many important psychological and life outcome correlates with Big Five trait dimensions have been established. But researchers must choose between multiple Big Five inventories when conducting a study and are faced with a variety of options as to inventory length. Furthermore, a 6-factor model has been proposed to extend and update the Big Five model, in part by adding a dimension of Honesty/Humility or Honesty/Propriety. In this study, 3 popular brief to medium-length Big Five measures (NEO Five Factor Inventory, Big Five Inventory [BFI], and International Personality Item Pool), and 3 six-factor measures (HEXACO Personality Inventory, Questionnaire Big Six Scales, and a 6-factor version of the BFI) were placed in competition to best predict important student life outcomes. The effect of test length was investigated by comparing brief versions of most measures (subsets of items) with original versions. Personality questionnaires were administered to undergraduate students (N = 227). Participants' college transcripts and student conduct records were obtained 6-9 months after data was collected. Six-factor inventories demonstrated better predictive ability for life outcomes than did some Big Five inventories. Additional behavioral observations made on participants, including their Facebook profiles and cell-phone text usage, were predicted similarly by Big Five and 6-factor measures. A brief version of the BFI performed surprisingly well; across inventory platforms, increasing test length had little effect on predictive validity. Comparative validity of the models and measures in terms of outcome prediction and parsimony is discussed.

El modelo de los cinco grandes factores de personalidad y el uso problemático de Internet en jóvenes colombianos

“…McCrae et al (1997) desarrollaron el Inventario de Personalidad NEO PI de Cinco Factores y, para responder a las necesidades de un cuestionario corto, John, Donahue y Kentle (1991) construyeron el Big Five Inventory (BFI). Los cinco factores relativamente independientes que dan cuenta de la variación fenotípica de la personalidad son extraversión, afabilidad, responsabilidad, neuroticismo y apertura a la experiencia (John y Srivastava, 1999;Thalmayer, Saucier y Eigenhuis, 2011).…”

Big Five Content Representation of the Japanese Version of the Ten-Item Personality Inventory

“…Very brief scales are practical because participants require less time to complete them, and they are less likely to cause boredom and fatigue. Moreover, considerable evidence has accumulated regarding the psychometric reliability and validity of these very brief measures (e.g., Gosling et al, 2003;Jonason & Webster, 2010;Robins, Hendin, & Trzesniewski, 2001;Thalmeyer, Saucier, & Eigenhuis, 2011). Aoki (1971) conducted a psycho-lexical study in Japan by compiling a list of approximately 6000 Japanese words that reflect personality traits and selected 455 of them using the same procedures as Allport and Odbert (1936).…”

A SAPA Project Update: On the Structure of phrased Self-Report Personality Items

“…Seven of these eight sets of scales are available in the International Personality Item Pool, including: (1) the 100 IPIP items corresponding to the Big Five factor markers [9,10]; (2) the 100 items of the Big Five Aspect Scales [6]; (3) the 240 items of the IPIP-HEXACO inventory [1]; (4) the 48 items of the Questionnaire Big Six scales [22]; (5) the (7) the 40 items of the Plasticity/Stability scales [5]. The eighth set of scales included 79 items adapted from the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire -Revised [8].…”