An Introduction to the Five‐Factor Model and Its Applications

Abstract

The five-factor model of personality is a hierarchical organization of personality traits in terms of five basic dimensions: Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Openness to Experience. Research using both natural language adjectives and theoretically based personality questionnaires supports the comprehensiveness of the model and its applicability across observers and cultures. This article summarizes the history of the model and its supporting evidence; discusses conceptions of the nature of the factors; and outlines an agenda for theorizing about the origins and operation of the factors. We argue that the model should prove useful both for individual assessment and for the elucidation of a number of topics of interest to personality psychologists.What are the basic dimensions of personality, the most important ways in which individuals differ in their enduring emotional, interpersonal, experiential, attitudinal, and motivational styles? Personality theorists have offered hundreds of candidates, and for decades factor analysts attempted to bring order to the resulting confusion by factoring personality scales. Instead of resolving the issue, however, these studies only contributed another layer of controversy, most familiar in the competWe are grateful to

Alcohol use among Norwegian students

“…Extroverts are known to be more sociable and to have a higher need for stimulation and excitement than their more introverted peers (McCrae & John, 1992). These needs may explain extroverts' tendency to consume large amounts of alcohol.…”

Personality factors and psychopathy, alexithymia and stress

“…Based on this characterization, personality models, particularly the Five Factor Model (FFM), have been used in an attempt to partition psychopathy into specific personality facets. The FFM hierarchically classifies personality into five overarching domains: Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness (McCrae and John, 1992). Though developed to describe personality in normal populations, advocates of the FFM claim that it is valuable in describing personality disorders as well .…”

Developing “Personality” Taxonomies: Metatheoretical and Methodological Rationales Underlying Selection Approaches, Methods of Data Generation and Reduction Principles

“…The very names of the corresponding inventories-such as the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) and the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R; Costa & McCrae 1992)-indicate that this model was derived by compiling various constructs. To the two dimensions Neuroticism (N) and Extraversion (E) already studied by Eysenck (1947), "Costa and McCrae (1980) added a dimension they called Openness to Experience (O), and later (1989) created scales for Agreeableness (A) and Conscientiousness (C)" (McCrae & John 1992, p. 180)-constructs already described by other researchers (John et al 1988;McCrae 2011;Saucier & Goldberg 2001). The development of the Five Factor Model with a cumulative-gain-in-knowledge approach is also reflected by the authors' own statement that, in the future, "researchers may discover another factor or other factors of personality of comparable scope to N, E, O, A, and C. At that point it will be time to modify [the Five Factor Model]" (McCrae & Costa 1999, p. 147).…”