Big Five Personality Taxonomy:
Conceptualization and
Psychological Measurement
Oliver P. John
University of California, Berkeley
Correlations with School
Performance at 12: C and O
John, Caspi, Robins, et al. (1994). The Little Five. Child Development. Data are for 450
12-year old boys from the Pittsburgh Youth Study.
Conscientiousness
Good
Grades
Openness
Conscientiousness
Low
Delinquency
Agreeableness
Antecedent traits at 21 predicting
peak work outcomes at 52: Betas
Women at age 52
Openness
Extraversion
Conscientiousness
Job types (selection)
Artistic/investigative
Enterprising/social
.38**
-.10
-.01
.28*
.08
.01
Work achievement (P x E fit)
Occupational creativity
High status job
.49**
.34**
.25*
.40**
.04
.06
-.01
.34**
-.08
Work satisfaction
(appraisal/construal)
Source: George, Helson, & John (2011)
Socio-cultural factors and timing of
work involvement
Work and social
role measures
Openness
Extraversion
Work participation
(ages 21-27)
Work satisfaction (27)
Early career begun
and maintained to 43
Work identity late 50s
-.04
-.09
.12
.01
.02
.08
.35**
.12
.32**
.29*
.07
.35**
-.29**
-.06
.19
-.12
.17
.34**
Socio-cultural factors
Traditional role
Early divorce
Women’s movement
Conscientiousness
.23*
-.25*
.05
Personality psychologists study
how individuals…
• Work with others, and even more
– Play, love, and bond (teams, families, …)
• Achieve complex and long-term goals
• Savor and manage emotions when we
face
– Success or failure (pride)
– Opportunities/rewards or risk (excitement)
– Stress and adversity (fear, anxiety)
Personality psychologists have
identified…
• Individual characteristics that
– Drive individual well-being (satisfying life)
– Predict “success” at school & work (grades, $$)
– Foster close, satisfying relationships (teachers)
• Our findings show they
– Have some temporal consistency (reliable) but
– Also malleable through the environment
• Today: can we organize these characteristics
– Into a taxonomy with content domains and facets
• How can we measure them?
Overview: Three Questions
• What should we measure?
– What are the major content domains? Big Five
• How should we measure it?
– Questionnaires; issues with verbal reports
– Data sources: self, parents, teacher
– Construct validity: Prediction of life outcomes
• When should we measuring them?
– What age groups are measured? In what
context?
Question 1
• What should we measure?
– What are the major content domains?
– 30 years ago, personality researchers looked at
long bewildering lists of characteristics
– Like the ones Charles Fadel showed us
– Here’s another much shorter one
What School Boards, Teachers and
Parents Want in Kids
•
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Explore
Innovate
Be kind
Be a leader
Be creative
Cooperate
Engagement
Take risks
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Take responsibility
Confidence
Work as a team
Stay cool under pressure
Have empathy
Persist after failure
Try something new
Respect rules
What School Boards, Teachers and
Parents Want in Kids
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Explore
Innovate
Be kind
Be a leader
Be creative
Cooperate
Engagement
Take risks
• Too much!
• Create some order!
• Simplify!
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Take responsibility
Confidence
Work as a team
Stay cool under pressure
Have empathy
Persist after failure
Try something new
Respect rules
What School Boards, Teachers and
Parents Want in Kids
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Explore
Innovate
Be kind
Be a leader
Be creative
Cooperate
Engagement
Take risks
• Too much!
• Create some order!
• Simplify!
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Take responsibility
Confidence
Work as a team
Stay cool under pressure
Have empathy
Persist after failure
Try something new
Respect rules
• Factor analysis:
• Find largest number of
• independent dimensions
What School Boards, Teachers and
Parents Want in Kids
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Explore
Innovate
Be kind
Be a leader
Be creative
Cooperate
Engagement
Take risks
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Take responsibility
Confidence
Work as a team
Stay cool under pressure
Have empathy
Persist after failure
Try something new
Respect rules
Openness
What School Boards, Teachers and
Parents Want in Kids
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Explore
Innovate
Be kind
Be a leader
Be creative
Cooperate
Engagement
Take risks
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Take responsibility
Confidence
Work as a team
Stay cool under pressure
Have empathy
Persist after failure
Try something new
Respect rules
Conscientiousness
What School Boards, Teachers and
Parents Want in Kids
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Explore
Innovate
Be kind
Be a leader
Be creative
Cooperate
Engagement
Take risks
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Take responsibility
Confidence
Work as a team
Stay cool under pressure
Have empathy
Persist after failure
Try something new
Respect rules
Agreeableness
Proposed OECD Study: Framework of S/E skills
Emotion
regulation
1. Compassion
2 Respect and politeness
3 Trust
4 Relationship harmony
1 Social connection
2 Assertiveness
3 Enthusiasm
Collaboration
Engaging
with others
1 Stress resistance
2 Self-confidence
3 Emotional control
4 Self-esteem
5 Self-compassion
Task
performance
Open
mindedness
1 Self-discipline
2 Organisation
3 Dependability
4 Goal orientation
5 Task initiation
1 Curiosity
2 Creativity
3 Aesthetic Interests
4 Appreciation
5 Self-reflection/Awareness
Oliver John and Filip de Fruyt, 2015
Taxonomy: Five Psychosocial
Systems and Tasks of Living
• Openness: Exploration
– Interests
• Conscientiousness: Self-regulation
– Standards
• Engagement/Extraversion: Approach
– Rewards/gains
• Amity/Agreeableness: Belonging
– Close bonds/social support
• Emotional stability: Coping
– Adversity: Failures/losses/punishments
Five Reasons Why the Big 5 “Stick”
1. Relatively independent of IQ
2. Found by many independent investigators
3. Universal? Surprise: Same five domains
across cultures and language communities
4. Replicate: Hallmark of good science
5. They work: Predict important outcomes
Still, you may find the Big Five a bit odd/unfamiliar
Like “Green eggs and ham.” Dr. Seuss:
“You do not like them. So you SAY.
Try them, try them, and you may.”
Question 2: How to measure?
In children and adolescents:
• Gold standard was behavior in specific tasks
• Delay test: objectively recorded in minutes
– Too specific (one-shot); impractical
• Observational measures: People who have
observed child across situations and time
– Parent and Teacher reports
– Peer nominations; Self-reports
• Considered “subjective” measures
– Because scaling done by human judges but
– May better reflect natural range of behavior
– And predict important outcomes (doing it right?)
Subjective Ratings of Openness
Original, curious, imaginative, complex
Correlate with:
Better performance on creativity tests
Interest and success ($$) in investigative
and artistic careers
Unconventional attitudes (and hair)
Intense interest/curiosity
Bored is worse than poor
Lower on these skills
Openness:
Exploration System
• Interest, imagination, aesthetic reactions
• Mental states, experiential life (oops, cognitive)
• Manifestions in kids:
• curiosity, “pretend” play, imaginary friends
• Functions: very 21st century
– Flexible adaptation to changing environments
– Innovation through learning
– Critical for change and growth (Barbie, age 45)
California Child Q-Sort Items
Parent and teacher ratings of children for
Openness:
Is curious and exploring; likes to learn new things
Has a vivid imagination
Is creative in the way s/he thinks, plays, or works
Daydreams; often lost in thoughts, fantasy world
Source: John, Caspi, et al. (1994) (20th birthday)
Conscientiousness
Self-regulation system: Meeting standards
Functions: “executive control”
Initiate, coordinate, monitor, and complete
complex, long-term, and goal-directed behavior
California Child Q-sort items:
Has high standards for him/herself.
Plans things ahead.
Does not give up easily; persistent. [Grit]
Makes things happen; gets things done.
Inner-city Pittsburgh boys (N=450): Hard
outcome measures (grades, j-d, beh. problems)
Conscientiousness
Better
Grades
Openness
Conscientiousness
Less Conduct
Problems
Agreeableness
Questionnaire Method and Items
• History: Q-sorts, like one-on-one interviews
Slow, inefficient; big interviewer effects
• Abbreviated to questionnaire method: efficient
Items and response format are fixed; limited
• Research on best items (John & Robins, 1993)
Concrete and observable better than abstract
“I like to go to large noisy parties”
Neutral (descriptive) better than evaluative
“I am no good at social interaction”
Short, simple, affirmative statements better
Avoid long, complex compounds and negations
Big Five Inventory (BFI): Self-report
Instructions: Here are a number of characteristics
that may or may not apply to you. For
example, do you agree that you like to spend
time with others? Please write a number next
to each statement to indicate the extent to
which you agree with that statement.
I am someone who…
•
______ Is talkative
• _____ Is helpful and unselfish with others
• _____ Does a thorough job
• _____ Is relaxed, handles stress well
• _____ Is curious about many different things
• _____ Is easily distracted
• _____ ….
Big Five Inventory (1991)
Items: Grade 5 reading level (age 10)
Short phrases (better than single adjectives)
“Keeps working until the task is finished”
“Likes to think, play with ideas”
“Remains calm in tense situations”
Rate on a 5-point scale
“Yes, that’s me!” versus “No way, I don’t do that”
1=“Disagree strongly”; 5=“Agree strongly”
Psychometrics
Retest reliability high over 3-6 months
Validated across self and observer ratings
Large data base
Translated and adapted into 30 languages
Completed by 2 million people (about 10 min)
Reliability and Construct Validity
• Reliability is about replicability:
• Can we reproduce the same test scores
across equivalent measurements? Deals
with random error.
Reliability and Construct Validity
• Validity addresses whether test scores
measure what we intended, it’s about the
meaning. Deals with systematic errors.
• Convergent validation across data
sources  Multi-method design
• Do different judges agree on their ratings
of the target person, like 360 degree
assessments in business world
• Round Robin design: everybody rates self
and each of the other group members
Self vs. Consensual Rating by Others
Self-Reports
K
•
O
S
J
P
How the person sees
him or herself.
Consensual Rating
•
How a person is generally
rated by others.
I do all my HW before I play.
S does all his HW before he plays.
P does…
Modeling Judge Differences
Self-Reports
K
•
O
S
J
P
How the person sees
him or herself.
Consensual Rating
•
How a person is generally
rated by others.
Perceiver Effect
•
How a person generally
rates others.
More Complex Judge Differences
Self-Reports
K
•
O
S
J
P
How the person sees
him or herself.
Consensual Rating
•
How a person is generally
rated by others.
Perceiver Effect
•
How a person generally
rates others.
Relationship Effect
•
How one person uniquely
rates another.
Error
Observer ratings:
Mostly idiosyncratic and biased?
• High agreement about the target among observers
• Substantial agreement between self and
consensual observer rating
– Correlations between .50 and .70, that is:
– Improvement from chance prediction (50:50) to odds
from 75:25 (3/4 correct) and 85:15 (6/7 correct)
• Findings vary by
– Big Five domain (Highest agreement for E)
– Length and type of acquaintanceship
• Conclusion: Subjective ratings are NOT random or
idiosyncratic but reflect individual differences that
can be observed and rated consensually
Other Types of Validity Evidence
• Concurrent criterion validity: High C research Ss!
Arrival times (5 min. earlier)
Spend more time on the rating task
Complete more longitudinal segments (over 4 years)
• Predictive validity: Predicting future outcomes
Addresses causality issue (George et al., 2011):
C at age 21 (in college) predicts more stable marriages
at 52 and financial security at 70
• Value of longitudinal studies  Ultimate outcomes
Friedman et al.: Terman boys study  mortality
Hampson, Goldberg, et al. (2006, 2009): Hawaiian kids
Teacher ratings predict health outcomes in middle age
Extensive research on potential
problems and biases with ratings
• Detect random responding (a few don’t read the items)
• Correct acquiescence (nay-sayers vs. yeah-sayers)
– Esp. in 10-13 olds (Soto & John, 2008, 2009)
• Minimize impression management/social desirability
– Decades of research (e.g., Paulhus & John, 1989)
– Authenticity: Most people want to be themselves/real,
rather than “great” (Swann, 1989)
– Items: descriptive and neutral, not evaluative
• Control for self-deception: Use multiple data sources
– Self and teacher/parent ratings
• Kids under 10: Too young for questionnaire self-reports
– Use individual interviews, puppet interview for 4-8
Part 3. When should we measure?
• Two critical school transitions
– Into school and middle childhood: Learning
the “good student” identity: A, C, and ES up
– Getting through adolescence: Learning the
skills to form an adult identity and launch into
adult world
• General “typical” developmental trends
– Versus individual trajectories
Agreeableness
early gain, then
slow down
Score
6
catching up
average
trajectory
5
4
5
6
Age (years)
7
Agreeableness and Conscientiousness
0.55
0.45
Agreeableness
Mean
0.35
0.25
0.15
Conscientiousness
0.05
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
Age
Note: Points are observed means. Trends are quadratic
regression curves (Soto, John, Gosling, & Potter, 2011).
20
Limitations:
So much we do not know
• Most research cross-sectional
– Different kids at different ages (hard to compare)
• But we need longer-term longitudinal research
– Study same kids over time: map individual trajectories
• Much of the research conducted in
– USA, England, Germany, and Scandinavia
– Now Brazil!
• But we need a true cross-country effort
• We’ve learned much about “subjective” measures
• No longer scary (green eggs with ham) but more
to do
• Measurement issues in comparing groups/nations
A Hierarchical Measurement Model:
5 Domains and 15 Facets
Big Five can be too broad
Need one level lower in hierarchy: facets
Big 5 x 3 Specific Facets = 15 Concepts
Incorporates/consistent with OECD report
Self-reports for ages 10-18
• 20 min. per student: 45-60 short BFI items
• 3 (or 4) items for the 15 concepts
Teacher reports for ages 5 to 12 (or 18)
• 5 hours (300 min) for class with 20 students
• 15 min per student: Matching 45-60 items
Parent reports? Ideal to get for all ages…
BFI with 3 Specific Facets
Openness
Intellectual interest (Likes to think, play with ideas)
Aesthetic Sensitivity (Is fascinated by art, music, or
literature)
Imagination (Is original, comes up with new ideas)
Conscientiousness
Orderliness (Keeps things neat and tidy)
Perseverance (Is productive, gets things done)
Self-control (Is reliable, can always be counted on)
BFI with 3 Specific Facets
Agreeableness
• Compassion (Considerate and kind to everyone)
• Politeness (Is respectful; treats others with respect)
• Trust (Assumes the best about people)
Extraversion
• Sociability (Is outgoing, comfortable around people)
• Assertiveness (Takes on leadership roles)
• Activity/Engagement (Is full of energy, enthusiasm)
BFI with 3 Specific Facets
Emotional Stability
• Self-confidence (Feels secure, comfortable with self)
• Stress Resilience (Calm/relaxed, handles stress well)
• Emotion Regulation (Keeps temper/frustration/anger
under control)
Thank you
If you are still curious …
•
•
•
•
(and truly high in Openness)
You can find more info in
the 3rd Edition of the
Handbook of Personality
Some Specific Skills to Learn
(8th Grade)
1. Help direct the discussion but don’t derail it
(Make notes about issues you’d like to come
back to later)
2. Respond to each other (Not just the teacher)
3. Stay curious and open to new ways of thinking
(You don’t have to know “the right answer,”
and there may not even be one.)
End of Version 4 of Talk
Correlations with School
Performance at 12: C and O
John, Caspi, Robins, et al. (1994). The Little Five. Child Development. Data are for 450
12-year old boys from the Pittsburgh Youth Study.
Conscientiousness
Good
Grades
Openness
Conscientiousness
Low
Delinquency
Agreeableness
The blue Big Five: Paradigm shift in
publications only since 1995
1750
Number of publications
1500
1250
1000
Cattell/Eysenck
Big Five/FFM
750
500
250
0
19801984
19851989
19901994
19951999
Publication year
20002004
20052009
Add graph that shows individual
trajectories
Add graph that shows individual
trajectories
What should we measure?
• Start with very specific skills?
– Unlimited numbers
– Complex
– Highly contextualized
– Often age specific
Some Specific Skills to Learn
(8th Grade)
1. Help direct the discussion but don’t derail it
(Make notes about ideas you’d like to come
back to later)
2. Respond to each other (Not just the teacher)
3. Stay curious and open to new ways of thinking
(You don’t have to know “the right answer,”
and there may not even be one.)
Big Five: Broad domains of socialemotional differences
• Some brief (rushed) background!!
• Let’s start with Openness, which you will find
easy to recognize
• Because you HERE, at this time, far away
from home, in part because you are high in O
• E.g., you like to experience other cultures, try
foods that are new to you, you are interested
in ideas, willing to try out new or different
ideas that you might not agree with or that
challenge your own views
“Construct Validation”
• Generalizability (convergence) across different data
sources, such as
– Teacher, Parent, and Self-report
• Hypothesis tests: Does the measure predict expected
behavior in specific settings?
– C  Arrival time in minutes
– C  Time spent working on task
– C  Assessments completed in longitudinal study (ouch!)
• Discriminant validity—previous examples
– C and O  Good grades
– C and A  Better conduct
Multiple Perspectives on the Person:
360 Degree Assessment
E
B
C
O
S
Modeling Convergent Validity:
Agreement among Data Sources
K
O
S
P
J
John & Robins, 1994; Robins & John, 1997;
Kwan, John, et al., 2004, 2008
Self-ratings and Ratings of Others
Rating self
K
O
S
J
P
•
•
How the person sees
him or herself.
"I finish all my HW"
Rating all others
•
•
How the person sees
each of the other
group-members.
"Person S finishes all
his homework"
During early school years (middle
childhood)
• Transition from preschool into the first grades
must be very important
• On average, children acquire increasing skills
related to
• Agreeableness
• Conscientiousness
• Emotional stability
• Bot not all kids show those gains, and follow
different trajectories
Part 3. When should we measure?
• General “typical” developmental trends
– Versus individual trajectories
• During transitions, start and end point, and
trajectories differ sharply across kids
– Like onset and end of physical growth spurt
• Individual child: Start ahead or fall behind?
• Two critical school transitions
– Into school and middle childhood: Learning the
“good student” identity: A, C, and ES up
– Getting through adolescence: Learning the skills
to form an adult identity and launch into adult
world
Additional material (unused)