Taxonomy and structure of the Romanian personality lexicon.

We identified 1746 personality-relevant trait-adjectives in a Romanian dictionary, of which 412 were classified as descriptors of dispositions by 10 judges. Self-ratings were collected from 515 participants on those 412 adjectives, and the ratings were factored using principal components analysis. Solutions with different numbers of factors were analysed. The two- and three-factor solutions, respectively, confirmed the Big Two and Big Three of personality traits. A five-factor solution reflected the Big Five model with a fifth factor emphasising Rebelliousness versus Conventionality. The five-factor solution was related to the International Personality Item Pool-Big Five scales, and the highest correlations were indeed between the corresponding factors and scales. A six-factor solution was indicative of the six-factor model as expressed in the HEXACO model, yet with a weak Honesty-Humility factor. Additional analysis with self-ratings from 218 participants on marker-scales for the six-factor solution and on the six scales of the HEXACO did not produce a clear one-to-one correspondence between the two sets of scales, confirming indeed that the six-factor model was only partially found.

The relations between conscientiousness and mental health in a North-European and a West-Asian culture.

BACKGROUND: The relationship between conscientiousness, mental health and mental illness has been an issue for the last two decades. AIMS: By using a dual model of mental health, the present study examined a non-linear relationship between conscientiousness and healthy or non-healthy symptoms in two different cultures. METHOD: Participants in this study were 296 Iranian and 310 Swedish university students (18-24 years of age). We used two different conscientiousness scales; the 12-item conscientiousness subscale of the NEO/FFI as an imported (etic) scale, and a 10-item Iranian conscientiousness scale as an indigenous (emic) and culture-dependent scale. RESULTS: In both conscientiousness scales, multivariate analysis of variance showed that conscientiousness differentiated among four mental health groups (languishing, troubled, symptomatic and flourishing), although languishing and troubled individuals were less conscientious than flourishing and symptomatic individuals. Furthermore, the non-healthy symptomatic individuals were more conscientiousness than flourishing individuals. The results showed no significant differences between the two cultures in terms of the four mental health categories. CONCLUSIONS: It was concluded that the relationship between conscientiousness and mental health/mental illness is more a non-linear relationship than a linear one.

The factor structure of Lithuanian personality-descriptive adjectives of the highest frequency of use.

We developed the Lithuanian taxonomy of personality traits according to the psycho-lexical approach. This was done in two studies. First, trait descriptive terms were selected from a Lithuanian dictionary. This selection led to a list of 435 personality-relevant adjectives was thus collected. This list was reduced to the more useful terms and ultimately led to the 194 most frequently used trait adjectives. Second, self-ratings from 212 participants were collected on both those 194 terms and on the 44-item BFI. Principal Components Analysis followed by Varimax rotation was applied on the collected ratings, and also on the ratings after ipsatization. For both these types of analysis structures with two up to seven factors were discussed. Each of the structures was also related to the five BFI-scales. The slightly clearer structure was found in the ipsatized ratings, in which clear support was found for the two-factor model (with Dynamism and Social Propriety), for the three-factor model (Dynamism, Affiliation and Order). A five-factor solution was fully presented with the Big Five factors Extraversion, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness and with a factor that had Intellect traits on the one pole and Neurotic traits on the other, and finally a factor called Toughness.

Taxonomy and structure of Persian personality-descriptive trait terms.

We described the development of a taxonomy of Persian personality-descriptive terms in two studies. In Study 1, judges scanned Persian dictionaries and several Persian novels for person-descriptive terms. The resulting set of person-descriptive terms was classified into different categories of description, including the category of dispositional trait-descriptive adjectives. Of the 544 most familiar traits, 126 traits were selected to collect self-ratings. In Study 2, self-ratings were provided by 2400 students. Ratings were factor analysed (Principal Components Analysis) followed by Varimax rotation. Factor structures with two to six factors were discussed. The two-factor structure and the three-factor structure confirm the Big Two and the Big Three, respectively. Of the structures with five and six factors, the five-factor structure appears to be the more appropriate choice, with the factors labelled Morality, Positive versus Negative Emotionality, Achievement, Thoughtfulness and Affection. Gender differences were measured on both the five-factor structure and the six-factor structure. The discussion section emphasised both cross-cultural commonalities and cultural deviations in reference to the Big Five.

Psycho-lexically based virtue factors in Spain and their relation with personality traits.

The psycho-lexical approach was used to identify virtues in a Spanish population. A total of 209 descriptors were identified as virtues and administered to 485 participants, who were instructed to indicate the extent to which each virtue term applied to them. Principal Components Analysis revealed seven factors: Self-confidence, Reflection, Serenity, Rectitude, Perseverance & Effort, Compassion, and Sociability. The results showed that there was no simple one-to-one correspondence between these factors and those obtained in previous studies. However, the results are congruent with those obtained in other studies as far as the relation between virtues and personality traits is concerned.

Are virtues national, supranational, or universal?

Many studies investigated cultural differences in values, most notably by Hofstede and Schwarz. Relatively few have focused on virtues, a related and important concept in contemporary social science. The present paper examines the similarities and differences between nations, or blocks of - culturally related - nations on the perceived importance of virtues. Adults (N = 2.809 students) from 14 countries were asked to freely mention which virtues they found important to practice in daily life, and next to rate a list of 15 virtues, which reflect the most frequently mentioned categories in The Netherlands, as found in a previous study. The 14 nations included the United States, Mexico, nine European and three Asian nations. For the free-listed virtues, we compared the top-ten lists of most frequently mentioned virtues across the nations. We used a correspondence analysis on the frequency table to assess the relationships between the virtues and nations. For the 15 virtues ratings, a MANOVA, and follow-up ANOVA's were used to examine effects of nation, age, gender and religion. We found strong evidence for relationships between nations and blocks of culturally related nations and the importance attached to various virtues. There appear to be some country specific virtues, such as generosity in France, but also some relatively universal virtues, most notably honesty, respect, and kindness.

Only three factors of personality description are fully replicable across languages: a comparison of 14 trait taxonomies.

We tested the hypothesis that only 3 factors of personality description are replicable across many different languages if they are independently derived by a psycholexical approach. Our test was based on 14 trait taxonomies from 12 different languages. Factors were compared at each level of factor extraction with solutions with 1 to 6 factors. The 294 factors in the comparisons were identified using sets of markers of the 6-factor model by correlating the marker scales with the factors. The factor structures were pairwise compared in each case on the basis of the common variables that define the 2 sets of factors. Congruence coefficients were calculated between the varimax rotated structures after Procrustes rotation, where each structure in turn served as a target to which all other structures were rotated. On the basis of average congruence coefficients of all 91 comparisons, we conclude that factor solutions with 3 factors on average are replicable across languages; solutions with more factors are not.

A new taxonomy of Dutch personality traits based on a comprehensive and unrestricted list of descriptors.

A list of 2,365 personality descriptive items was selected from a computerized database of the Dutch language. The list included terms from various word classes, such as trait adjectives, trait nouns, and trait verbs, and from expressions in which the meaning was drawn from a combination of words. The items were administered to 1,466 participants, who provided self- or other-ratings. Principal components analyses were performed on both original and ipsatized data. The data set was split to investigate the invariance of the factors. The analyses yielded a final 8-factorial structure that included the Big 5. Three new trait factors were discovered, namely Virtue, Competence, and Hedonism.

A six-factor structure of personality-descriptive adjectives: solutions from psycholexical studies in seven languages.

Standard psycholexical studies of personality structure have produced a similar 6-factor solution in 7 languages (Dutch, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Korean, Polish). The authors report the content of these personality dimensions and interpret them as follows: (a) a variant of Extraversion, defined by sociability and liveliness (though not by bravery and toughness); (b) a variant of Agreeableness, defined by gentleness, patience, and agreeableness (but also including anger and ill temper at its negative pole); (c) Conscientiousness (emphasizing organization and discipline rather than moral conscience); (d) Emotionality (containing anxiety, vulnerability, sentimentality, lack of bravery, and lack of toughness, but not anger or ill temper); (e) Honesty-Humility; (f) Intellect/Imagination/Unconventionality. A potential reorganization of the Big Five factor structure is discussed.

The substantive nature of psycholexical personality factors: a comparison across languages.

The psycholexical approach to personality structure in American English has led to the Big Five factors. The present study considers whether this result is similar or different in other languages. Instead of placing the usual emphasis on quantitative indices, this study examines the substantive nature of the factors. Six studies in European languages were used to develop a taxonomy of content categories. The English translations of the relevant terms were then classified under this taxonomy. The results support the generality of Big Five Factor III (Conscientiousness). Factors IV (Emotional Stability) and V (Intellect) generally did not cohere. Factors I (Extraversion) and II (Agreeableness) tended to split when this was necessary to produce 5 factors. The analysis was extended to several additional studies.