What is Five Factor Model? (FFM)
The Five Factor Model (FFM) is a widely recognized framework in personality psychology that organizes personality traits into five broad domains: Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Openness to Experience. Essentially, it suggests that a wide range of specific personality characteristics can be grouped into these five overarching dimensions. Each of these domains further breaks down into more specific traits, or facets, which capture the nuances of individual differences.
Developed over many decades, the ideas behind the FFM have roots in early 20th-century research but gained broad consensus in the 1990s. This model helps researchers and practitioners understand how various traits cluster together to form a comprehensive picture of an individual's emotional, interpersonal, and motivational style.
Five Domains and Facets of FFm
There are multi-facets with 5 main factors of the FFM and most famous is based on the Big Five Aspect Scales (BFAS) developed by DeYoung, Quilty, and Peterson (2007). This model focuses solely on two facets within each domain of the FFM model. A factor would combine 2 main facets within each factors:
Extraversion (E):
This factor is often associated with sociability, assertiveness, activity, and positive emotions. While traditionally linked to sociability, some argue its core is positive emotionality. It encompasses characteristics like being venturesome, affiliative, experiencing positive affect, having energy, being ascendant, and ambitious. High E individuals are out-going and sociable, while low E prefer solitary and reflective personalities. Combining of 2 main facets:
Enthusiasm: Tendency to express emotions and seek social stimulation.
Assertiveness: Measurement of one's inclination to take initiative and express opinions directly.
Agreeableness (A):
This dimension relates to traits like compassion, cooperation, trust, and politeness.This traits involves humane aspects such as altruism, nurturance, caring, and emotional support. High A individuals are considered friendly and easy-going, Low A are often competitive or challenging people. Combining of 2 main facets:
Compassion: Indicates empathy, warmth, and a caring orientation toward others.
Politeness: Reflects the tendency to be considerate, respectful, and to avoid conflict.
Conscientiousness (C):
This factor pertains to organization, responsibility, persistence, and goal-directed behavior. High C individuals are described as thorough, neat, well-organized, diligent, and achievement-oriented. On the contrary, Low C individuals are flexible and spontaneous. Combining of 2 main facets:
Industriousness: Measurement of one's inclination towards defined goals.
Orderliness: Measurement of one's preference for structured environments and systematic approaches.
Neuroticism (N):
This dimension concerns the tendency to experience negative emotions like anxiety, sadness, and irritability. Low N individuals are considered to have a stable and calm personality, but can be seen as uninspiring and unconcerned. High N individuals cause a reactive and excitable personality, often very dynamic individuals, but they can be perceived as unstable or insecure. Including 2 facets:
Withdrawal: Measurement of one's tendency to experience emotional distress.
Volatility: Tendency to experience changes in emotional states.
Openness (O):
This dimension includes traits related to imagination, intellectual curiosity, aesthetic sensitivity, and unconventionality. High O individuals tend to be innovative, prefer abstract thinking and reasoning. While Low O individuals are action-takers, and tend to be more conventional. Its 2 main facets are:
Intellect: Degree of one's preference for abstract reasoning
Aesthetics: Reflects an appreciation for art, beauty, and creative expression.
APPLICATIONS
1. Clinical Psychology:
Therapists and clinicians may utilize the FFM to better understand their clients' personality profiles. This understanding can guide treatment plans and help predict responses to different therapeutic approaches.
2. Self-development:
Individuals may use the Big Five framework for self-reflection and growth, recognizing areas for improvement and leveraging their strengths in personal relationships and career planning. For instance, people could improve their assertiveness to strengthen leadership capacity.
3. Educational Settings:
Educators and counselors use insights from the FFM to support students' learning strategies and career guidance, tailoring interventions to match personality strengths and address potential challenges.
4. Research and Academic Studies:
The FFM serves as a foundational model for studying human behavior and personality across different cultures and contexts, contributing to a wide range of psychological research and theory development.
5. Team building:
FFM could be used in improving teamwork collaboration through understanding member’s traits. For example, members with high orderliness could pay better attention to details, while members with low orderliness could navigate the broader perspectives.
6. Career Assessment:
Organizations often use assessments based on the FFM to enhance hiring decisions. For instance, higher conscientiousness may predict better adherence to workplace policy, while extraversion can be important in roles requiring frequent interpersonal interactions.
Methodology
The methodology behind the Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality has evolved along two main traditions: the lexical approach and the questionnaire-based approach, with factor analysis playing a key role in both.
The Role of Factor Analysis:
Factor analysis is a statistical technique used to reduce a large number of variables into a smaller number of underlying factors by examining the relationships among them. In both the lexical and questionnaire-based methods, this tool is crucial for identifying the five broad factors of personality. Researchers use various extraction methods (such as principal components or principal-axis factoring) and rotation techniques (like varimax or oblimin) to derive solutions that make sense. Decisions about how many factors to retain are often based on criteria like eigenvalues.
The Lexical Approach:
This method is based on the "Fundamental Lexical Hypothesis", which suggests that the most important differences in personality are reflected in language. Researchers like Goldberg (1981, 1990, 1993) compiled extensive lists of personality-related adjectives found in everyday language. By applying factor analysis to these adjectives, they were able to uncover underlying personality dimensions. The consistent emergence of five factors across different languages and populations helped establish the Big Five model. Early work by Norman (1963) aimed to create clear, distinct variables by excluding items that didn’t fit neatly into clusters, while Peabody (1987) and Goldberg (1990) used representative sampling to develop reliable markers for the Big Five.
The Questionnaire-Based Approach:
This tradition focuses on developing self-report questionnaires to measure various personality traits. Early research by Eysenck used factor analysis on questionnaire items to identify key dimensions such as Extraversion and Neuroticism. Later, Costa and McCrae (1985) developed the NEO Personality Inventory, initially focusing on Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Openness to Experience, and eventually expanding to include Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. Like the lexical approach, factor analysis is central here, helping researchers determine which items best represent each personality domain and to construct valid scales.
Development of Hierarchical Structures:
The FFM is considered a hierarchical model, with broad domains at the top that break down into more specific traits or facets. For instance, Costa and McCrae’s NEO-PI-R divides each of the five broad domains into six narrower facets. More recent studies, such as those by DeYoung et al. (2007), have further explored the structure by identifying two correlated aspects within each of the Big Five domains using factor analysis on items from the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP).
This dual-method approach—drawing from both natural language and structured questionnaires—combined with rigorous statistical techniques like factor analysis, has contributed significantly to the development and validation of the Five-Factor Model of personality.
MYTALE TEST VALIDITY
Our test is based on the Big Five Aspect Scales (BFAS), a public tool designed to assess the ten facets of the Big Five personality traits. Developed using items from the IPIP, the BFAS applies principal-axis factoring within each domain. Items are selected based on their factor loadings and balanced keying. Test-retest reliability has also been validated.
The scoring system uses a 5-point Likert scale, with results presented as percentile rankings, showing how you compare to others.
The test includes 100 statements, such as “I am sad much of the time” or “I frequently compliment people.” You will indicate your agreement with each statement. These statements have been carefully selected from a broad set of personality descriptors and grouped into five core traits and ten sub-traits based on the Big Five model. While individual statements may be interpreted differently, the overall scoring—based on multiple responses—ensures accuracy and reliability. Unlike some tests that use single words or full questions, this test strikes a balance with statements that are specific yet general enough to provide meaningful insights.
REFERENCES
Block, J. (2010). The Five-Factor Framing of Personality and Beyond: Some Ruminations. Psychological Inquiry, 21(1), 2–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/10478401003596626
DeYoung, C. G., Quilty, L. C., & Peterson, J. B. (2007). Between facets and domains: 10 aspects of the big five. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93(5), 880–896. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.93.5.880
Goldberg, L. R. (1992). The development of markers for the Big-five factor structure. Psychological Assessment, 4(1), 26–42. https://doi.org/10.1037/1040-3590.4.1.26
McCrae, R. R., & John, O. P. (1992). An Introduction to the five-factor Model and Its Applications. Journal of Personality, 60(2), 175–215. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.1992.tb00970.x