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Big 5

Locklin on the Big Five

Scott Locklin has a recent post up critical of the Big 5 theory of personality. I’ve said some nice things about the Big 5/OCEAN model ten years ago, but I cannot disagree with Locklin’s criticisms. Fundamentally, this kind of personality research seems to be going in the

DSM-5 to include the Big 5

The Five Factor Model in the DSM-5 The current Axis II disorders will be replaced by a mixture of continuously-rated personality disorder types (carrying forward psychopathy, avoidant, borderline, obsessive-compulsive, and schizotypal) and 6 personality traits. According to the rationale, four of the traits are pathological versions of 4 of the

Limitations of the Big 5

I talk a lot about the Big 5 personality factors, and how useful they are. So now it is time to discuss the problems with the Big 5. As in so many things, I am indebted to Steve Sailer for bringing these up first. Problem 1 is cheating. A person

First Impressions

A fun open access paper about personality judgments based on seeing just a picture of someone. One of the authors is Samuel Gosling, whose work lies behind the online Big 5 personality test I recommend to the curious. You can learn a lot just by looking at someone, and in

Big 5 Personality Traits: OCEAN

I have mentioned the Big 5 personality traits before, and the biggest of them all is Conscientiousness. Conscientiousness, or C, is a measure of one's ability to buckle down and work hard, especially at unpleasant tasks. It is correlated with job performance and doing well in school. It