Cattell (1946) first argued that personality structure should be studied by factor analyzing self-

report ratings of descriptive adjectives and statements. Using this approach, a five-factor model
(FFM) of personality has evolved over the past several decades (see Costa & Widiger, 2002).
Currently, the FFM may be the most widely used personality theory within psychology. For
example, social, personality, and industrial/organizational psychologists have used the FFM to
examine individual differences in a variety of outcomes and processes, including attachment
(Noftle & Shaver, 2006), career success (Seibert & Kraimer, 2001), and performance motivation
(Judge & Ilies, 2002). Within clinical psychology, the FFM has received increased attention
among psychopathology researchers. Specifically, a significant amount of research has focused on
the relationship between the FFM and the personality disorders defined by the fourth editiontext
revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR; American
Psychiatric Association [APA], 2000; for a review, see Samuel & Widiger, 2008), including the
potential utility of the FFM as a dimensional classification system to complement or replace Axis
II (e.g., Rottman, Ahn, Sanislow, & Kim, 2009; Samuel & Widiger, 2006; Widiger & Mullins-
Sweatt, 2009).

The NEO Five-Factor Inventory measures five broad domains or factors of personality. The
responses that you gave to the statements about your thoughts, feelings, and goals can be
compared with those of other adults to give a description of your personality.

The NEO Five-Factor Inventory measures differences among normal individuals. It is not a test
of intelligence or ability, and is not intended to diagnose problems of mental health or adjustment.
It does, however, give you some ideas about what makes you unique in your way of thinking,
feeling, and interacting with others.

NEO FFI is intended to give you a general idea of how your personality might be described. It is
not a detailed report. If you complete the inventory again, you might score somewhat differently.
For most individuals, however, personality traits tend to be very stable in adulthood. Unless you
experience major life changes or make deliberate efforts to change yourself, this summary should
apply to you throughout your adult life.

Compared with the responses of other people, ones responses suggest that one can be described
as:-- Secure, hardy, and generally relaxed even under stressful conditions. Introverted,
reserved, and serious. You prefer to be alone or with a few close friends. Down-to-earth,
practical, traditional, and pretty much set in your ways. Generally warm, trusting, and
agreeable, but you can sometimes be stubborn and competitive. Easygoing, not very well
organized, and sometimes careless. You prefer not to make plans.

Critique
The proposed Big Five model has been subjected to considerable critical scrutiny and defence for
the model
Subsequent critical replies by Jack Block at the University of California Berkeley followed. It has
been argued that there are limitations to the scope of the Big Five model as an explanatory or
predictive theory. It has also been argued that measures of the Big Five account for only 56% of
the normal personality trait sphere alone (not even considering the abnormal personality trait
sphere). Also, the static Big Five is not theory-driven, it is merely a data-driven investigation of
certain descriptors that tend to cluster together often based on less than optimal factor analytic
procedures. Measures of the Big Five constructs appear to show some consistency in interviews,
self-descriptions and observations, and this static five-factor structure seems to be found across a
wide range of participants of different ages and cultures. However, while genotypic temperament
trait dimensions might appear across different cultures, the phenotypic expression of personality
traits differs profoundly across different cultures as a function of the different socio-cultural
conditioning and experiential learning that takes place within different cultural settings.
Moreover, the fact that the Big Five model was based on lexical hypothesis, (i.e. on the verbal
descriptors of individual differences) indicated strong methodological flaws in this model,
especially related to its main factors, Extraversion and Neuroticism. First, there is a natural pro-
social bias of language in people's verbal evaluations. After all, language is an invention of group
dynamics that was developed to facilitate socialization, the exchange of information and to
synchronize group activity. This social function of language therefore creates a sociability bias in
verbal descriptors of human behaviour: there are more words related to social than physical or
even mental aspects of behaviour. The sheer number of such descriptors will cause them to group
into a largest factor in any language, and such grouping has nothing to do with the way that core
systems of individual differences are set up. Second, there is also a negativity bias in emotionality
(i.e. most emotions have negative affectivity), and there are more words in language to describe
negative rather than positive emotions. Such asymmetry in emotional valence creates another bias
in language. Experiments using the lexical hypothesis approach indeed demonstrated that the use
of lexical material skews the resulting dimensionality according to a sociability bias of language
and a negativity bias of emotionality, grouping all evaluations around these two dimensions. This
means that the two largest dimensions in the Big Five model might be just an artefact of the
lexical approach that this model employed.
Evidence for six factors rather than five
It has been noted that even though early lexical studies in the English language indicated five
large groups of personality traits, more recent, and more comprehensive, cross-language studies
have provided evidence for six large groups rather than five. These six groups forms the basis of
the HEXACO model of personality structure. Based on these findings it has been suggested that
the Big Five system should be replaced by HEXACO, or revised to better align with lexical
evidence.
The HEXACO model of personality structure is a six-dimensional model of human personality
that was created by Ashton and Lee[1] based on findings from a series of lexical studies involving
several European and Asian languages. The six factors, or dimensions, include
Honesty-Humility (H), Emotionality (E), Extraversion (X),
Agreeableness (A), Conscientiousness (C), and Openness to Experience (O).
Each factor is composed of traits with characteristics indicating high and low levels of the factor.
The HEXACO model was developed through similar methods as other trait taxonomies and builds
on the work of Costa and McCrae and Goldberg. The model, therefore, shares several common
elements with other trait models. However, the HEXACO model is unique mainly due to the
addition of the Honesty-Humility dimension.
The latest version of NEO FFI-3
The NEO-FFI-3, a revision of the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI), is a 60-item version
of the NEO-PI-3 that provides a quick, reliable, and accurate measure of the five domains of
personality: Neuroticism, Extroversion, Openness, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness.

All items on the NEO-FFI-3 were taken directly from the NEO-PI-3. It is especially useful when
time is limited and global information on personality is considered sufficient. The NEO-FFI can
help you understand an individual's basic emotional, interpersonal, experiential, attitudinal, and
motivational styles.

Fifteen of the 60 NEO-FFI items have been replaced to improve readability and psychometric
properties. This revision is appropriate for respondents ages 12 years and older, with new norms
provided in the Professional Manual. Self-report (Form S) and observer rating (Form R) forms are
available. Administration takes as little as 10-15 minutes; calculation of raw scores takes only 1-2
minutes.