A hierarchical faceted model of the Big Five

Abstract

The Five-Factor Model (FFM) is nowadays the personality structure which has reached the highest consensus among researchers. Although there exists agreement on its general features, there are some controversies regarding its specific features. With this contribution we intend to add a ‘little brick’ to the unfolding of the FFM. We propose a multifaceted organization of the Big Five and a methodological approach to reach this aim. Using a sample of 961 subjects and a data set of 116 adjectives, 22 facets were empirically developed. They proved to be reliable, convergent, discriminable, and coherent in meaning. When factor analysed together, they reproduced a clear FFM. Moreover, they proved to lie at the narrower core of their factor. To develop these facets we performed a series of principal-component analyses with Promax rotation on a set of adjectives already selected as lying in the core of the factors (i.e. a less than 30° distance from the factor). These facets and this methodology can help to bring out the more prototypical elements of the Big Five: a hierarchical multifaceted FFM is advocated as an approach that refines knowledge about the Big Five. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.