Lisa Di Blas

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.

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.

An alternative taxonomic study of personality-descriptive adjectives in the Italian language

A trait‐taxonomic project was conducted in the North‐East of Italy. Three studies were run. In the first study, a comprehensive set of terms appropriate for personality description (adjectives, and adjectives that can be used as type‐nouns) was selected, and a modified version of the German selection procedure (Angleitner, Ostendorf and John, 1990) was adopted. In the second study, self‐ and other ratings were collected for a set of 314 trait‐descriptive adjectives. Self‐ and other ratings were factor analysed separately, and the factor solutions were compared in order to establish dimensions that were stable across the two data sets. In the third study, the pool of adjectives was reduced to 243 which were administered to a new sample, which also provided self‐descriptions on Goldbergs 40 bipolar scales. The resulting indigenous dimensions were compared with the canonical Big Five. Altogether, our findings suggest that the traditional Big Five are not reproduced when an emic taxonomy of Italian trait‐descriptive adjectives is developed. In fact, the three‐dimensional solution was the most robust in our studies (the Big Three), and not more than four factors remained stable across the data sets we analysed.

Refining a descriptive structure of personality attributes in the Italian language : The abridged big three circumplex structure

Factor structure and circumplex approaches were integrated to develop a refined structure of personality attributes in Italian. In Study I, the factor analytic approach was applied on the data set. The 3-factor solution, resembling the Big Three, was the most stable among others; the Big Five were not replicated. In Study 2, it was verified that differences in language and culture were relevant for the failure of the Big Five in Italian. In Study 3, the 3-factor solution was developed into 3 circumplexes, thus generating the abridged Big Three circumplex (AB3C) structure. Each 2-factor space had circumplex properties. In Study 4, the AB3C structure was shown to account for relevant proportions of variance in most of the scales of 4 well-established measures of personality. Finding indicate that the AB3C structure provides a parsimonious representation of the conceptual organization of most of the personality attributes.

Two independently constructed Italian trait taxonomies: Comparisons among Italian and between Italian and Germanic languages

Two existing selection procedures are distinguished, exemplified in the Dutch and German trait taxonomies. The characteristic features of the two approaches are identified in two independently constructed Italian taxonomies. We test the two approaches for their effects on the resulting trait structures and place the findings against the background of the established Germanic trait structures in four subsequent studies. In Study 1, the selection procedures in the two Italian studies are scrutinized and the resulting lists of trait descriptors are compared. In Study 2, the two Italian trait structures are compared both in terms of the trait descriptors they have in common and in terms of their unique sets. In Study 3, congruences between the corresponding factors from the two trait structures are calculated before rotation, after target rotation, and after joint rotation. In Study 4, congruences between the two Italian structures and three Germanic structures are investigated by calculating congruence coefficients before and after target rotation. We conclude that the trait selection procedures are evidently distinct, but that the two Italian structures are overwhelmingly similar. They show higher similarity to each other than either of them shows to the Germanic trait structures.

CircE: An R implementation of Browne’s circular stochastic process model

In confirmatory analysis of whether data have a circumplex structure, Browne’s (1992) model has played a major role. However, implementation of this model requires a dedicated program, CIRCUM, because the analysis routine is not integrated in any of the most widely used statistical software packages. Hence, data entry and graphical representation of the results require the use of one or more additional programs. We propose a package for the R statistical environment, termed CircE, that can be used to enter or import data, implement Browne’s confirmatory analysis, and graphically represent the results. Using this new software, we put forward a new approach to assess the sustainability of theoretical models when the analysis is carried out at the level of questionnaire items. The CircE package (for either Mac OS X or Windows) and additional files may be downloaded from http://brm.psychonomic-journals.org/content/supplemental.

Personality-relevant attribute-nouns: a taxonomic study in the Italian language

The present study was based on psycholexical approach premises and explored the structure of a large set of personality attribute‐nouns in the Italian language. Content inspection (based on Big Five categories) and quantitative indices were used to interpret the attribute‐noun dimensions. Results showed (a) a stable three‐component solution which replicated the Big Three; (b) an unstable five‐factor solution which did not reproduce the Big Five; (c) an unstable six‐factor solution which represented deviations from the Big Five system, which have been found in most psycholexical studies conducted in the Italian language. The six lexical dimensions were interpreted as follows: Conscientiousness (replicating the III of the Big Five); Self‐Assurance (combining the Big Five I assertiveness and IV fearfulness subcategories); Sociability (defined by the Big Five I sociableness and I impulse expression subcategories); Placidity (combining the Big Five II peacefulness, II unassertiveness, and IV irritableness subcategories); Honesty and Humility (comprising the Big Five II modesty and II helpfulness subcategories plus integrity values); Cleverness and Sophistication (defined by the Big Five V subcategories). The conclusion was that personality word organisation in the Italian language reflects the psycholexical Big Three and Big Six, but not the Big Five. Copyright

Evaluative and descriptive dimensions from Italian personality factors

The lexical approach assumes that the important traits of personality become encoded in language as single terms. Research using Italian trait terms has not confirmed the Big Five factors found in American English, but only the first three of these factors (the ‘Big Three’). Earlier, Peabody has emphasized the possibility of separating descriptive and evaluative aspects which are usually combined (confounded) in trait adjectives. Peabody and Goldberg showed that the Big Three factors could be transformed into three unconfounded dimensions: general evaluation, and two descriptive dimensions called Tight–Loose and Assertive–Unassertive. The present paper uses the Italian data of Di Blas and Forzi to replicate this finding. The evaluative and descriptive dimensions are defined in two ways: by deliberate rotation, and by using the unrotated factors. These two versions were closely related to each other. The transformations to these dimensions from the Big Three Italian factors were highly successful, replicating previous results in American English. Copyright

A Validation Study of the Interpersonal Circumplex Scales in the Italian Language

Summary: Eight interpersonal scales, developed within the Italian lexical context, were tested with respect to different kinds of validity. The observed continuum of interpersonal attributes corres...

A prospective study on the reciprocal influence between personality and attitudes, behaviors, and psychological characteristics salient in eating disorders in a sample of non-clinical adolescents

ABSTRACTEating disorders are mosy likely to occur for the first time in adolescence. Delineating vulnerable personality profiles of unhealthy conditions helps prevent their onset and development. This study investigated a non-clinical sample of 142 adolescents and how some theoretically salient individual differences in personality contribute to predict changes in behaviors, attitudes, and psychological characteristics that are clinically significant in eating disorders (EDs). The results from cross-lagged pattern analyses supported the influence of depression, obsessiveness, and self-esteem in the trajectories favoring the development of psychological characteristics, such as ineffectiveness and interoceptive awareness, which are salient in the ED risk process. Results also confirmed that body mass index, perfectionism, and body dissatisfaction predict increases in dysfunctional concerns with weight control and food consumption. Empirical support for the impact of ED-relevant variables on personality sel...ABSTRACT Eating disorders are mosy likely to occur for the first time in adolescence. Delineating vulnerable personality profiles of unhealthy conditions helps prevent their onset and development. This study investigated a non-clinical sample of 142 adolescents and how some theoretically salient individual differences in personality contribute to predict changes in behaviors, attitudes, and psychological characteristics that are clinically significant in eating disorders (EDs). The results from cross-lagged pattern analyses supported the influence of depression, obsessiveness, and self-esteem in the trajectories favoring the development of psychological characteristics, such as ineffectiveness and interoceptive awareness, which are salient in the ED risk process. Results also confirmed that body mass index, perfectionism, and body dissatisfaction predict increases in dysfunctional concerns with weight control and food consumption. Empirical support for the impact of ED-relevant variables on personality self-views emerged as well. Trajectories linking EDs and personality in relation to sex differences and permeability to transitory psychological conditions in adolescence were also confirmed.