Research Feed

A curated collection of research papers, articles, and related news and media exploring the Big Five personality traits.

RESEARCH
Internal consistency, retest reliability, and their implications for personality scale validity
McCrae et al. · Personality and Social Psychology Review · January 2011

This research demonstrates that the stability and validity of personality facets are highly generalizable across different ages and cultures. Crucially, the study finds that retest reliability (how consistent scores remain over time) is a much better predictor of actual validity than internal con...

RESEARCH
The Big Five Personality Traits in the Political Arena
Gerber et al. · Annual Review of Political Science · January 2011

This research reviews how the Big Five personality traits influence individual political attitudes and behaviors. By analyzing stable psychological characteristics, scholars can better predict how different people interact with their political environments. The authors replicated previous studies...

RESEARCH
The Wiley-Blackwell handbook of individual differences
Chamorro-Premuzic et al. · Book · January 2011
RESEARCH
Personality and coping
Carver & Connor-Smith · Annual review of psychology · January 2010

This study explores how human nature and individual differences shape our responses to stress. Meta-analyses reveal that traits like Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and Openness drive 'engagement coping,' where individuals actively face challenges. Conversely, Neuroticism is linked to 'disengage...

RESEARCH
Openness Conscientiousness Extraversion Agreeableness Neuroticism
The relations between parents' Big Five personality factors and parenting: a meta-analytic review
Prinzie et al. · Journal of personality and social psychology · January 2009

A meta-analysis of nearly 6,000 parent-child dyads indicates that a parent’s personality serves as a significant resource for their caregiving style. Higher levels of Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness correlate with increased warmth and behavioral control. Furthermore, ...

RESEARCH
Extraversion Neuroticism
Coping efforts in daily life: Role of Big Five traits and problem appraisals
David & Suls · Journal of Personality · June 2008

This study investigated how the Big Five traits and problem appraisals influence how men cope with daily stressors. Researchers found that low perceived control shifts coping from direct action toward distraction and acceptance, while stressor severity increases reliance on religion and catharsis...

RESEARCH
Empirical and theoretical status of the five-factor model of personality traits
McCrae, R. R., & Costa, P. T. · The SAGE handbook of personality theory and assessment · January 2008

This chapter is divided into two distinct sections. The first provides a high-level overview of the Five-Factor Model (FFM) and its foundational research, designed for general readers seeking a clear introduction to the framework. The second half shifts into a technical exploration of 'Challenges...

RESEARCH
Openness Conscientiousness Extraversion Neuroticism
Personality correlates of physical activity: a review and meta-analysis
Rhodes & Smith · British journal of sports medicine · January 2006

A meta-analysis of studies spanning nearly four decades identifies Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and Neuroticism as the primary personality drivers of physical activity. Specifically, individuals who are more outgoing and disciplined tend to exercise more, while those higher in emotional insta...

RESEARCH
Openness Neuroticism
Unpacking the personality–cognitive ability link: A cross-national facet-level analysis of the Big Five
Rammstedt et al. · Large-scale Assessments in Education · January 2006

This cross-national study reveals that narrow personality facets predict cognitive ability nearly twice as effectively as the broad Big Five domains. While broad categories mask specific relationships, granular facets account for 10% of the variance in intelligence. Notably, these associations va...

RESEARCH
Openness Conscientiousness Extraversion Agreeableness Neuroticism
Personality and the Prediction of Consequential Outcomes
Ozer & Benet · Annual Review of Psychology · January 2006

The Big Five personality factors serve as powerful heuristics for predicting outcomes across multiple life domains. At the individual level, traits are linked to health, happiness, and identity. Interpersonally, they shape the quality of family and romantic relationships. Finally, at the institut...

RESEARCH
A new Big Five: Fundamental principles for an integrative science of personality
McAdams & Pals · American Psychologist · January 2006

McAdams and Pals outline five principles to integrate the 'whole person' beyond simple trait clusters. Personality is viewed as an evolutionary foundation expressed through three distinct levels: dispositional traits (the Big Five), characteristic adaptations (goals and coping mechanisms), and se...

RESEARCH
The International Personality Item Pool and the future of public-domain personality measures
Goldberg et al. · Journal of Research in Personality · January 2006

Seven experts discussed the rapid growth of the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP) as a transformative, public-domain resource for personality research. Since 1996, the IPIP has gained widespread popularity because it is cost-free, easily accessible via the internet, and offers over 2,000...

RESEARCH
The ideal romantic partner personality
Figueredo et al. · Personality and Individual Differences · January 2006

This research combines evolutionary and social psychological theories to examine whether we prefer romantic partners who are similar to us or those who complement us. By measuring personality across self-ratings, ideal partners, and actual partners, the studies found that people generally seek a ...

RESEARCH
The Mini-IPIP scales: Tiny-yet-effective measures of the Big Five factors of personality
Donnellan et al. · Psychological Assessment · January 2006

This study validates the Mini-IPIP, a streamlined 20-item version of the larger International Personality Item Pool. Despite its brevity (using only four items per Big Five trait) the tool maintains strong internal consistency and mirrors the results of much longer assessments. The researchers co...

RESEARCH
Bicultural Identity Integration (BII): Components and Psychosocial Antecedents
Benet-Martinez & Haritatos · Journal of Personality · May 2005

This study investigates bicultural identity, focusing on how individuals blend two cultures. Researchers identified two distinct factors: cultural distance (feeling the cultures are separate) and cultural conflict (feeling the cultures are in opposition). The findings show that an individual's Bi...

RESEARCH
Dispositional Forgiveness of Self, Others, and Situations
Thompson et al. · Journal of Personality · January 2005

The development of the Heartland Forgiveness Scale (HFS) highlights forgiveness as a multidimensional trait involving the self, others, and uncontrollable situations. Research shows that high levels of dispositional forgiveness correlate with cognitive flexibility and positive affect, while servi...

RESEARCH
Categorical and dimensional models of personality disorder
Trull & Durrett · Annual review of clinical psychology · January 2005

This review advocates for a dimensional approach to personality pathology over traditional categorical models, citing superior clinical and empirical validity. By utilizing taxometric and genetic analyses, the researchers identified four core domains central to personality disorders: Emotional Dy...

RESEARCH
Personality, Family History, and Competence in Early Adult Romantic Relationships
Donnellan et al. · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · January 2005

This longitudinal study demonstrates that the quality of adult romantic relationships is shaped by a combination of early personality traits and family environment. Researchers found that high levels of negative emotionality and less nurturant parenting during adolescence were strong predictors o...

RESEARCH
Personality Development: Stability and Change
Caspi et al. · Annual Review of Psychology · January 2005

This review highlights four major advancements in personality psychology since 1995. It identifies developmental shifts in the structure of personality from childhood to adulthood and explores new breakthroughs in behavioral genetics. By synthesizing longitudinal data, the researchers pinpoint sp...

RESEARCH
Extraversion Agreeableness
The interplay of traits and motives on volunteering: Agreeableness, extraversion and prosocial value motivation
Carlo et al. · Personality and Individual Differences · January 2005

This study examines how personality traits and internal motives interact to drive volunteerism. Researchers found that 'prosocial value motivation' (the desire to help others) is the bridge that links Agreeableness and Extraversion to actual volunteering. Interestingly, as Agreeableness decreases...