Taking a Person-Centered Approach to Personality: A Latent-Profile Analysis of the HEXACO Model of Personality

Our study applies a person-centered approach to the HEXACO model of personality using latent profile analysis (LPA). While the traditional variable-centered approach assumes that the relations among variables within a population are homogenous, the person-centered approach identifies subgroups within samples that have similar scores on several variables of interest, in this case, the six factors of personality. Data from two independent samples were collected at a large North American university. The results of LPA revealed five distinct and interpretable profiles that replicated and were found to be consistent across both samples. We discuss how our findings attest to the meaningfulness of personality profiles, and suggest additional ways in which a person-centered approach might be applied in personality research

Hierarchical organization of personality and prediction of behavior

Two studies evaluated personality rait measures and Big Five factor measures for their accuracy in predicting important behavior criteria. The results of both studies howed that he narrower t aits and the broader factors, thought to define 2 levels of a hierarchy of personality variables, eparately predicted most criterion variables. However, the incremental validity of the personality xait measures (the degree to which the traits increased the criterion prediction achieved by the factors) was generally much larger than the incremental v lidity of the Big Five factor measures. It was concluded that aggregating personality raits into their underlying personality factors could result in decreased predictive accuracy due to the loss of trait-specific but criterion-valid variance. There is some intuitive appeal to the conceptualization that variables of personality are organized hierarchically, arranged according to the breadth of the behavior domains represented. One such model of personality is illustrated in Figure 1, first published by Eysenck (1947) and since cited by many other

Item properties and the convergent validity of personality assessment:A peer rating study

The current research evaluated the impact of personality questionnaire item content saturation, item social desirability, and mean item responses on the overall convergent validity of three well-known personality measures. Archival data representing groups of same-sex undergraduate roommate dyads were used for this research. Results demonstrated that content saturation, measured using item-total correlations, was the most consistent predictor of item convergent validity, measured using self-peer item response correlations. In order to predict outcome variables in education, clinical, and vocational contexts using scores on personality questionnaires, it is important for researchers to employ item selection procedures that take into account the item properties that affect the test's convergent validity.</p