Understanding Psychology (10th Ed)

CATTELL AND EYSENCK: FACTORING OUT PERSONALITY 
Later attempts to identify primary personality traits have centered on a statistical tech-
nique known as factor analysis. Factor analysis is a statistical method of identifying 
associations among a large number of variables to reveal more general patterns. For 
example, a personality researcher might administer a questionnaire to many participants 
that asks them to describe themselves by referring to an extensive list of traits. By sta-
tistically combining responses and computing which traits are associated with one 
another in the same person, a researcher can identify the most fundamental patterns or 
combinations of traits—called factors —that underlie participants’ responses. 
Using factor analysis, personality psychologist Raymond Cattell (1965) suggested 
that 16 pairs of source traits represent the basic dimensions of personality. Using those 
source traits, he developed the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire, or 16 PF, a 
measure that provides scores for each of the source traits (Cattell, Cattell, & Cattell, 
1993; 2000). 
Another trait theorist, psychologist Hans Eysenck (1995), also used factor analy-
sis to identify patterns of traits, but he came to a very different conclusion about the 
nature of personality. He found that personality could best be described in terms of 
just three major dimensions: extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism . The extraver-
sion dimension relates to the degree of sociability, whereas the neurotic dimension 
encompasses emotional stability. Finally, psychoticism refers to the degree to which 
reality is distorted. By evaluating people along these three dimensions, Eysenck was 
able to predict behavior accurately in a variety of situations. Figure 1 lists specifi c 
traits associated with each of the dimensions. 
THE BIG FIVE PERSONALITY TRAITS 
For the last two decades, the most infl uential trait approach contends that fi ve traits or 
factors—called the “Big Five”—lie at the core of personality. Using modern factor analytic 
statistical techniques, a host of researchers have identifi ed a similar set of fi ve factors 
Study Alert
All trait theories explain 
personality in terms of traits 
(consistent personality 
characteristics and behav-
iors), but they diff er in terms 
of which and how many traits are 
seen as fundamental.