engineering

Hierarchical structure of the Big Five

Hierarchical structure of the Big Five is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Hierarchical structure of the Big Five rather than just read about it. In short: Within personality psychology, it has become common practice to use factor analysis to derive personality traits. The Big Five model proposes that there are five basic personality traits.

Key takeaways

Hierarchical structure of the Big Five belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Hierarchical structure of the Big Five to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Hierarchical structure of the Big Five from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Within personality psychology, it has become common practice to use factor analysis to derive personality traits. The Big Five model proposes that there are five basic personality traits. These traits were derived in accordance with the lexical hypothesis. These five personality traits: Extraversion, Neuroticism, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness and Openness to Experience have garnered widespread support . The Big Five personality characteristics represent one level in a hierarchy of traits. These traits can be subdivided into collections of aspects or facets which are related to each other but are not identical. As the sub-level of a hierarchy, these traits can be said to be made up of these aspects or facets. The Big Five traits can also be combined into higher order factors consisting of two or more traits. These superordinate factors and subcomponents and the approaches used to devise them are discussed below.

Subcomponents of the Big Five

Aspects (Big Five Aspect Scale) The Big Five Aspect Scale contains 100 items and is designed to measure the Big Five personality characteristics both at the trait and aspect level. The aspect level is described as being "a level of trait organization located between facets and domains". Previous research on this topic had focused on a two-leveled hierarchy consisting of traits and facets. The authors of the article "Between facets and domains: 10 aspects of the Big Five" argued that there was evidence for an intermediary level between the Big Five and its constituent facets. The authors also cite previous research suggesting two factor solutions subsumed by each of the Big Five personality Traits. The Big Five Aspect Scale measures the following aspects:

Justification In addition to statistical evidence presented by the creators of this scale which indicates that a two-aspect solution is appropriate for each Big Five trait, there is genetic evidence for the existence of two aspects within each of the Big Five domains including separate biological correlates. This evidence supports the idea that each trait can be broken down into exactly two distinct subcomponents, and it is this evidence that the authors cite to show that a two aspect sub-level for each trait "may represent more than mere coincidence or desire for parsimony".

Facets (NEO-PI-R) One of the earliest facet scales is the NEO-PI-R. This scale consists of 240 questions which are designed to measure not only the Big Five personality traits, which are referred to as "domains," but also their constituent facets where "facet" refers to any personality characteristic of a lower (narrower) order than a domain. This scale is based on a "top-down approach" in which traits are viewed as broad themes that occur in personality measures. In this view traits are composed of facets, however they are not derived from lower order personality characteristics. The approach attempts to designate facets of each domain which

are mutually exclusive: each characteristic is assigned to a single facet. are similar in scope: the distinctions between facets should be comparable. exhaust the domain: the collection of facets within a domain should cover the contents of that domain comprehensively. "are consistent with existing psychological constructs."

Justification The authors of the NEO-PI-R cite a number of reasons justifying their top-down approach. The lexical approach (bottom up) is limited for two reasons, they claim. First, not all personality characteristics are well represented in natural language. Second, personality characteristics occur at various levels of breadth, from narrow to wide, with wider characteristics taking up the majority of variance in factor analyses. These wider items tend to correlate closely with a number of narrower items while narrower items may not vary at all with each other. A top-down approach helps to overcome both of these limitations. Items can be selected specifically to represent characteristics that are not as well represented in natural language. In addition, it allows one to develop an ordered hierarchy of items which are not necessarily related to each other "horizontally" (among items of similar breadth), by looking at their shared relationships to higher order domains or traits.

Facets (Abridged Big Five Dimensional Circumplex (AB5C) Approach) This AB5C approach to the classification of trait adjectives uses what is called a circumplex approach. In contrast to purely hierarchical models which seek to break Big Five personality traits into aspects and facets which exist within each domain, the circumplex approach views personality characteristics as existing in multidimensional space, each dimension being represented by one of the big five domains. The AB5C uses an abridged version of this approach. Rather than representing personality characteristics in a full five dimensions, they partition this space into "subsets" which are the 10 two domain combinations that can be formed by the Big Five. Characteristics are then classified according to which subset they are most strongly associated with and placed within this two-dimensional space. This model has been described as being an approach to Big Five subcomponents which is "horizontal" rather than "vertical" or hierarchical.

Justification The justification for circumplex models, which are characterized by the "multidimensional" approach mentioned above, is that they are better able to identify clusters of semantically related characteristics. Although the Big Five model covers a broader range of personality trait space, it is less able to make these sorts of distinctions. This is because "trait descriptors do not fit perfectly into simple structure models". The AB5C produces different clusters of adjectives than the purely hierarchical approaches mentioned above. One proposed explanation of this is that the "external" and "internal" structure of these adjectives differ. In this case, the external structure is derived from the ratings of participants from questionnaires. Internal structure refers to the strict semantic relationships of these adjectives (as taken from dictionaries and other references). When looking at antonyms, it is often found that a word and its opposite are not in directly opposing sections of the theoretical word-space of the AB5C.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Hierarchical structure of the Big Five

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Hierarchical structure of the Big Five claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Hierarchical structure of the Big Five before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Hierarchical structure of the Big Five ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Hierarchical structure of the Big Five

In research: Hierarchical structure of the Big Five appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Hierarchical structure of the Big Five in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Hierarchical structure of the Big Five is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Personality theories, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Hierarchical structure of the Big Five outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Hierarchical structure of the Big Five in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Hierarchical structure of the Big Five means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
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Frequently asked questions

What is Hierarchical structure of the Big Five in simple terms?

Within personality psychology, it has become common practice to use factor analysis to derive personality traits. The Big Five model proposes that there are five basic personality traits.

Why does Hierarchical structure of the Big Five matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Hierarchical structure of the Big Five?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Hierarchical structure of the Big Five.