title: Substance and artifact in the higher-order factors of the Big Five.
abstract: J. M. Digman (1997) proposed that the Big Five personality traits showed a higher-order structure with 2 factors he labeled alpha and beta. These factors have been alternatively interpreted as heritable components of personality or as artifacts of evaluative bias. Using structural equation modeling, the authors reanalyzed data from a cross-national twin study and from American cross-observer studies and analyzed new multimethod data from a German twin study. In all analyses, artifact models outperformed substance models by root-mean-square error of approximation criteria, but models combining both artifact and substance were slightly better. These findings suggest that the search for the biological basis of personality traits may be more profitably focused on the 5 factors themselves and their specific facets, especially in monomethod studies.
authors.affiliation: Gerontology Research Center, Laboratory of Personality and Cognition, National Institute of Aging, Baltimore, MD 21224-6825, USA. mccraej@grc.nia.nih.gov
authors.forename: Robert R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: McCrae
authors.forename: Shinji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yamagata
authors.forename: Kerry L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Jang
authors.forename: Rainer
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Riemann
authors.forename: Juko
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ando
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ono
authors.forename: Alois
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Angleitner
authors.forename: Frank M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Spinath
mesh_terms: D016477:Artifacts; D002605:Character; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D006801:Humans; D015233:Models, Statistical; D015588:Observer Variation; D010379:Peer Group; D010551:Personality / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012963:Sociometric Techniques