Hierarchical organization of personality and prediction of behavior.

Abstract

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 others

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