Does Spirituality Represent the Sixth Factor of Personality? Spiritual Transcendence and the Five‐Factor Model

Abstract

This study reports on the development of the Spiritual Transcendence Scale, a measure designed to capture aspects of the individual that are independent of the qualities contained in the Five‐Factor Model of Personality (FFM). Using two separate samples of undergraduate students including both self‐report (N s = 379 and 356) and observer data (N = 279), it was shown that Spiritual Transcendence: (a) was independent of measures of the FFM; (b) evidenced good cross‐observer convergence; and (c) predicted a wide range of psychologically salient outcomes, even after controlling for the predictive effects of personality. Given the long theoretical pedigree of Transcendence in the psychological literature, it was argued that Spiritual Transcendence represents a broad‐based motivational domain of comparable breadth to those constructs contained in the FFM and ought to be considered a potential sixth major dimension of personality.