(Tsepho
Mosupye)
·Extraversion
(E)
·Openness
(O)
·Agreeableness
(A)
·Conscientiousness
(C)
The
30 facet scales of the five domains are:
| Conscientiousness facets | Openness facets | Agreeability facets |
|
* Competence
|
* Fantasy
|
* Trust |
|
* Order
|
* Aesthetics
|
* Straightforwardness
|
|
* Dutifulness
|
* Feeling
|
* Altruism
|
|
* Achievement Striving
|
* Action
|
* Compliance
|
|
* Self-discipline
|
* Ideas
|
* Modesty
|
| * Deliberation | * Values | * Tender-mindedness |
|
Neuroticism Facets
|
Extraversion facets
|
|
|
* Anxiety
|
* Warmth
|
|
| * Angry Hostility | * Gregariousness | |
|
* Depression
|
* Assertiveness
|
|
|
* Self-Consciousness
|
* Activity
|
|
| * Impulsiveness | * Excitement-seeking | |
|
* Vulnerability
|
* Positive Emotions
|
The
purpose of the inventory is to obtain a detailed assessment of normal personality,
for use in human resource development, industrial/organisational psychology,
as
well as vocational counselling and clinical practice.It
consists of 240 items and 3 validity items with the administration time
of 35-45 minutes.It can be administered
to students and adults and the reading level should be at least 6th grade.The
qualification level to administer the test is registered psychometrist.The
scoring options include, hand scoring, software scoring and buro service.
Internal
consistency coefficients for both forms (i.e. form S and form R) range
from .86 - .95 for domain scales and from .56 - .90 for facet scales.It
is validated against other personality inventories as well as projective
techniques.
Two
possible report options result from the NEO PI-R, the NEO professional
development report for individual planning and the NEO professional development
for management planning.They report
on the individual's strength and limitations in four major areas, namely:
·Problem-solving
skills (orginise thought, solve problems, make decisions)
·Planning,
organising and implementation skills (action oriented, conscientiousness,
openness to new ideas, leadership behaviour)
·Style
of relating to others (accommodation, openness, ability to trust), and
·Personality
style (primary values and approach to life, temperament, degree of emotional
self-control)
These
reports give a summary of the individual's most distinctive characteristics
and consequences of the work setting and life in general.
This
is another shortened version four domain measure of personality.It
consists of 192 items and can be administered to adults (18yrs and older)
with the reading level of 6th grade.The
administration time is 25-35 minutes and the scoring option is hand scoring.The
four domains are extraversion, agreeableness, openness to experience and
conscientiousness.These domains
are interpreted in terms of six personality styles: interests, activity,
learning, interaction, attitude and character.This
version is normally used in the employment and personal counselling settings
(e.g. career counselling, career development and training).
Revision
to NEO-PI scale
The
revised inventory differs in the addition of facet scales for the A and
C domains and also in minor changes in some of the items comprising the
N, E, and O scales.These changes
are made to improve upon the internal consistency and validity of several
facet scales. New trial items were administered to 394 BLSA subjects who
formed part of the new normative sample in 1990.Ten
items were replaced.The changes
resulted in a somewhat clearer factor structure for the facet scales and
necessitated new normative data but did not alter the validity of the original
scales.Correlation between the
original scales and the revised scales ranged from .93-.95.
Validity
Content
validity-samples
appropriately from the range of characteristics it is intended to represent.
In
the NEO PI-R content validity is addressed by identifying six distinct
facets of sample for each domain, and by selecting non-redundant items
to measure each facet.
Criterion
validity- means
that identifiable groups of individuals differ in their means score in
theoretically predictable ways.
The
findings that patients in psychotherapy score high on neuroticism and that
drug abusers score low on agreeableness and conscientiousness provide some
evidence of this kind of validity for NEO PI-R scale
Validity
of the five scales
Many
studies have been conducted on the question of external validity e.g. Mcrae
& Costa (1985, 1987), John (1989), Heilbrums (1983), Golberg (1989),
Tranpnell & Wiggin (1990), Ostendorf (1990), Block (1990).On
the other hand, convergent and discriminant validity of the facet scales
have been conducted as well, e.g. Costa & Mcrae (1986), Costa &
Holland (1984), Lorr (1986)
There isn’t much literature published on the NEO PI-R in South Africa.As it will be shown below, only a very few published articles were identified.The search for more published material was unsuccessful. Despite this it is reported that various companies certainly used the instrument as part of an employment assessment battery and this is largely undocumented. Nevertheless, a review from the few published articles and some notable individuals connected to the instrument reflect a positive outlook.The discussion on this report centered on the findings and the views of the latter.
Research Findings
The few located studies were undertaken using students as research subjects.Although this is a limitation to the use of the instrument in South Africa, perhaps this reflects the infancy stage of NEO PI-R.Nevertheless, three South African studies of the instruments are presented below.Another important point to note is that all three studies were conducted by more or less the same authors thus reflecting a potential biased outlook of those researchers.Given this, it is thus imperative that more research be done especially in industry where the use of the instrument has important implications.
The Applicability of the Five-Factor Model of Personality
in a South African Sample (J.W.P. Heuchert, Department of Psychology, University
of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa)
The aim of this study was to investigate the applicability of the FFM to a different culture (i.e. South African culture), given the claim that the FFM and the NEO PI-R have universal application and that they are not dependent on culture.The subjects of this study consisted of psychology students of mixed race who were asked to fill out a number of research questionnaires, one of which was the NEO PI-R form S.The research questions were aimed at comparing the coefficient alphas, factor structure and mean differences between the US and South African data.In addition, the research also wanted to establish the long-term stability of the NEO PI-R for the South African population.
The US sample (n =1539) and SA sample (n = 226) comparison yielded the following results.Internal consistency for the SA sample ranged from .87 to .91 for the five domains and .44 to .80 for the 8-item facets scale.Some facets of the scales did not have high coefficient alpha, the researcher claim that similar results were obtained for the US sample.The results of the five-varimax principle components obtained from the factor analysis of the 240 NEO PI-R items indicated that there was a strong correspondence (r = .72 - .93) for the SA sample with five domains.The means also indicated that there was a strong trend of the two groups being similar.Those that were not similar, the magnitude of the differences were not large. From these findings the researcher concluded that the NEO PI-R had concurrent validity for the South African student sample.
Although not particularly validation studies, the next two research projects may share some light into the application of the NEO PI-R in the South African context
Students’ Belief in a Just World (BJW) as a function
of their Personality (Kriegler, D., Heuchert, J.W.P., and Peirson, A. Department
of Psychology, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa).
This study wanted to examine relations between a measure of the five factor model of personality and the Just World Theory.In essence, the researchers wanted to establish if BJW is constitutive of an underlying personality trait.Thus their investigation anticipated that the BJW scale scores would correlate with certain subscales of the NEO PI-R.The study also assumed that the specificity ofthe South Africansocio-political context within which BJW and NEO PI-R scores are measured will affect the results.In other words, the scores pre and post election scores will be different given the different context (i.e. apartheid and post-apartheid) they were collected.
The results confirmed the hypothesis in that there was significant correlation found on 3 of the 5 NEO PI-R’s domains.Although this was reported as low, there was however, correlation of -.33 for Neuroticism; .30 for Extroversion; and .31 for Agreeableness.Several statistically significant positive correlations were discovered on the 30 facets: Trust (.42) and Positive emotions (.41) showed the highest correlations with the BJW whereas Warmth (.36), Compliance (.34), and Altruism (.33) showed statistically significant results.For their second hypothesis, that there will be a statistically significant difference in student’s BJW score measured in 1989 and 1997, could not be confirmed.
Personality and psychological Symptomology of a
Group of Students (Gaj, S. Heuchert, J.W.P., and Peirson, A. Department
of Psychology, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa)
This study wanted to examine the relationship between student’s psychological symptoms, as measured by the HSCL-80 and their personality, as measured on the NEO PI-R.Furthermore, the study also wanted to establish if there was a difference between symptoms measured in 1997 compared to that of 1989.The findings of this study showed significant correlation with the HSCL-80 with Neuroticism (.47), Extraversion (-.30), Openness (-.30), Agreeableness (.43), and Conscientiousness (.-.41) having the high correlation.For the second hypothesis that states that there is a statistical significant between the scores obtained in the study done in 1989 and 1997, was confirmed.There was a statistically significant increase in the number of reported symptoms from a similar group of students that occurred over that period of time.
Discussion of the above studies.
There is no doubt that the above-mentioned studies fall short of validating the use of the NEO PI-R in South Africa.The problems with these studies include their lack of thoroughness and psychometric soundness.In addition, it appears that not only were students used in these studies (this also having a problem of its own) but it also appears that all three articles stem from the same sample of students.This throws a big limitation of these studies especially in relations to their finding and conclusions that can be drawn from them.Nevertheless, the studies may well serve as a precursor of many research projects to come.
Discussion with NEO PI-R distributors
The NEO PI-R is being distributed by Jopie van Rooyen & Partners and its comprehensive kit includes manual, 10 reusable forms S item booklets, 10 reusable form R item booklets (5 men and 5 women), 25 hand-scorable answer sheets, 25 form S and 25 form R adult profile forms, and 25 feedback sheets.They also distribute the NEO 4 comprehensive kit and the NEO 4 Introductory kit.
In a discussion with one of the partners, it was confirmed that there are no available South African norms for the instrument and that there is a lack of available South African literature, nor studies done with the NEO PI-R.Nevertheless, the partner believes that the South African population is not significantly different from the norms established in the US.According to her, the difference is minimal to render the instrument invalid in South Africa.People whom have used the instrument find it useful and applicable, she said.Upon asking for the list of those people/companies using the instrument, she did not have the list readily.She however, promised to compile it and make it available to me.
Discussion with Dr Chris Nunns of the SA Breweries
Dr Chris Nunns also confirmed that no available norms of the NEO PI-R exist as yet, but is very optimistic about that happening in some time to come.He also feels that the differences between the norms created by the authors of the instruments are applicable to the South African population.In fact, he believes that in the mean time, the translation of the instrument into the some of the indigenous languages will serve the applicability of the instrument in South Africa.According to him, there is a project in hand, that is considering translating the instrument into the Xhosa language.Lastly, Dr Chris Nunns believes that in order to make the instrument more reliable and valid, one has to use/interpret it in collaboration with other assessment instruments.He also gave a vague promise to provide a list of those people and organizations using the NEO-PI-R.
Conclusion
The NEO PI-R has shown evidence of reliability and validity in a large number of countries.The authors of the instrument also claim excellent reliabilities for the item domain scales and acceptable reliabilities for the 8-item facet scales.There is no doubt about its general applicability in many fields including the organizational fields, many studies done allude to that fact.Nonetheless, the question remains as to whether it is applicable to the South African context.
So far, not much has been done to convince to the applicability of the NEO PI-R to the South African context.The cited studies in this report, not only suffer from their modest sum, they also bring in the question of psychometric soundness.Norms are a set of scores from clearly defined samples and the setting of norms constitutes test standardization.Thus without norms the psychological significance of meaning of an individual’s score on a test is unknown.These are imperative for a test to be psychometrically sound. However, this appears not to be available for the NEO PI-R in South Africa at present.Furthermore, the sample on which the norms are based should be large and representative.Clearly the sample of the studies cited here are no larger than they are representative.This is understandable given perhaps the stage this instrument is at and also the fact that the studies were not designed to create norms, in the first place.Nevertheless, it is important to consider that despite, the overall validity attested to this instrument in other countries, that norms be created for the South African population given its diversity.There are surely going to be significant differences between, for instance, urban and rural communities, private school educated and public school educated, socio-economic differences, racial and ethnic differences.It is only fair that these differences be considered when using the instruments, particularly in Industry.
The following are tables that highlight some of the studies done on the NEO PI-R.Although there are many international studies done on the instrument.The present author chose a few, perhaps more relevant ones.The other table outlines South African studies discussed above. The final table gives a list of organisations and companies using the NEO PI-R in South Africa
ABSTRACTS
|
REFERENCES |
TITLES
|
|
Recent personnel selection studies
have focused on the 5-factor model of personality. However, the stability
of this factor structure in job applicant population has not been determined.
Conceptual and empirical evidence has suggested that similar factors structures
should not be assumed across testing situations that have different purposes
or consequences. A study was conducted that used confirmatory factor analysis
to examine the fit of the 5-factor model to NEO five-factor inventory (P.T.
Costa & R.R. McCrae, 1989) test data from student and applicant samples.The
5-factor structure fit the student data but did not fit the applicant data.The
existence of an ideal-employee factor in the applicant sample is suggested.The
findings are discussed in terms of both construct validity issues and the
use of the Big Five in personnel selection
|
Scmit, M. J. &Ryan, A.M.
Journal of Applied Psychology (1993) vol.78 (6), 966-974
|
The big five in personnel selection:
Factor structure in applicant and non-applicant populations.
|
|
In this study they investigated the
moderating role of autonomy on the relationship between the Big Five personality
dimensions and supervisory ratings of job performance.On
the basis of data from 146 managers, results indicated that two dimensions
of personality, Conscientiousness (r=. 25) and Extraversion (r=. 14), were
significantly related to job performance.Consistent
with our expectations, the validity of Conscientiousness and Extraversion
was greater for managers in jobs high in autonomy compared with those in
jobs low in autonomy.The validity
of Agreeableness was also higher in high-autonomy jobs compared with low
autonomy ones, but the correlation was negative.These
findings suggest that the degree of autonomy in job moderates the validity
of at least some personality predictors.Implications
for future research are noted.
|
Barricks, M.R. & Mount, K.M.
(1993) Journal of Applied Psychology vol. 78 (1), 111-118
|
Autonomy as a moderator of the relationship
between the Big Five personality dimensions and job performance.
|
|
Using about 600 college students and
exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, three models of personality
structure were tested: the Big Five, as measured by the NEO Personality
Inventory (P.T. Costa & R.R. McCrae, 1985), and A. Tellegen’s (1985)
three-and four-dimensional models, as measured by the multidimensional
personality models are unlikely to meet conventional goodness-of-fit criteria
in confirmatory factor analysis, because of the limited simple structure
of personality measures and the personality domain itself.Poor
fits of a priori models highlighted not only the limited specificity of
personality structure theory, but also the limitations of confirmatory
factor analysis for testing personality structure models.
|
Church, A.T. &Burke, P.J. (1994)
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Vol. 66(1), 93-114
|
Exploratory and Confirmatory Test
of the Big Five and Tellegen’s Three and Four-Dimensional Models.
|
|
This article examines the relationship
between Holland’s vocational typology and the Neuroticism-Extraversion-Openness
(NEO) model of personality in a sample of men (N=217) and women (N=144)
aged 21 and 89.Young and old
adult groups were similar to college students in most vocational interests,
ant the same pattern of sex differences was found.Correlations
between Self-Directed Search (SDS) scales and NEO scores showed strong
associations of Investigative and artistic interests with Openness to experience,
and of Social and Enterprising interests with Extraversion.Individual
interested primarily in Conventional occupations tended to be closed to
experience.These associations
were generally confirmed when spouse ratings were used as a non-self-report
measure of personality traits in a subset of the subjects.The
NEO complements the Holland typology, primarily in providing measures of
Neuroticism.Research on the possible
utility of supplementing vocational interest data with personality measure
is suggested, and some implications for vocational counseling among older
adults are discussed.
|
Costa, P.T. & McCrae, R.R. (1984)
Journal of Applied Psychology Vol. 69 (3) 390-400
|
Personality and Vocational Interests
in an Adult Sample
|
|
Two data sources: self-reports and
peer ratings – and two instruments – adjective factors and questionnaire
scales – were used to assess the five-factor model of personality.As
in a previous study of self-reports (McCrae & Costa, 1985b), adjective
factors of neuroticism-undirectedness were identified in an analysis of
738 peer rating of 275 adult subjects.Intraclass
correlations among raters, ranging form .30 to .65, and correlations between
mean peer rating and self-reports, from .25 to .62, showed substantial
cross-observer agreement on all five adjective factors.Similar
results were seen in analyses of scales from the NEO Personality Inventory.Items
from the adjective factors were used as guides in a discussion of the nature
of the five factors.These data
reinforce recent appeals for the adoption of the five-factor model in personality
research and assessment.
|
McCrae, R.R. & Costa, P.T. (1987)
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Vol. 52(1), 81-90
|
Validation of the Five-Factor Model
of Personality Across Instruments and Observers
|
ABSTRACTS
|
REFERENCES |
TITLES
|
|
Research in the Belief in a Just
World (BJW) (Learner, 1978, 1980) has in the past twenty five years progressed
from focusing on validating the Rubin & Peplau (1975) Belief in a Just
World Scale(BJWS) to finding the
many correlates of BJW and different personality characteristics.The
present study examines relations between the measure of the five-factor
model of personality as operationalised in the revised NEO Personality
Inventory (NEO-PI-R, Costa & McCrae, 1992) and Lerner’s (1970, 1980)
Just World Theory as operationalised in the Rubin & Peplau BJWS.The
utility of the BJW construct in explaining attitudes on a variety of socio-political
issues has been suggested by a vast body of research (O’Quin, & Volger,
1990; Finamore & Carlson, 1987).The
interrelationship between students’ BJW as a function of their personality
is explored within the socio-political context of pre-and-post-election
South Africa.
|
Kriegler, D., Heuchert, J.W.P., &
Peirson
|
Students’ Belief in a Just World (BJW)
as a function of their Personality.
|
|
This study focuses on personality
variable and self-reported psychological symptomology. The personality
profiles of about 301 students were obtained from their responses to the
NEO-PI-R (Costa & McCrae, 1985).These
profiles were then compared with their reports of the extent to which they
experienced psychologically distressing symptoms from a list of 80 symptoms
measured by the Hopkins Symptoms Checklist (Derogatis, Lipman, Richels,
Uhlenhute & Covi, 1974).As the
NEO-PI-R proposes a Neuroticism factor (with facet scales such as Anxiety
and Depression), a correlation with the self-report of these symptoms on
the HSCL-80 should be evident.The
levels of symptomology will also be compared to those obtained from a comparable
sample in 1989.
|
Gaj, S, Heuchert, J.P.W., & Pierson,
A.
|
Personality and Psychological Symptomology
of a Group of Students.
|
|
It is claimed that the FIVE-Factor
Model of personality (FFM) may have universal applicability.The
NEO personality inventory – Revised (NEO-PI-R, Costa & McCrae, 1992)
is proposed as an assessment device that can be used to assess the FFM.This
instrument has been widely used and has been translated into several different
languages.However, as far as can
be determined, it has never been researched in South Africa or anywhere
else in Africa.In this study aspect
of the reliability, validity and stability of the NEO-PI-R in a South African
Sample is investigated.About 450
students from several different cultural groups in South Africa participated
in the study and complete NEO-PI-R data on 226 students was obtained and
used for analysis.The sample’s score
on the battery of other scales were used to investigate the possible impact
of culture on issues of reliability and validity of the NEO-PI-R.
|
Heuchert, J.W.P.
|
The applicability of the Five-Factor
Model Personality in a South African Sample.
|
|
Study |
Total N= |
_____________________
Males N= ; Females N = |
Population Details |
|
Gaj S., Heuchert, J.W.P.
and Peirson, A.
|
301
|
No breakdown given
|
Convenient
sample of racially mixed students
|
|
Kriegler, D., Heuchert, J.W.P.,
and Peirson, A.
|
301
|
No breakdown given |
Convenient
sample of racially mixed students
|
|
Heuchert, J.W.P.
|
226
|
176
= females
45
= males
|
Sample
of racially mixed students
|
LIST
OF NEO USERS
|
NAME
|
COMPANY
|
TEL-NO
|
FAX
NO
|
E-MAIL
|
|
Theresa
Cotterell
|
Mac
Consulting
|
011-327-7380
|
011-337-7388
|
|
|
Sonja
Strydom
|
South
Africa Reserve Bank
|
012-313-3998
|
012-313-3713
|
|
|
Lynn
Ribton-Turner
|
Ripton-Turner
Recruitment
|
011-455-4262
|
011-455-5350
|
|
|
Tarynn
Warner
|
Ripton-Turner
recruitment
|
011-455-4262
|
011-455-5350
|
|
|
Viveke
Christierson
|
Wits
Businnes school
|
011-488-5924
|
011-488-5549
|
|
|
Lyn
Markman
|
UPE
|
041-581-2467
|
041-504-2854
|
|
|
Richard
Hunter
|
Ackermans
|
021-900-1079
|
021-906-1900
|
|
|
Lesley
Clarence
|
Private
|
082-820-0575
|
|
|
|
Andrew
Davis & Wife
|
Private
|
011-783-3301
|
011-783-3301
|
|
|
Marthie
Hattingh
|
Private
|
011-465-1758
|
011-465-1758
|
|
|
Loukia
Akakios
|
LA
occupational school
|
083-272-8888
|
083-272-8888
|
|
|
Inette
Taylor
|
Private
|
|
|
|