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Metatraits of the Big Five Differentially Predict Engagement and Restraint of Behavior
Author(s) -
Hirsh Jacob B.,
DeYoung Colin G.,
Peterson Jordan B.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.082
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1467-6494
pISSN - 0022-3506
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2009.00575.x
Subject(s) - psychology , conscientiousness , agreeableness , extraversion and introversion , big five personality traits , neuroticism , personality , developmental psychology , openness to experience , hierarchical structure of the big five , trait , big five personality traits and culture , alternative five model of personality , social psychology , computer science , programming language
Although initially believed to contain orthogonal dimensions, the Big Five personality taxonomy appears to have a replicable higher‐order structure, with the metatrait of Plasticity reflecting the shared variance between Extraversion and Openness/Intellect, and the metatrait of Stability reflecting the shared variance among Neuroticism, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. These higher order traits have been theorized to relate to individual differences in the functioning of the dopamine and serotonin systems, respectively. As dopamine is associated with exploration and incentive‐related action, and serotonin with satiety and constraint, this neuropharmacological trait theory has behavioral implications, which we tested in 307 adults by examining the association of a large number of behavioral acts with multi‐informant reports of the metatraits. The frequencies of acts were consistently positively correlated with Plasticity and negatively correlated with Stability. At the broadest level of description, variation in human personality appears to reflect engagement and restraint of behavior.