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Arab‐Levantine personality structure: A psycholexical study of modern standard Arabic in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and the West Bank
Author(s) -
Zeinoun Pia,
DaoukÖyry Lina,
Choueiri Lina,
van de Vijver Fons J. R.
Publication year - 2018
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/jopy.12324
Subject(s) - agreeableness , conscientiousness , openness to experience , personality , psychology , big five personality traits , social psychology , big five personality traits and culture , arabic , extraversion and introversion , alternative five model of personality , linguistics , philosophy
Objective The debate of whether personality traits are universal or culture‐specific has been informed by psycholexical (or lexical) studies conducted in tens of languages and cultures. We contribute to this debate through a series of studies in which we investigated personality descriptors in Modern Standard Arabic, the variety of Arabic that is presumably common to about 26 countries and native to more than 200 million people. Method We identified an appropriate source of personality descriptors, extracted them, and systematically reduced them to 167 personality traits that are common, are not redundant with each other, and are familiar and commonly understood in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and the West Bank (Palestinian territories). Results We then analyzed self‐ and peer ratings ( N = 806) and identified a six‐factor solution comprising Morality (I), Conscientiousness (II), Positive Emotionality (III), Dominance (IV), Agreeableness/Righteousness (V), and Emotional Stability (VI) without replicating an Openness factor. Conclusions The factors were narrower or broader variants of factors found in the Big Five and HEXACO models. Conceptual and methodological considerations may have impacted the factor structure.