Despite the popularity and prevalence of the five-factor model (FFM) of personality, numerous questions regarding its psychometric properties have yet to be investigated. One issue of particular concern is the underlying premise that these five personality factors are universally shared by all individuals. The present study examined the impact of cognitive complexity on the FFM by directly assessing whether individuals with higher or lower levels of cognitive complexity have personalities comprised of a greater or lesser number of factors, respectively, than the five widely accepted factors outlined by the FFM. Results indicated that individuals with lower levels of cognitive complexity have personalities best described by a three-factor model, whereas individuals with higher levels of cognitive complexity have personalities best described by a seven-factor model. In light of these findings, the appropriateness of universally applying the FFM to individuals of differing levels of cognitive complexity is discussed.
The five-factor model (FFM) is one of the most well-known models of personality (Matthews & Deary, 1998). It has been applied to numerous areas of psychology including, but not limited to, academic success (Trapmann, Hell, Hirn, & Schuler, 2007), alcohol abuse (Malouff, Thorsteinsson, Rooke, & Schutte, 2007), deviance (Berry, Ones, & Sackett, 2007), entrepreneurship (Zhao & Seibert, 2006), occupational and non-occupational accidents (Clarke & Robertson, 2005), job performance (Barrick & Mount, 1991), job satisfaction (Judge, Heller, & Mount, 2002), leadership (Bono & Judge, 2004), smoking (Malouff, Thorsteinsson, & Schutte, 2006), and team performance (Peeters, Van Tuijl, Rutte, & Reymen, 2006). Despite its remarkable popularity, several relatively unanswered concerns have been raised regarding the appropriateness of the self-report format and its psychometric properties (Block, 1995 and Eysenck, 1991). Specifically, efforts to clarify the nature of the factor structure – the number of factors in particular – have garnered conflicting results (cf. Almagor et al., 1995, Jackson et al., 1996, Simms, 2007 and Zuckerman et al., 1993). Nevertheless, tacit acceptance remains with regard to the fundamental assumption underlying the FFM, namely, that the personality structure of all individuals is best described by five factors. The present study seeks to test this assumption by addressing the following question: Does the personality structure of individuals with higher levels of cognitive complexity differ from those with lower levels of cognitive complexity?
