| Factor analyses of ratings of people using the personality trait lexicon have consistently yielded five factor solutions in which the resulting dimensions have been interpreted as Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Intellect (or Culture). A series of experiments tested the prediction that these five dimensions represent categories of trait information that are particularly important to impression formation because of their relevance to a broad range of interaction goals. In Experiment 1 subjects rated the importance of trait adjectives in forming a general impression of another person or of themselves. In Experiment 2 subjects selected, from a larger list of traits, five traits about which they most wanted to know about another person in anticipation of a social interaction. Although both studies demonstrated that the Five Factor dimensions were perceived as significantly more important than Non-Five Factors traits in impression formation, this effect was due primarily to Agreeableness. In Experiment 3 subjects rated the importance of trait adjectives for each of five goal-relevant situations related to the Five Factor dimensions. The results indicated that importance ratings varied in the predicted direction for each goal-relevant situation. Experiment 4 had subjects rate the importance of traits in one of three hypothetical situations: interacting with a small group towards a common goal, interacting with a stranger, or observing art or nature. As predicted, Five Factor dimensions were rated more important than Non-Five Factor traits in the Group Goal condition and Five Factor dimensions in the Group Goal condition were rated more important than Five Factor dimensions in both of the control conditions. In Experiment 5 subjects read a list of both Five Factor and Non-Five Factor traits with instructions to either form an impression of a person, remember the words, or make a non-person judgment. All subjects then performed an incidental recall task. Contrary to predictions, proportionate recall of Five Factor traits did not differ across the three conditions. It was concluded that the Five Factor model provides a marginally useful representation of trait information relevant to interaction goals. Methodological issues and future directions are also discussed. |
