Taxonomy and structure of Persian personality-descriptive trait terms

We described the development of a taxonomy of Persian personality-descriptive terms in two studies. In Study 1, judges scanned Persian dictionaries and several Persian novels for person-descriptive terms. The resulting set of person-descriptive terms was classified into different categories of description, including the category of dispositional trait-descriptive adjectives. Of the 544 most familiar traits, 126 traits were selected to collect self-ratings. In Study 2, self-ratings were provided by 2400 students. Ratings were factor analysed (Principal Components Analysis) followed by Varimax rotation. Factor structures with two to six factors were discussed. The two-factor structure and the three-factor structure confirm the Big Two and the Big Three, respectively. Of the structures with five and six factors, the five-factor structure appears to be the more appropriate choice, with the factors labelled Morality, Positive versus Negative Emotionality, Achievement, Thoughtfulness and Affection. Gender differences were measured on both the five-factor structure and the six-factor structure. The discussion section emphasised both cross-cultural commonalities and cultural deviations in reference to the Big Five.