Using the Big Five Aspect Scales to translate between the HEXACO and Big Five personality models

The extensive use of two diverging personality taxonomies (the Big Five and HEXACO models) in contemporary research creates a need for understanding how traits connect to each other across taxonomies. Previous research has approached this at both a highly general (domain-) level as well as at a highly specific (facet-) level. The present report is the first to use the intermediate (aspect-) level of the Big Five Aspect Scales (BFAS) to understand the connections between the two models.

We explored these associations in a meta-analysis of four samples drawn from three countries (total N = 1,586).

We observed that each HEXACO domain correlated ≥|0.51| with one or more BFAS aspects. Half of the aspects were more strongly associated with HEXACO facets than with HEXACO domains, sometimes markedly so.

Although many domains, aspects, and facets are similarly represented across the two models, this was not always the case. Researchers seeking to use one model to extend findings built primarily off the other should carefully consider how well represented their traits of interest are in the other assessment. Psychology instructors are encouraged to use the BFAS to illustrate the subtler distinctions between the Big Five and HEXACO models.