The HEXACO Personality Space Before and After Re-Rotation to Approximate the Big Five Dimensions

Area of Science:

• Psychological measurement
• Personality psychology
• Psychometrics

Background:

• The HEXACO and Big Five models are prominent personality frameworks.
• Reconciling these models aids in understanding personality structure and correlates.
• Previous research has explored relationships between the two models.

Purpose of the Study:

• To re-orient the HEXACO personality dimensions to approximate the Big Five dimensions.
• To examine the correlates of both original and re-oriented HEXACO dimensions.
• To compare the utility of the original and Big Five-targeted HEXACO dimensions.

Main Methods:

• Used two Big Five measures as targets in derivation and cross-validation samples.
• Re-oriented HEXACO dimensions to approximate Big Five Agreeableness and Neuroticism.
• Examined correlates of original and re-oriented HEXACO dimensions in additional samples.

Main Results:

• HEXACO approximations of Big Five Agreeableness blended HEXACO Agreeableness, Emotionality, and Honesty-Humility.
• HEXACO approximations of Big Five Neuroticism blended Emotionality with low Agreeableness and low Extraversion.
• Associations with unethical behaviors, age, and assumed similarity shifted from HEXACO Honesty-Humility to Big Five Agreeableness and a residual sixth dimension after re-orientation.
• Sex differences shifted from HEXACO Emotionality to Big Five Agreeableness and Neuroticism.

Conclusions:

• Re-orienting HEXACO dimensions provides approximations of Big Five traits, impacting the interpretation of behavioral correlates.
• The original HEXACO factors offer theoretical interpretability, while Big Five-targeted dimensions may enhance practical utility.
• The study highlights the nuanced relationships between different personality models and their correlates.