Are Higher-Order Constructs in Evolutionary Psychology Attributable to Omitted Cross-Loading Bias? An Exploratory...

Global constructs such as the general factor of personality (GFP), trait emotional intelligence (TEI), and the K-factor have generated considerable interest as well as controversy in evolutionary psychology. Research employing exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) suggests higher-order factors may be attributable to the omission of cross-loadings from confirmatory factor models and scale score computation, which can upwardly bias first-order factor and scale score correlations. In the current project, we conducted two studies to determine if GFP and TEI are method artifacts using national random-digit-dialing (n = 1,805) and teacher (n = 331) samples, respectively. We also conducted a study examining the possibility that K is an artifact using a sample of college students (n = 661). Using ESEM and bifactor ESEM to allow cross-loadings, we found evidence suggesting a general factor did not subsume all the Big Five personality traits and concluded that GFP is likely an artifact of omitted cross-loading bias. Evidence of global K and TEI factors survived free estimation of cross-loadings, and findings suggest total TEI scores may be sufficient; however, model-based reliability was too low to warrant the use of total Mini-K scores. Researchers should consider using ESEM to examine the internal structures of their scales at the item level before computing total scale scores.