Objective

The controversial General Factor of Personality (GFP) has been proposed as an indicator of social effectiveness and a slower life history strategy. An alternative hypothesis holds that only meta-trait alpha, comprising agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability, is a slow life history indicator. This study tested whether the GFP and/or alpha emerges from both self- and stranger-ratings, and whether either is predicted by indicators of harsh childhood ecologies.

Methods

U.S. undergraduate participants (N = 366) completed a Big Five instrument, a measure of socially desirable response bias, and brief (thin slice) videotaped interviews. Raters scored the interviews using the same Big Five instrument.

Results

Structural equation modeling of the self-report data yielded a well-fitting GFP, which was positively associated with father closeness. Meta-trait alpha, based on self-report, was associated with both father closeness and neighborhood stress, but showed positive loadings only for agreeableness and emotional stability. Stranger-rating data failed to yield either a well-fitting GFP or metatrait alpha.

Conclusions

Our findings are equivocal regarding the usefulness of the GFP specifically, and higher-order personality factors generally, in evolutionary personality science.

中文翻译：

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早期生活经历是否可以预测一般人格因素 (GFP) 的变化？

客观的

有争议的一般人格因素 (GFP) 已被提议作为社会有效性的指标和较慢的生活史策略。另一种假设认为，只有包含宜人性、尽责性和情绪稳定性的元特征alpha是缓慢的生活史指标。这项研究测试了 GFP 和/或alpha是否来自自我和陌生人的评级，以及是否由恶劣的童年生态指标预测。

方法

美国本科参与者 ( N  = 366) 完成了一项大五项工具、衡量社会理想反应偏差的措施，以及简短的（薄片）录像采访。评分者使用相同的五大工具对访谈进行评分。

结果

自我报告数据的结构方程建模产生了一个非常合适的 GFP，这与父亲的亲近度呈正相关。根据自我报告，元特质alpha与亲近父亲和邻里压力有关，但仅在宜人性和情绪稳定性方面显示正负荷。陌生人评级数据未能产生合适的 GFP 或元特征alpha。

结论

我们的发现对于 GFP 在进化人格科学中的有用性以及一般的高阶人格因素的用处是模棱两可的。