Unknown Words in Self-Reported Personality: Lethargic and Provincial in Texas

Abstract

Two multi method studies probed the structure and correlates of self-reports of personality when participants were permitted to admit that they did not know assessment words. The first study (1,187 college students) examined the structure of self-evaluation using Goldberg's markers for his five-factor approach. Students reported greatest familiarity with Agreeableness markers and least familiarity with Emotional Stability. The second study (317 young adolescents) used two data sources: (a) individualized, self-paced, computer-based self-evaluations and (b) teacher ratings and evaluations of adjustment. The assessment (in either English or Spanish) allowed participants to obtain definitions. Adolescents requested the least help with agreeableness markers and the most help with emotional stability. Even with unknown words, and despite differences in methodology, similar five-factor structures emerged in both studies. Computer assessment methods, in combination with a five-factor approach, may be useful for probing processes that underlie the structure and development of personality and their links to adjustment.