Personality factors in the Eysenck personality questionnaire

Hierarchical factor analyses were carried out on raw scored EPQ data yielded from two samples of subjects, a Gallup adult quota sample of 1198 subjects and 406 university undergraduates. Each sample was split by sex providing six data sets for analysis. Results at the second order level clearly indicated the recovery of practically all the E, N and L items as three distinct factors, P item recovery differed among males and females. Adult female and student female subject groups did not show clear recovery of a substantial majority of P items. Although P, as a factor, did not appear recognisably in the male student sample, this was interpreted as being due either to the low subject: variable ratio and/or to the low subject number (N=171) and its resultant lack of definition of initial P item variance. The P factor appeared most strongly as a second order in the total Gallup, total student, and male Gallup sample.     

Heritability of item responses on the Eysenck personality questionnaire

We report estimates of the heritabilities and common environment variances for the 90 items of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. Responses from 627 pairs of twins were analysed using the biometrical genetic analysis based on the threshold model described by Falconer. Many of the items revealed very substantial heritabilities. No less than 67/90 had heritabilities > 33%, 19 had > 50% and a few were even > 65%. Some of the useful implications of item heritabilities are discussed.     

A factor analysis of the Eysenck personality questionnaire and the Strelau temperament inventory

The relationship of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire and the Strelau Temperament Inventory was examined. Correlation analyses of test scores and items provided little evidence of an identity between the scales of these tests.     

The effect of testing instructions for handling social desirability on the Eysenck personality questionnaire

The Hebrew version of the Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ-R) was administered to two groups. One group was given special ‘feedback’ instructions intended to make subjects aware of the extent of their distortions due to responding in a socially desirable direction, and of the possibility of detection of such distortions. The other group was given ordinary standard instructions. There was a substantial change in the mean of the Lie (L) scale, a moderate change in the Neuroticism (N) scale and no significant change in the mean of the Extraversion (E) and Psychoticism (P) scales. The reliability estimates and factor pattern showed a marked improvement of the P scale and some improvement of the N and L scales, and no effect on the E scale.     

The theory behind Psychoticism: a reply to Eysenck

In this reply to Eysenck, we attempt to clarify why we have criticized Eysenck's Psychoticism model and have found it necessary to introduce our own alternative model. It is concluded that the validity of the P scale as a measure of Psychoticism has not been demonstrated and that the P construct itself is untenable.     

The attitude to personality disorder questionnaire: psychometric properties and results

Attitudes of professional psychiatric staff to personality disordered patients are notoriously pessimistic. This paper reports the findings from: (a) an exploratory survey to assess the components of attitude to personality disorder; (b) an assessment of the test-retest reliability of the attitude to personality disorder questionnaire; and (c) a confirmatory factor analysis with a third sample. Factor analysis of the feelings aroused in nurses by patients demonstrated an underlying structure consisting of enjoyment, security, acceptance, sense of purpose, and enthusiasm. This structure was confirmed in a subsequent sample. Test-retest reliabilities of the instrument were good to excellent. The scale has a robust structure, good psychometric properties, and is useful for outcome studies, benchmarking between units, and regular audits of staff attitude. Full details of the scale are provided, with normative data.     

Relationships between the Eysenck personality questionnaire,Strelau temperament inventory and Freiburger beschwerdenliste gesamtform

A correlational and factor analysis was carried out on test scores for the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, Strelau Temperament Inventory and Freiburger Beschwerdenliste Gesamtform. Results suggest a convergence between Eysenck's personality factors and Strelau's questionnaire-based measures of neo-Pavlovian nervous system properties, and provide further evidence of a correspondence between these measures and psychosomatic disease.     

Examining the relationship between the Eysenck personality inventory and the sixteen personality factors questionnaire using predictive configural frequency analysis

A nonparametric analogue of canonical correlation analysis, called P-CFA, was used to determine how the Eysenck Personality Inventory is related to Cattell's Sixteen Personality Factors Questionnaire. The P-CFA methods used showed that Eysenck's personality dimensions of Extraversion and Neuroticism can be predicted quite well from suitably chosen primary scales in the Cattell questionnaire. The results were consistent with those obtained in another study using canonical analysis. Beyond that, P-CFA methods were used to predict Eysenckian trait-type categories from Cattell's primary scales. The results were weak and not predictable from canonical analysis, but showed potential analytic capabilities of P-CFA that are not available in canonical analysis.     

The Eysenck personality questionnaires and delinquency prediction

The predictive validity of the EPQ scales with regard to future offending was examined. The Junior and Adult EPQ forms were administered to 179 male high-school students (13–15 yrs) and 75 delinquent youths (15–18 yrs), respectively. All subjects were followed up with regard to proven offences committed in the 12-month period following testing. The results suggested that both the junior and adult form P and C scales have validity in predicting future offending.     

Differentiation of biogenic and psychogenic impotence with the Eysenck personality questionnaire and the inventory of sexual attitudes

Thirty-one men with erectile dysfunction completed the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire and the Inventory of Sexual Attitudes. Biomedical assessment was utilized to assign men to biogenic and psychogenic groups. The only significant difference noted between the two groups was a tendency of men with psychogenic impotence to be more introverted.     

A comparison of the Guilford and Eysenck factors of personality

The correlations of factor scores from the Guilford-Zimmerman Temperament Survey (GZTS) with factor scores on the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI) and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) were compared to predictions made by Guilford and Eysenck regarding the structure of personality. Factor structure of the GZTS was consistent with Guilford's proposed model. Eysenck's Neuroticism was strongly associated with Guilford's Emotional Stability (E) and E plus Objectivity (O) factors. Eysenck's Psychoticism had no counterpart on the GZTS, although it was associated with Restraint (R). EPI-Extraversion was related to both Guilford's Social Activity (SA) and Introversion-Extraversion (IE) second-order factors, while EPQ-Extraversion was related only to SA. Findings are discussed in terms of Eysenck's evolving definition of Extraversion and the emerging importance of the Impulsivity primary factor.     

The Eysenck personality scales: stability and change after therapy.

Eysenck has linked personality theory with the aetiology and treatment of abnormal behaviour (Eysenck, 1970). At least four levels of explanation link hypothetical neurophysiological mechanisms to self-report measures of personality, laboratory task performance and observed social habits and attitudes (Eysenck, 1960). The phenomena of neurotic breakdown and recovery provide one natural test of predictions from personality theory with respect to neuroticism (N) and extraversion (E). Taking phobias as an example, it is predicted that persons with a high score on N (a low threshold for emotional activation) develop phobic reactions more readily, and the more introverted the person, the more quickly and strongly are the phobic reactions acquired and lastingly maintained (Eysenck and Rachman, 1965, p. 36).In a prospective study of university students. Kelvin et al. (1965) were unable to find a relationship between initial N score and psychological distress up to 2.5 years later. Rather, the N scale appeared to reflect current mental status, increasing when distress was reported. E scores also dropped in a group of students who happened to be referred to a psychiatrist. Similarly, in a 3-year follow-up of patients who had attended a psychiatrist. Ingham (1966) found that change in clinical status was reflected in a change of N, with the score of the improved group returning to the population mean. Initial personality did not predict change in clinical status. It was also found in a number of analyses that improvement was related to an increase in extraversion.The present study was designed to replicate Ingham's experiment on a more homogeneous group of neurotic patients—all phobic—who had received fantasy or in vivo exposure treatment (Marks, 1974). This treatment can be compared to an extinction procedure, i.e. the non-reinforced presentation of the CS, and should therefore provide a good testing ground of personality theory. Eysenck's theory predicts that the speed and success of treatment will be related to initial E and N scores. In particular, the speed of extinction of the neurotic fear should be related to extraversion; the more extraverted the patient the more rapidly should the fear extinguish.     

On ad hoc personality scales: A reply to Burisch

Two recent articles by M. Burisch (1984, American Psychologist, 37, 214–227; 1984, Journal of Research in Personality, 18, 81–98) have presented data bearing on the traditional methods by which personality is assessed. Based on a review of selected empirical studies and analyses of new data, Burisch has concluded that (a) single-item global self-ratings generally yield greater coefficients of criterion validity than questionnaire measures of the same traits, and (b) most existing personality questionnaires can be shortened considerably without any consequent loss in validity. These conclusions stand in direct contrast to previous appeals by Epstein and others for the use of extensive aggregate measures of personality derived according to the axioms of psychometric theory. In response to Burisch, we describe measurement artifacts and strategies of test item selection that account for some of his conclusions and we reiterate the need for the application of conventional construct-based questionnaires in the assessment of personality.     

Self-esteem and higher-order factors of personality: A reply to Simsek

Simsek (2012) argued that earlier research by Erdle and colleagues on the relationship between self-esteem and higher-order factors of personality used “poor statistical methodology”, that “their results may be untenable”, and that the results of his “high-level data analysis” are “the first to show the importance of self-esteem in the differentiation between stability and plasticity”. In this rejoinder, it is argued that the statistical methodology used by Erdle and colleagues demonstrated the effect of controlling self-esteem on the relationship between stability and plasticity earlier and more accurately than that used by Simsek (2012). Moreover, it is argued that self-esteem might not be a biasing factor, but instead might be a theoretically expected substantive correlate of the Big Five and of higher-order factors of personality. Finally, it is argued that a hierarchical structure of personality, with a general factor of personality (GFP) at the apex, might have a neurological basis in the activity of the prefrontal cortices.