Self- and Observer Reports of Personality

Abstract

People's personality trait levels are often assessed by obtaining self-reports or observer (informant) reports on questionnaires (inventories). When the target person is closely acquainted with the observer—as in the case of spouses, close relatives, or close friends—several findings are obtained for full-length measures of the Big Five (Five-Factor Model) or HEXACO personality factors. First, mean scores tend to be comparable between self-reports and observer reports, although Openness to Experience tends to be higher in self-reports than in observer reports. Also, self/observer agreement (in the sense of convergent correlations) tends to be rather high, albeit somewhat lower for cooperation-related traits (HEXACO Honesty-Humility, HEXACO Agreeableness, Big Five Agreeableness) than for other traits. Finally, Openness to Experience and Honesty-Humility (and, to some extent, Big Five Agreeableness) show some degree of similarity and assumed similarity between closely acquainted persons.