Do Early Life Experiences Predict Variation in the General Factor of Personality (GFP)?

Abstract

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.