Assignment 6, Summary

New Developments in Psychology of the Personality: The Model of the Five Factors

(Authors: Eugenia Vinet, José Saiz)

This model is a new paradigm in psychology of the personality, and is about five main factors that the authors presents as the “regulators” or the characteristics of the personality in all the people (Characteristics that all have in common, but at different levels). These five factors are: Neuroticism (N), Extraversion (E), Openness (O), Agreeableness (A) and Conscientiousness (C). The measurement instrument used for this model is the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R). The purpose of this model is to “make” a “picture” of the personality based in the factors, for example, in a clinic treatment, someone with a higher level of E and A will be better treated by a therapist, and a person with lower levels of E and A will have a better treatment if this is based on pills. For the authors this model is a very good complement for the therapy, and they expect that the model keeps growing in popularity among the therapists.