Exploring the NEO Personality Inventory-3 (UK Edition)

Our longer term characteristics - our personality - can be “defined as the relatively enduring patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviours that distinguish individuals from one another” (Roberts & Mroczek, 2008, p. 31). We can also consider personality as how our natural tendencies and inclinations differ from others within our own society, or as an “enduring set of Traits and Styles" where we exhibit certain "characteristics" (Bergner, 2019, p. 4).

Commonly used in the study and research of personality, the ‘Big Five’ or Five Factor Model (FFM) is made up of the five broad personality dimensions: extraversion; agreeableness; conscientiousness; neuroticism; and openness to experience. Developed from early research looking at how trait theory relates to individuals' temperament and behaviour (de Raad & Mlačič, 2015), research into the FFM has covered many populations and cultures and appears “to be the most widely accepted theory of personality today” (Lim, 2020). The FFM dimensions are structured into instruments to measure how individuals thinks, feels, and behaves, which collectively aids our understanding of personality difference (de Raad & Mlačič, 2015).

One of the instruments designed to test the FFM is the NEO Personality Inventory, or NEO PI. A number of research “studies in many different settings have verified the overall factor structure and construct validity of the Big Five [model...], based on many different demographic and cultural characteristics of individuals” as participants (Lounsbury, 2005, p. 709). Originally created in 1978 for use with adults, in the early stages it was clear that college students would also benefit from its use, but would require separate norms (McCrae et al., 2010). Later studies using samples as young as 10 years old showed that the revised version, NEO-PI-R, could be used but some items were difficult for younger respondents to understand. High school students - instructed to leave blank items not understood - found 30 of 240 test items difficult (McCrae et al., 2010). Using more current, colloquial language - although originally designed for adolescents - also improved the test for adult test-takers (McCrae et al., 2010). The latest version is the NEO-PI-3 (Lounsbury, 2005), and is a three-level self-report instrument, consisting of 240 items, a validity question, 30 facets, to test the five domains of “Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness” (Vassend & Skrondal, 2011, p. 1301). Individuals rate the 240 items on a 5-point Likert scales ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree (Hattrup & Smith, 2021; Hey, 2022).

The UK version of the NEO-PI-3 consists of language and normative data more appropriate for use with British individuals aged 16 and up, although it should be noted that norm data is not available for those under 18 (Hattrup & Smith, 2021). The UK edition shows consistent reliability with the US version, showing retest reliability supporting the conclusion that it measures stable traits (Hattrup & Smith, 2021). Like the US version, the UK NEO-PI-3 can be administered and scored both online or in paper version, remotely or in-person. While the test itself may only take 30-40 minutes, it is suggested that an hour be allowed to brief the client, and for the client to make considered responses (Hattrup & Smith, 2021).

Research and testing from multiple sources indicate that the NEO-PI-3 is appropriate for many ages and stages in career development. But gender options are binary only (Kluck, 2014), which ignores - invalidates - those who don’t identify this way. In addition, like the US, the UK samples too are homogenous, with over 90% of participants identifying as Caucasian (Hattrup & Smith, 2021).

While it’s noted that UK norms resemble US data (Hattrup & Smith, 2021), it cannot be assumed that this necessarily translates to Aotearoa's super-diversity context (Chen, 2015). Practitioners must consider collective and individual culture (Laher, 2013), relevant when working with Māori and Pasifika kaimahi and ākonga. Further, considering Kiwis who like to get on with others, candidates may feel compelled to conform with societal 'expectations' when answering (Kumar, 2019). A step further on, some participants may fear negative ramifications if vulnerabilities or ‘flaws’ are exposed. However, there is a “Problems in Living Checklist” at the end of each report (Costa & McCrae, 2010) which is helpful in allaying client concerns.

Whether we decide to use the test or not, it is useful to explore the issues.

Alex

References:

Bergner, R. M. (2020). What is personality? Two myths and a definition. New Ideas in Psychology, 57, 100759, 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.newideapsych.2019.100759

Chen, M., (2015). Superdiversity Stocktake: Implications for business, government and New Zealand. Superdiversity Centre For Law, Policy And Business. https://www.superdiversity.org/wp-content/uploads/Superdiversity-Stocktake-Section1.pdf

Costa, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (2010). NEO™ Personality Inventory-3: Interpretive Report. Australian Council for Education. https://www.acer.org/files/NEO_PI-3_Interp_Rpt_Sample_Report.pdf

de Raad, B., & Mlačič, B. (2015). Big Five Factor Model, Theory and Structure. In J. Wright, C. Fleck (Eds.), International Encyclopaedia of Social & Behavioural Sciences (2nd ed., Vol. 2, pp. 559-566). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.25066-6

Hattrup, K., & Smith, J. V. (2021). [101] NEO Personality lnventory-3 (UK Edition). In J. F. Carlson, K. F. Geisinger, & J. L. Jonson (Eds.) The Twenty First Mental Measurements Yearbook (pp. 450-455). The Buros Institute of Mental Measurements.

Hey, L. (2022). Presenting a new NEO-PI-3 International Senior Manager Norm for a post-covid-19 world. Hogrefe Ltd. https://www.hogrefe.com/uk/index.php?eID=dumpFile&t=f&f=10141&token=8296bcf0af59cbf9aa92753a20dce8f92057ad8f

Kluck, A. S. (2014). [116] NEO Personality lnventory-3. In J. F. Carlson, K. F. Geisinger, & J. L. Jonson (Eds.), The Nineteenth Mental Measurements Yearbook (pp. 477-483). The Buros Institute of Mental Measurements.

Laher, S. (2013). Understanding the Five-Factor Model and Five-Factor Theory through a South African cultural lens. South African Journal of Psychology, 43(2), 208–221. https://doi.org/10.1177/0081246313483522

Lim, A. G. Y. (2020). What Are the Big 5 Personality Traits? Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/big-five-personality.html

Lounsbury, J. W., Saudargas, R. A., Gibson, L. W., Leong, F. T. (2005). An Investigation of Broad and Narrow Personality Traits in Relation to General and Domain-Specific Life Satisfaction of College Students. Research in Higher Education, 46(6), 707-729. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-004-4140-6

McCrae, R. R., Costa, P. T., Martin, T. A. (2010). The NEO-PI-3: A More Readable Revised NEO Personality Inventory. Journal of Personality Assessment, 84(3),  261-270. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa8403_05

Roberts, B. W., Mroczek, D. (2008). Personality Trait Change in Adulthood. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17(1), 31-35. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8721.2008.00543.x

Vassend, O., & Skrondal, A. (2011). The NEO personality inventory revised (NEO-PI-R): Exploring the measurement structure and variants of the five-factor model. Personality and Individual Differences, 50(8), 1300-1304. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2011.03.002

* Alex Howe has kindly prepared much of the material for this post