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The long and winding road: A comprehensive analysis of 50 years of Eysenck instruments for the assessment of personality

Ruch, Willibald, Heintz, Sonja, Gander, Fabian, Hofmann, Jennifer, Platt, Tracey and Proyer, Rene T. (2020) The long and winding road: A comprehensive analysis of 50 years of Eysenck instruments for the assessment of personality. Personality and Individual Differences. ISSN 0191-8869

Item Type: Article

Abstract

Instruments for the assessment of the Eysenckian superfactors of personality, Psychoticism (P), Extraversion (E), and Neuroticism (N), were developed over the course of almost 50 years. Typically the convergence with the precursor was examined when a new scale was published. In the present study the continuity and change of the substance of P, E, and N is tested by administering all instruments to a sample simultaneously, together with measures of the Five-Factor Model. A factor analysis of the 19 markers of the PEN model clearly yielded three factors, with higher loadings for E and N compared to P. The superfactors typically were measured purely after the historically second (or third, for P) instrument. Analysing the item difficulty confirmed that the P items were softened during the revisions but this created a confounding of item difficulty and content: The earlier “tough” items (mostly low Agreeableness) were gradually complemented by “softer” items representing the presumed obverse of P, superego strength (mostly low Conscientiousness). Finally, a part of the observed heterogeneity of P was due to these differences in item difficulty. Overall, the EPQ-R seems to be the most valid single measure of the PEN model.

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More Information

Depositing User: Tracey Platt

Identifiers

Item ID: 12006
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2020.110070
ISSN: 0191-8869
URI: http://sure.sunderland.ac.uk/id/eprint/12006
Official URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/...

Users with ORCIDS

ORCID for Tracey Platt: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-6628-7057

Catalogue record

Date Deposited: 05 May 2020 18:01
Last Modified: 29 Apr 2022 02:38

Contributors

Author: Tracey Platt ORCID iD
Author: Willibald Ruch
Author: Sonja Heintz
Author: Fabian Gander
Author: Jennifer Hofmann
Author: Rene T. Proyer

University Divisions

Faculty of Health Sciences and Wellbeing > School of Psychology

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