Looking for a Simple Big Five Factorial Structure in the Domain of Adjectives*

The Big Five factors structure is currently the benchmark for personality dimensions. In the domain of adjectives, various instruments have been developed to measure the Big Five. In this contribution we propose a methodology to find a simple factorial structure and we apply this methodology to the domain of Big Five as measured by adjectives. Using data collected on a sample of 337 subjects, we propose a five-factor benchmark structure derived from the 50 best marker adjectives selected among the adjectives contained in three instruments specifically developed to measure the Big Five (i. e., Goldberg’s 100 adjectives list, IASR-B5, and SACBIF). We use this common factor structure (or benchmark structure) to investigate the differences and the similarities between the three operationalizations of the Big Five, and to investigate the placements of the full set of adjectives contained in the three instruments. The main features of the proposed methodology and the generalizability of the obtained results are discussed.