While McAdams' contructs of power motivation and intimacy motivation have been coopted by Big Five theorists (Digman, 1997), it is fair to say that McAdams (1992) has written one of the most influential critiques of the five-factor model. His most novel criticism is that the five-factor model comprises a "psychology of the stranger." That is, the five factors describe what one might want to know if one knew nothing else about a person. McAdams argues that the five factors do not comprise the overarching model of personality, but should be situated as one model in the broad and multifaceted field of personality.
Extraversion/ Surgency | Agreeableness | Conscientiousness | Emotional Stability | Intellect/ Openness | ||
McAdams | Power Motivation | Intimacy Motivation | Power Motivation | |||
Adler | Superiority Striving | Social Interest | Superiority Striving | |||
Bakan | Agency | Communion | Agency | |||
Bales | Dominant Iniative | Social-Emotional Orientation | Task Orientation | |||
Bartholomew | Model of Other (Avoidance) (r) | Model of Self (Anxiety) (r) | ||||
Block | Low Ego Control | High Ego Control | Ego Resiliency | |||
Buss and Plomin | Activity | Impulsivity | Emotionality (r) | |||
Cattell | Exvia (vs. Invia) | Pathemia (vs. Cortertia) | Superego Strength | Adjustment vs. Anxiety | Independence vs. Subduedness | |
Comrey | Extraversion and Activity | Femininity | Orderliness and Social Conformity | Emotional Stability | Rebelliousness | |
Costa and McCrae | Extraversion | Agreeableness | Conscientiousness | Neuroticism (r) | Openness | |
Digman | Beta | Alpha | Beta | |||
Erikson | Basic Trust | |||||
Eysenck | Extraversion | Psychoticism (r) | Neuroticism (r) | |||
Fiske | Confident Self-Expression | Social Adaptability | Conformity | Emotional Control | Inquiring Intellect | |
Freud | Psychosexual Development | |||||
Goldberg | Surgency | Agreeableness | Conscientiousness | Emotional Stability | Intellect | |
Gough | Extraversion | Consensuality | Control | Flexibility | ||
Guilford | Social Activity | Paranoid Disposition (r) | Thinking Introversion | Emotional Stability | ||
Hogan | Ambition and Sociability | Likeability | Prudence | Adjustment | Intellectance | |
Horney | Moving Toward | |||||
Jackson | Outgoing, Social Leadership | Self-Protective Orientation (r) | Work Orientation | Dependence (r) | Aesthetic / Intellectual | |
Leary | Control / Dominance | Affiliation / Love | ||||
Maslow | Self-Actualization | Self-Actualization | ||||
Myers- Briggs | Extraversion vs. Introversion | Feeling vs. Thinking | Judging vs. Perception | Intuition vs. Sensing | ||
Peabody | Power | Love | Work | Affect | Intellect | |
Rank | Individuation | Union | Individuation | |||
Rogers | Personal Growth | Personal Growth | ||||
Skinner | Socialization | |||||
Tellegen | Positive Emotionality | Constraint | Negative Emotionality | Absorption | ||
Watson | Socialization | |||||
Wiggins | Agency | Communion | Agency | |||
Zuckerman | Extraversion | Psychoticism, Impulsivity, Sensation Seeking (r) | Neuroticism (r) | Psychoticism, Impulsivity, Sensation Seeking | ||
Extraversion/ Surgency | Agreeableness | Conscientiousness | Emotional Stability | Intellect/ Openness | ||
Note: (r) means "reversed scored." (This table is adapted from Digman [1997], Griffin & Bartholomew [1994], John [1990], and McCrae & Costa [1996].)
Griffin, D. W., & Bartholomew, K. (1994). The metaphysics of measurement: The case of adult attachment. In K. Bartholomew & D. Perlman (Eds.), Advances in personal relationships (Vol. 5, pp. 17-52). London: Jessica Kingsley.
John, O. P. (1990). The "Big Five" factor taxonomy: Dimensions of personality in the natural language and in questionnaires. In L. A. Pervin (Ed.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (pp. 66-100). New York: Guilford.
McAdams, D. P. (1992). The five-factor model in personality: A critical appraisal. Journal of Personality, 60, 329-361.
McCrae, R. R., & Costa, P. T., Jr. (1996). Toward a new generation of personality theories: Theoretical contexts for the five-factor model. In J. S. Wiggins (Ed.), The five-factor model of personality: Theoretical perspectives (pp. 51-87). New York: Guilford.
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