Toward a periodic table of personality: mapping personality scales between the five-factor model and the circumplex model

Abstract

In this study we examine the structures of ten personality inventories widely used for personnel assessment, by mapping the scales of personality inventories (PIs) to the lexical Big Five circumplex model resulting in a ‘Periodic Table of Personality’. Correlations between 273 scales from ten internationally popular PIs with independent markers of the lexical Big Five are reported, based on data from samples in two countries (UK N = 286; USA N = 1,046), permitting us to map these scales onto the AB5C framework. Emerging from our findings we propose a common facet framework derived from the scales of the PIs in our study. These results provide important insights into the literature on criterion-related validity of personality traits, and enable researchers and practitioners to understand how different PI scales converge and diverge and how compound PI scales may be constructed or replicated. Implications for research and practice are considered.