Separating description and evaluation in the structure of personality attributes.

Personality attributes typically combine descriptive and evaluative aspects, as do most personality constructs and the factors in the Big Five taxonomy. However, an auxiliary representation, in which the descriptive and evaluative aspects are clearly separated, has technological utility in some areas of research and assessment. D. Peabody and H. G. Gough independently developed structural models of this type, each with 3 dimensions. Studies used a multiple-method, multiple-replication approach, with data sets involving a large, representative set of familiar personality adjectives, to uncover a structure with 5 orthogonal dimensions, 4 descriptive and 1 highly evaluative, easily measurable with adjective scales. These dimensions demonstrated a complex relation to previous Peabody factors and to the Big Five, and they may be useful in integrating some venerable constructs into the structure of personality attributes.