History and development 16PF Questionnaire

1 history , development

1.1 cattell physical sciences background
1.2 lexical hypothesis (1936)
1.3 16 personality factors identified (1946)
1.4 analytic study , revisions of factors (1949–2011)

history , development
cattell physical sciences background

the 16pf questionnaire created unusual perspective among personality tests. personality tests developed measure pre-conceived traits of interest particular theorist or researcher. main author of 16pf, raymond b. cattell, had strong background in physical sciences, chemistry , physics, @ time when basic elements of physical world being discovered, placed in periodic table, , used basis understanding fundamental nature of physical world , further inquiry. background in physical sciences, cattell developed belief fields best understood first seeking find fundamental underlying elements in domain, , developing valid way measure , research these elements (cattell, 1965).

personality research author schuerger stated that:

when cattell moved physical sciences field of psychology in 1920s, described disappointment finding consisted largely of wide array of abstract, unrelated theories , concepts had little or no scientific bases. found personality theories based on philosophy , on personal conjecture, or developed medical professionals, such jean charcot , sigmund freud, relied on personal intuition reconstruct felt going on inside people, based on observing individuals serious psycho-pathological problems. cattell (1957) described concerns felt scientist:

in psychology there ocean of spawning intuitions , comfortable assumptions share layman, , out of climb difficulty plateaus of scientific objectivity....scientific advance hinges on introduction of measurement field under investigation….psychology has bypassed necessary descriptive, taxonomic, , metric stages through healthy sciences first must pass….if aristotle , other philosophers no further sheer power of reasoning in 2 thousand years of observation, unlikely shall now.... psychology take place effective science, must become less concerned grandiose theory establishing, through research, basic laws of relationship. (p.3-5)

thus, cattell s goal in creating 16pf questionnaire discover number , nature of fundamental traits of human personality , develop way measure these dimensions. @ university of london, cattell worked charles spearman developing factor analysis aid in quest discover basic factors of human ability. cattell thought applied area of personality. reasoned human personality must have basic, underlying, universal dimensions physical world had basic building blocks (like oxygen , hydrogen). felt if basic building blocks of personality discovered , measured, human behavior (e.g., creativity, leadership, altruism, or aggression) become increasingly understandable , predictable.

lexical hypothesis (1936)

in 1936 gordon allport , h.s. odbert hypothesized that:

this statement has become known lexical hypothesis, posits if there word trait, must real trait. allport , odbert utilized hypothesis identify personality traits working through 2 of comprehensive dictionaries of english language available @ time, , extracting 18,000 personality-describing words. gigantic list extracted 4500 personality-describing adjectives considered describe observable , relatively permanent traits.

cattell , colleagues began comprehensive program of international research aimed @ identifying , mapping out basic underlying dimensions of personality. goal systematically measure widest possible range of personality concepts, in belief aspects of human personality or have been of importance, interest, or utility have become recorded in substance of language (cattell, r. b., 1943, p. 483). wanted include every known personality dimension in investigation, , began largest existing compilation of personality traits (allport , odbert, 1936). on time, used factor analysis reduce massive list of traits analyzing underlying patterns among them. studied personality data different sources (e.g. objective measures of daily behavior, interpersonal ratings, , questionnaire results), , measured these traits in diverse populations, including working adults, university students, , military personnel. (cattell, 1957, 1973).

16 personality factors identified (1946)

the 16 personality factors identified in 1946 raymond cattell. believed in order adequately map out personality, 1 had utilize l-data (life records or observation), q data (information questionnaires), , t-data (information objective tests). development of 16pf questionnaire, although confusingly named, attempt develop adequate measure of t-data. cattell used emerging technology of computers analyze list of 4500 adjectives through statistical technique of factor analysis, seeks identify constructs underlie observed variables. organized list of adjectives fewer 200 items , asked subjects rate people whom knew on each of adjectives on list (an example of l-data because information gathered observers). allowed cattell narrow down 35 terms. ratings of 35 terms factor-analyzed, revealing 12 factor solution. after 35 terms made self-rating items cattell found there 4 additional factors, believed consisted of information provided through self-rating. process allowed use of ratings observers, questionnaires, , objective measurements of actual behavior. original 12 factors , 4 covert factors made original 16 primary personality factors. 5 factor theory gained traction , research on 16 factors continued, subsequent analysis identified 5 factors underlying 16 factors. cattell called these global factors.

the 16pf factorial structure resembles of szondi test , berufsbilder test (btt), despite being based on different theories.

analytic study , revisions of factors (1949–2011)

over several decades of factor-analytic study, cattell , colleagues gradually refined , validated list of underlying source traits. search resulted in sixteen unitary traits of 16pf questionnaire. these traits have remained same on last 50 years of research. in addition, 16pf questionnaire traits part of multi-variate personality model provides broader framework including developmental, environmental, , hereditary patterns of traits , how change across life span (cattell, 1973, 1979, 1980).

the validity of factor structure of 16pf questionnaire (the 16 primary factors , 5 global factors) has been supported more 60 published studies (cattell & krug, 1986; conn & rieke, 1994; hofer , eber, 2002). research has supported comprehensiveness of 16pf traits: dimensions on other major personality tests (e.g., neo personality inventory, california psychological inventory, personality research form, , myers-briggs type indicator) have been found contained within 16pf scales in regression , factor-analytic studies (conn & rieke, 1994; cattell, 1996).

since release in 1949, 16pf questionnaire has been revised 4 times: once in 1956, once in 1962, once in 1968, , current version developed in 1993. version of test re-standardized in 2002, along development of forms children , teenagers; versions uk, ireland, france , netherlands re-standardised in 2011. additionally, there shortened form available employee selection , questionnaire has been adapted more 35 languages. questionnaire has been validated in range of international cultures on time.