A Head-to-Head Comparison of Big-Five Types and Traits in the Prediction of Social Attitudes

Abstract

Abstract. Based on the recent findings that show evidence in favor of five rather than three prototypes in Big Five questionnaire data, the main aim of this study was to evaluate a five-cluster solution. The cluster solution is compared with a Big Five variable-centered approach regarding their relative utility in the concurrent prediction of social attitudes in an adult, nonstudent sample. In addition to the Big Five personality variables, we also assessed social attitudes (generalized prejudice, right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation) and resiliency. Performing head-to-head comparisons to evaluate the goodness of cluster-solutions, our study again provides strong evidence that the five-cluster solution is superior to the three-cluster solution. The results also suggest that in fair comparisons (e.g., dichotomized Big Five scores) the typological approach can compete with the dimensional approach in predicting criterion variables. Furthermore, we have been able to show that the typological approach based on Big Five personality variables can lead to reasonable predictions and new insights with respect to social attitudes and ideological belief systems.