Where do motivational and emotional traits fit within three factor models of personality?

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to determine the location of emotional and motivational traits within three major dimensions of personality. Subjects were 396 undergraduates. Generalized expectancies and sensitivities to signals of reward and punishment were measured by questionnaires. An exploratory factor analysis was followed by a Procrustes-rotation in a second sample. Factors were highly reliable. Generalized punishment expectancy, sensitivity to signals of punishment, and trait anxiety were primarily associated with the neuroticism factor. Generalized reward expectancy, sensitivity to signals of reward, and the surgent type of positive affect were primarily associated with the extraversion factor. Trait hostility loaded positively and positive affect loaded negatively on the psychoticism factor. Results are discussed in terms of five models of personality.