The GFP:

The hidden redundancy in psychological trait measures: A general factor of personality (GFP) perspective (January 2027)

Dimitri van der Linden , Curtis S. Dunkel , Maxwell Mansolf, Zhuo Job Chen, Janek Musek, K.V. Petrides

"In the initial lexical studies that provided the basis of models such as the Big Five, the existence of a general factor has also been widely acknowledged. For example, Saucier and Goldberg (2003) concluded that in lexical studies it emerges “quite consistent” (p. 8). They referred to the general factor as ‘Evaluation’ as it mainly seemed to capture a mix of desirable traits, such as being kind, honest, productive, sociable, and emotionally stable. Saucier and Goldberg (2003) also linked the general evaluation factor to basic evolutionary principles favoring selection of socially desirable behavior.

Hofstee (2003) referred to the general personality factor as the Primordial One or p. He pointed out that “there is substantial agreement among third persons, and even between self and other, about someone's desirability score” (p. 249). Hofstee also expressed the view that “there can be hardly any doubt that capitalizing on p [The Primordial One] provides the most realistic account of personality” and that the general factor “would have to be part of any empirical study of personality” (p. 250). Testing the factor structure of trait taxonomies in twelve different languages, De Raad et al. (2010) also included analyses on the general factor and concluded that “there seems an overall robust emergence of a single factor” (p. 169)."

"With regard to the Big Five, high GFP scores imply that people, on average, are relatively open to new experiences, conscientious, sociable, agreeable, and emotionally stable."

"The apparent role of the level of ‘socialness’ on the factor loadings led John Loehlin (2012) to conclude that the GFP may be an indicator of general social effectiveness, which can be defined as the ability to successfully adapt one's behavior in order to maximize the probability of achieving desired outcomes in social situations."

"“Dark aspects” of personality are often studied under the label of the Dark Triad (Paulhus & Williams, 2002), representing three types of socially undesirable traits: psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism. There is a consensus that the Dark Triad has a common core, referred to as the D factor, responsible for a large share—up to 70%—of the shared variance in the three specific dark traits (Furnham et al., 2013; Jones & Figueredo, 2013). Previous studies have reported negative correlations between the GFP and D, ranging from −0.46 (Harrell et al., 2024) to −0.70 (Van der Linden et al., 2014)."

"Dunkel et al. (2022) tested the relation between the GFP and trait measures of flow. Flow is a state of being fully absorbed in the task at hand, and forgetting the time and surroundings (Csikszentmihaly, 1975) but individual differences in how often this state is experienced exist. Reanalyzing data reported by Marty-Dugas and Smilek (2019) in two studies, correlations between 0.78 and 0.84 were observed between the GFP and various measures of flow proneness (Dunkel et al., 2022)."

"Considering the GFP as general social effectiveness or adaptiveness seems to make sense (Dunkel et al., 2021; Loehlin, 2012; Musek, 2017; Van der Linden et al., 2016). Humans, being inherently social beings, possess a core capacity for effectively navigating social demands which is pivotal for a wide range of outcomes. These include occupational success, social status, but also mood and mental well-being. Conversely, the initial signs of psychological issues frequently emerge in the social domain. Being socially effective may reinforce broader confidence in one's capability to handle the challenges of life."