Hierarchies in the Structure of Personality Traits

Abstract

An emerging body of findings indicates that hierarchy is critical to integrating the Big Trait models – the Big Five, Big Four, Big Three, and Big Two – within a common structural framework. These findings, in addition to providing a unifying framework for understanding personality traits, confirm that hierarchy is an intrinsic and pervasive feature of trait structure. Here, fundamental concepts of trait hierarchies are reviewed, as is the empirical literature about hierarchies in personality trait structure. Important questions remain to be answered about the nature and form of hierarchies found in trait structure, as well as the methods used to understand them.