The relationship between perceived personality and leading/following roles in university students' close friendships, using Gitaigo personality scale

Abstract

Based on the recently developed Gitaigo personality scale (Komatsu, Sakai, Nishioka, & Mukoyama, 2012), we investigated the relationship between perceived personality and leading/following roles in close friend dyads. Primary participants rated their own and one of their close friend's personality with Gitaigo personality scale. They also described who takes the role of leader in the relationship with the friend they rated. When one in the pair is reported as leader, the other is considered as follower. Subsidiary participants who were cited as close friends rated their own personality. Our analysis of the 215 pairs showed that the participants taking the role of follower were rated higher in the traits of Cowardliness and Mildness by the primary participants. Regarding Mildness, this tendency was also clear in subsidiary participants' self-ratings. Primary participants rated the Preciseness and Candidness of their friends lower if their friend was considered a follower. Gitaigo personality scale describes the perceived personality well, at least for several traits.