Construct-Overlap in Trait Measures and the General Factor of Personality

A range of stand-alone psychological trait measures have been shown to considerably overlap with the Big Five (Bainbridge et al., 2022). Recognizing such construct overlap is essential for consolidation. We propose, however, that the notion that many psychological scales are overlapping with the Big Five is valid, but incomplete. Accordingly, we suggest a key role herein of the General Factor of Personality (GFP), which emerges from the intercorrelations between specific personality traits and captures their socially desirable poles. We argue and show that the GFP is highly correlated to a wide range of constructs in individual differences research. We further postulate that it provides a parsimonious explanation for the overlap between individual differences measures. We discuss this idea in light of the ongoing debate on the GFP in which some scholars suggest the general factor to be largely substantive, whereas others consider it to reflect mainly artifacts or biases. Irrespective of whether the substantive or artifact explanation of the GFP is adopted, overlooking the presence of a common general factor in psychological measures may, respectively, either impede the development unifying theories of human behavior, or otherwise interfere with adequate measurement.