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Trait Specificity

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences

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Synonyms

Unique variance

Introduction

Trait specificity refers, in the context of a measure of a given personality trait, to variance that is not due to a broad personality factor but that is reliable or valid variance.

Examining Trait Specificity

Some omnibus personality inventories assess many narrow, “facet”-level personality traits that load on a few broad personality factors. One way to examine the trait specificity of a facet-level variable is to focus on its reliable variance, by comparing its internal-consistency reliability with its correlations with other facets that define the same factor. For example, if a given facet scale has a reliability of 0.75 and correlates 0.45 with the other facets of its factor, then this would suggest that trait specificity represents about 75 − 45 = 30% of that facet scale’s variance (or about 30/75 = 40% of its reliable variance). (This amount would actually be somewhat lower to the extent that the facet is also associated with the facets of...

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References

  • Ashton, M. C., Paunonen, S. V., & Lee, K. (2014). On the validity of narrow and broad personality traits: A response to Salgado, Moscoso, and Berges (2013). Personality and Individual Differences, 56, 24–28.

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  • Salgado, J. F., Moscoso, S., & Berges, A. (2013). Conscientiousness, its facets, and the prediction of job performance ratings: Evidence against narrow measures. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 21, 74–84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, Canada

    Michael C. Ashton

Authors
  1. Michael C. Ashton
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael C. Ashton .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Virgil Zeigler-Hill

  2. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland

    Anna Czarna

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© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

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Ashton, M.C. (2018). Trait Specificity. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_2127-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_2127-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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