Ferguson, E, Ward, JW, Skatova, A et al. (3 more authors) (2013) Health specific traits beyond the Five Factor Model, cognitive processes and trait expression: replies to Watson (2012), Matthews (2012) and Haslam, Jetten, Reynolds, and Reicher (2012). Health Psychology Review, 7 (sup1). S85-S103. ISSN 1743-7199
Abstract
In this article we reply to the issues raised by the three commentaries on Ferguson's (2012) article. Watson argues that the four traits identified by Ferguson (2012) – health anxiety, alexithymia, empathy and Type D – do not lie outside the Five Factor Model (FFM). We present factor analytic data showing that health anxiety forms a separate factor from positive and negative affectivity, alexithymia forms a factor outside the FFM and while emotional empathy loads with agreeableness, cognitive empathy forms a separate factor outside the FFM. Across these analyses there was no evidence for a general factor of personality. We also show that health anxiety, empathic facets and alexithymia show incremental validity over FFM traits. However, the evidence that Type D lies outside the FFM is less clear. Matthews (2012) argues that traits have a more distributed influence on cognitions and that attention is not part of Ferguson's framework. We agree; but Ferguson's original statement concerned where traits have their maximal effect. Finally, Haslam et al. suggest that traits should be viewed from a dynamic interactionist perspective. This is in fact what Ferguson (2012) suggested and we go on to highlight that traits can also influence group processes.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Keywords: | personality; health; factor analysis; determinism; empathy |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Medicine and Health (Leeds) > School of Medicine (Leeds) > Leeds Institute of Medical Education |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 08 Apr 2019 13:04 |
Last Modified: | 29 Jun 2020 13:37 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Taylor & Francis |
Identification Number: | 10.1080/17437199.2012.701061 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:142392 |