Overlap between General Factors of Personality in the Big Five, Giant Three, and trait emotional intelligence

We extracted General Factors of Personality (GFPs) from inventories based on the Big Five model and on Eysenck’s Giant Three model within one sample (N = 274). The GFPs from the two inventories showed considerable overlap, ranging from .52 to .67 (in absolute values). The mean intercorrelation was r = .60. Moreover, the GFPs showed strong overlap with measures of trait emotional intelligence (rmean = .72). These correlations remained substantial even after we controlled for social desirability bias. Overall, the pattern of results supports the notion of the GFP as a construct that is consistent across different measures and that is closely related to the construct of trait emotional intelligence.

► GFPs were extracted from the Big Five and Giant Three in one sample (N = 274).
► There was substantial overlap between the two GFPs (mean r = .60).
► The GFPs were strongly related to trait emotional intelligence (TEI).
► GFP–TEI relationships remained intact after controlling for social desirability bias.