The General Factor of Personality

Book excerpt: The General Factor of Personality improves our understanding of the personality structure and the relations between major personality dimensions, as well as major dimensions of the entire non-cognitive sphere of psychological variables. The results of the empirical testing and theoretical evaluations in this book contribute to the more comprehensive and precise theoretical framework of the General Factor of Personality (GFP) and that of the entire personality structure. Additionally, the book answers some unresolved questions concerning the nature of the GFP, including whether it is based more on correlations in real behavior or on other less substantial factors between lower-order dimensions of personality. This book is crucially important not only for theoretical reasons, but also for the tremendous practical and applied value of the assumed general dimension of personality. As a common denominator of all the most important fields of personality beyond cognition (Big Five, well-being, coping, emotionality, motivation, self-concept, self-esteem, control, wisdom and others), the GFP represents an extremely strong single predictor of the quality of life, mental health and well-being, career, academic success, and the quality of family and interpersonal relations. - Reviews the theoretical and methodological work on the General Factor of Personality (GFP) - Presents major research results in the field of GFP and the dimensional structure of personality - Provides a balanced and objective approach to the topic of GFP, addressing criticisms and controversies - Considers the practical and applied aspects of this research - Draws conclusions on the bioevolutionary model of GFP to give a more thorough understanding of biological bases of human personality