Personality types revisited–a literature-informed and data-driven approach to an integration of prototypical and dimensional constructs of personality description

André Kerber, Marcus Roth and Philipp Yorck Herzberg

PLOS ONE, 2021, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-27

Abstract: A new algorithmic approach to personality prototyping based on Big Five traits was applied to a large representative and longitudinal German dataset (N = 22,820) including behavior, personality and health correlates. We applied three different clustering techniques, latent profile analysis, the k-means method and spectral clustering algorithms. The resulting cluster centers, i.e. the personality prototypes, were evaluated using a large number of internal and external validity criteria including health, locus of control, self-esteem, impulsivity, risk-taking and wellbeing. The best-fitting prototypical personality profiles were labeled according to their Euclidean distances to averaged personality type profiles identified in a review of previous studies on personality types. This procedure yielded a five-cluster solution: resilient, overcontroller, undercontroller, reserved and vulnerable-resilient. Reliability and construct validity could be confirmed. We discuss wether personality types could comprise a bridge between personality and clinical psychology as well as between developmental psychology and resilience research.

Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0244849

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0244849

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