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General Factor of Personality: Difference between revisions
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The existence of a GFP was first formally proposed by the controversial psychologist J. Phillipe Rushton.<ref>https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2012.04.038</ref> Rushton attempted to tie the GFP in with his other highly controversial theory, the 'differential-K' theory that proposed the existence of evolved differences in [[life history]] traits between the major human races. Rushton hypothesized that due to differences in selection pressures imposed by the harsh climatic conditions of the boreal climates of northern Asia and ice-age Europe that would be expected to select for highly co-operative behavioral phenotypes among the historical inhabitants of these regions, the GFP was positively correlated with both [[IQ]] and a slower life history speed (with these traits supposedly all stemming from a higher-order K factor). Thus, Rushton predicted that Africans would be the lowest GFP race, and east Asians would be the highest. However, recent research has directly contradicted this assertion, finding that Africans were the highest in the GFP and east Asians were the lowest. Similar to what has been discovered regarding the purported IQ-slow life history link that Rushton also proposed, this evidence suggests that individuals high in the GFP may exhibit a slower-life history within races but not across races.<ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886919304994</ref> | The existence of a GFP was first formally proposed by the controversial psychologist J. Phillipe Rushton.<ref>https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2012.04.038</ref> Rushton attempted to tie the GFP in with his other highly controversial theory, the 'differential-K' theory that proposed the existence of evolved differences in [[life history]] traits between the major human races. Rushton hypothesized that due to differences in selection pressures imposed by the harsh climatic conditions of the boreal climates of northern Asia and ice-age Europe that would be expected to select for highly co-operative behavioral phenotypes among the historical inhabitants of these regions, the GFP was positively correlated with both [[IQ]] and a slower life history speed (with these traits supposedly all stemming from a higher-order K factor). Thus, Rushton predicted that Africans would be the lowest GFP race, and east Asians would be the highest. However, recent research has directly contradicted this assertion, finding that Africans were the highest in the GFP and east Asians were the lowest. Similar to what has been discovered regarding the purported IQ-slow life history link that Rushton also proposed, this evidence suggests that individuals high in the GFP may exhibit a slower-life history within races but not across races.<ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886919304994</ref> | ||
==Criticism== | ==Criticism== | ||
Since its conception, the theory has been linked to racialist and/or heriditarian theories of individual/group differences in behavior (the first individual to hypothesize that there was a broad underlying factor | Since its conception, the theory has been linked to racialist and/or heriditarian theories of individual/group differences in behavior (the first individual to hypothesize that there was a broad underlying factor behind observable personality traits was the scientific polymath and father of eugenics, Sir Francis Galton) which some see as evidence that many advocates of the concept use it to advance and provide support for racist or eugenicist agendas.<ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886912002206</ref> | ||
There also exist fears that the construct could also be used to apply positive or negative incentives to those who are found to be higher or lower in this factor as a form of social engineering, similar to the intention behind the Chinese government's 'social credit' system. | There also exist fears that the construct could also be used to apply positive or negative incentives to those who are found to be higher or lower in this factor as a form of social engineering, similar to the intention behind the Chinese government's 'social credit' system. | ||
Arguing against the concept on scientific grounds, several researchers have labelled the construct a statistical chimera (similar to arguments made against the validity of IQ tests) or have claimed it is merely an artifact of social desirability bias (i.e. this construct is just measuring impression management skills and nothing innate).<ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886919302685</ref> Opponents of the theory claim that certain lower level facets of the Big Five can often predict social behaviors better than any proposed overarching structure like the GFP. | Arguing against the concept on scientific grounds, several researchers have labelled the construct a statistical chimera (similar to arguments made against the validity of IQ tests) or have claimed it is merely an artifact of social desirability bias (i.e. this construct is just measuring impression management skills and nothing innate).<ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886919302685</ref> Opponents of the theory claim that certain lower level facets of the Big Five can often predict social behaviors better than any proposed overarching structure like the GFP. | ||