The Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF)

Abstract
The Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) is a comprehensive measure of normal-range personality found to be effective in a variety of settings where an in-depth assessment of the whole person is needed. The 16PF traits, presented in Table 7.1, are the result of years of factor-analytic research focused on discovering the basic structural elements of personality (Cattell, R.B., 1957, 1973). In addition to discovering the sixteen normal-range personality traits for which the instrument is named, these researchers identified the five broad dimensions — a variant of the ‘Big Five’ factors (Cattell, R.B., 1957, 1970). From the beginning, Cattell proposed a multi-level, hierarchical structure of personality: the second-order global measures describe personality at a broader, conceptual ...