Anthropologists at the University of California Santa Barbara have conducted a study that indicates that the five-factor model (FFM) of personality variation may not be valid for indigenous populations.
The standard model comprises five main dimensions of personality traits: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Although the accuracy of the model has been tested across numerous human societies and has been thought to be universal, previous research has been largely concentrated on literate, urban communities.
The current research was carried out on the indigenous Tsimane group in Bolivia. The team of anthropologists found evidence for a two-dimensional personality model, centred around prosociality and industriousness. These dimensions merge factors from the conventional traits and could characterise distinctive factors particular to very social, autonomous societies. Other relevant personality traits included being energetic, relaxed, and helpful.
The Tsimane are spread in small groups over less than one hundred villages. In such smaller communities, there are limited options for interactions with people and culture, which may develop and connect personality features that differ from those of other societies. From the twentieth century, there has been more contact between the Tsimane and the modern population, but less than half learn Spanish, few experience formal education, and interaction with the outside world is kept to a minimum.
The study was administered as a translated standard questionnaire, considering various levels of analysis in which the validity of the FFM failed. Controls were made for educational experience, language fluency, gender, and age. In spite of the fact that earlier research has indicated that the FFM is most consistent in people who are more educated and social, the current research did not find support for this. It is important for future research to try to understand aspects of personality that are applicable more generally.
