BIS and BAS sensitivities at different levels of personality description: A latent-variable approach with self-and informant-ratings

M Vecchione, V Ghezzi, G Alessandri… - Journal of personality …, 2021 - Taylor & Francis
M Vecchione, V Ghezzi, G Alessandri, F Dentale, PJ Corr
Journal of personality assessment, 2021Taylor & Francis
We examine the structural overlap of the Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS) and the
Behavioral Approach System (BAS) with Stability and Plasticity, the two higher-order factors
encompassing the Big Five. Carver and White's BIS/BAS and the Big Five Inventory were
administered to a sample of 330 adults, serving both as targets and informants. Self-and
other-ratings were modeled by using the Correlated Trait-Correlated Method model. BIS and
BAS correlated highly with metatraits, after method variance and measurement error were …
Abstract
We examine the structural overlap of the Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS) and the Behavioral Approach System (BAS) with Stability and Plasticity, the two higher-order factors encompassing the Big Five. Carver and White’s BIS/BAS and the Big Five Inventory were administered to a sample of 330 adults, serving both as targets and informants. Self- and other-ratings were modeled by using the Correlated Trait-Correlated Method model. BIS and BAS correlated highly with metatraits, after method variance and measurement error were partialled out: BIS was positively related to Stability, while BAS was positively related to Plasticity and negatively related to Stability. After the higher-order factors were controlled, the BIS was highly and positively related to Emotional stability, whereas the BAS had a small but significant relationship with Extraversion. Findings are discussed with regard to the most appropriate level of generality/specificity at which the personality correlates of BIS and BAS can be investigated.
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