16PF

Generalities

The 16PF has be developed by R.B. Cattell. The first version was published in 1949 and subsequent versions in 1956, 1962 and 1968. A fifth version, the 16PF5 was published in 1993 and is still much in use today. Lot of psychometric studies are available. The test is translated in many languages.

The test takes more than one hour to take. It is primarily utilized by psychologists and sold exclusively to them for utilization in counseling, recruiting and clinical situations. The 16PF5 version added 5 new dimensions (EX, AX, TM, IN, SC) as an effort to cope with the BIG5 approach research. The 16+5 dimensions measured by the 16PF are listed in the following table.

16PF5 Factors table

Factor	Title	Low	High
Factor A	Warmth	Reserved, Distant	Warm, Outgoing
Factor B	Reasoning	Concrete	Abstract
Factor C	Emotional Stability	Reactive	Adaptive
Factor E	Dominance	Deferential, Cooperative	Assertive, Dominant
Factor F	Liveliness	Serious, Restrained	Animated, Spontaneous
Factor G	Rule-Consciousness	Expedient, Nonconforming	Rule-conscious, Dutiful
Factor H	Social Boldness	Threat sensitive, Timid	Venturesome, Think-skinned
Factor I	Sensitivity	Utilitarian, Objective	Sensitive, Sentimental
Factor L	Vigilance	Trusting, Unsuspecting	Skeptical, Wary
Factor M	Abstractedness	Grounded, Practical	Imaginative, Idea-oriented
Factor N	Privateness	Forthright, Genuine	Discreet, Non-disclosing
Factor O	Self-assured, Complacent	Worried, Self-doubting
Factor Q1	Openness to change	Traditional, Attached to familiar	Experimenting
Factor Q2	Self-reliance	Group-oriented	Solitary, Individualistic
Factor Q3	Perfectionism	Unexacting, Flexible	Organized, Self-disciplined
Factor Q4	Tension	High-energy, Impatient
Factor EX	Extraversion	Socially inhibited	Socially participating
Factor AX	Anxiety	Low Anxiety, unperturbed	High anxiety
Factor TM	Tough minded	Receptive, intuitive	Resolute, un-empathetic
Factor IN	Independence	Agreeable, Selfless	persuasive, Willful
Factor SC	Self-control	Unrestrained, follows urges	Inhibit urges

Comments

The 16 factors emerged from factorial analyzes that the 16PF’s author R. Cattell calculated at a time computers and software were not yet available. The same factorial analyses were computed later in the 1990s by Digman who evidenced 7 factors instead of 16, raising then some doubts about the validity of the 16PF. The 16PF5 version emerged later as more consistent, more theoretically solid, and in line with more recent researches on the BIG5.

Utilizations of the 16PF is generally more clinical than organizational. 16PF was popular among psychologists in the 1970th and 1980th. Utilizations started to decrease at the end of the 1990th in favor of more recent tests coming from the BIG5 approach researches, such as the NEO-PI or the FFM. Popularity of the16PF was certainly related with the one of his author who was a renowned researcher as well as an active writer and speaker.

The 16PF has inspired the development of many other tests like the Guilford Zimmerman Temperament Survey (GZTS). With a large number of items to be checked and a number of measured traits greater than a dozen, other tests like OPQ or HPI can also be classified as close to the 16PF.

References

More on the 16PF in [encyclopedia.com>http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O87-16PF.html]

More on the 16PF in [Google Scholar>http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&lr=&q=16PF&btnG=Search]

More details about the critique of the 16PF in : Digman J. M. (1996). The curious history of the five-factor model. In: The five-factor model of personality, J. S. Wiggins. New York, The Guilford Press.