Hierarchies of Motivation Predict Individuals’ Attitudes and Values: A Neuropsychological Operationalization of the Five Factor Model
Scientific investigations of human personality are concerned with uncovering recurrent patterns of behavior, valuation, and cognition across time. The Five Factor Model (FFM), commonly known as the “Big 5,” is considered the most scientifically rigorous consolidation of the components of human decision-making and behavior. This research presents a novel hypothesis for systematizing the factors of the FFM into a series of emotional, motivational, and intellectual trade-offs. 193 adult participants completed an online decision-making battery composed of scenarios generated in accordance with each superordinate trade-off framework. Machine learning algorithms were subsequently implemented to assess whether a participant’s individual “score” was able to predict their independently-reported attitudes related to political affiliation, gender identity, career preferences, economic beliefs, political correctness, spirituality, and others. Across every attitude probed, the trade-off framework presented in this research was able to more strongly predict a participant’s response than any other model or scale that could be found in the literature. This research strongly supports the utility of conceptualizing individual decisions, preferences, values, and motivations through the lens of the FFM-based trade-off frameworks outlined in this work.