Question

When five-factor model theorists say that factors are generally independent, what does this mean? When they say Factors are normally distributed, what do they mean ?. You can answer each of these using a sentence or two.

Answer 1

In general five-factor model is not independent. But when it is solving in higher order or recent studies tells that they are orthogonal which means independent. Orthogonality is viewed as desirable by some researchers because it minimizes redundancy between the dimensions.

Orthogonality of the Big Five was largely due to the nature of the analysis techniques used to derive it rather than any inherent orthogonality. Normally distributed means the orthogonality. The new researches find consistently strong relationships between agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability. It is from this pattern that many have argued that there is a smaller subset of factors representing the Big Five.