Big Five Aspect Scales (100 items)
A 100-item public-domain measure that scores ten aspects of personality — two per Big Five domain — capturing a middle level of the trait hierarchy between the broad domains and narrow facets. Free.
Neuroticism
Volatility · Withdrawal
Agreeableness
Compassion · Politeness
Conscientiousness
Industriousness · Orderliness
Extraversion
Enthusiasm · Assertiveness
Openness / Intellect
Intellect · Openness
At a glance
The aspect level
DeYoung et al. (2007) identified ten aspects sitting between the five broad domains and the narrow NEO facets. Each Big Five domain splits into two distinguishable aspects: Neuroticism into Volatility (reactive emotional intensity) and Withdrawal (inhibition, fear, and low positive affect); Extraversion into Enthusiasm (warmth, positive affect) and Assertiveness (dominance, social boldness); Conscientiousness into Industriousness (hard work, achievement) and Orderliness (organization, rule-following); Agreeableness into Compassion (empathy, care for others) and Politeness (deference, avoidance of conflict); and Openness/Intellect into Intellect (abstract reasoning, curiosity for ideas) and Openness (aesthetic sensitivity, imagination).
The aspect level is especially useful for distinguishing profiles that look identical at the domain level. Two people can score identically on Neuroticism overall while differing sharply on Volatility versus Withdrawal — a distinction that predicts different life outcomes.
DeYoung, C. G., Quilty, L. C., & Peterson, J. B. (2007). Between facets and domains: 10 aspects of the Big Five. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93, 880–896. Items via the International Personality Item Pool (ipip.ori.org).Neuroticism
- Volatility
- Withdrawal
Agreeableness
- Compassion
- Politeness
Conscientiousness
- Industriousness
- Orderliness
Extraversion
- Enthusiasm
- Assertiveness
Openness / Intellect
- Intellect
- Openness
Report includes
Ten aspect scores, each the mean of ten items (range 1–5), with a Higher / Average / Lower band relative to the full scale range. Population percentile and 90% confidence range computed from the ESCS reference sample.
Norms computed from the Eugene-Springfield Community Sample (ESCS) — Lewis R. Goldberg's adult community panel from Eugene and Springfield, Oregon (Harvard Dataverse, doi:10.7910/DVN/UF52WY). This is a community sample and is NOT nationally representative. The mean, standard deviation, reference N and Cronbach's α were computed directly from the raw IPIP item-level responses on THIS scale's exact item set and reverse-keying (complete cases); reference N varies by scale and is shown with each scale below. The confidence range uses the standard error of measurement (SEM = SD·√(1−α)) from that computed α.