KIN ALTRUISM, RECIPROCAL ALTRUISM, AND THE BIG-5 PERSONALITY-FACTORS

The purpose of this study was to identify personality characteristics associated with kin altruism and reciprocal altruism, and to relate th ose characteristics to the Big Five personality dimensions. We hypothe sized that traits such as empathy and attachment mainly facilitate kin altruism, and that traits such as forgiveness and non-retaliation mai nly facilitate reciprocal altruism. Self-report items that we construc ted to measure those kinds of personality traits defined two factors a s hypothesized. Those factors correlated significantly with external c riterion measures intended to represent kin altruism and reciprocal al truism, respectively. Furthermore, correlations with adjective markers of the Big Five indicated that the Empathy/Attachment factor was rela ted positively to Agreeableness and negatively to Emotional Stability, whereas the Forgiveness/Non-Retaliation factor Was related positively to both Agreeableness and Emotional Stability, (C) 1998 Elsevier Scie nce Inc.