Health specific traits beyond the Five Factor Model, cognitive processes and trait expression: replies to Watson (2012), Matthews (2012) and Haslam, Jetten, Reynolds, and Reicher (2012)

Figures & data

Table 1. GEOMIN rotated loadings for symptom reporting, health anxiety and positive and negative affectivity.

	Symptoms	Health anxiety	Positive affect	Negative affect
Headaches	0.41	−0.07	−0.07	0.08
Dizziness	0.46	−0.08	−0.08	0.15
Palpitations	0.45	0.00	0.00	0.28
Weakness/fatigue	0.54	0.04	−0.05	0.21
Upset stomach	0.46	−0.07	0.00	0.16
Pains in limbs	0.92	0.00	0.07	0.22
Pains in joints	0.88	0.05	0.07	−0.21
Sexual problems	0.40	0.05	−0.05	0.19
Breathlessness	0.52	0.07	0.00	0.13
Sweatiness	0.50	0.02	−0.02	0.09
Tingling in hands and feet	0.57	0.06	0.01	0.04
Irregular bowel movements	0.53	0.00	−0.03	0.11
If I feel ill and someone says I look better, I become annoyed	0.00	0.53	0.03	0.03
People do not take my illnesses seriously enough	0.12	0.55	−0.03	0.02
I am bothered by the idea that something serious is wrong with my body	0.11	0.73	0.00	0.03
I worry about my health more than most people	0.03	0.83	0.02	0.03
I am afraid of illness	−0.03	0.72	0.02	0.08
If a disease is brought to my attention, I worry about getting it myself	−.007	0.73	0.03	0.00
I am bothered by many aches and pains	0.46	0.46	−0.04	−0.12
Interested	−0.02	−0.04	0.76	0.00
Excited	−0.01	−0.02	0.62	0.10
Strong	−0.01	−0.06	0.64	−0.09
Enthusiastic	0.00	0.00	0.84	0.02
Proud	0.06	0.07	0.68	−0.12
Alert	0.00	−0.01	0.77	−0.04
Inspired	−0.04	−0.01	0.75	0.06
Determined	0.09	0.02	0.78	0.02
Attentive	−0.01	0.00	0.71	0.02
Active	−0.06	0.00	0.61	−0.03
Disinterested	0.16	0.04	−0.07	0.64
Upset	0.24	−0.02	0.03	0.67
Guilty	−0.02	0.02	0.15	0.69
Scared	−0.07	0.09	0.03	0.85
Hostile	0.04	0.00	0.00	0.53
Irritable	0.17	−0.03	−0.03	0.55
Ashamed	−0.09	0.05	−0.04	0.74
Nervous	−0.06	−0.01	0.05	0.77
Jittery	0.15	−0.04	−0.03	0.75
Afraid	−0.03	0.08	−0.01	0.89
Note: The figures in bold indicate loadings greater than .30.

Table 2. Hierarchical regression of symptom reporting on health anxiety and positive and negative affectivity.

	Step 1	Step 2
Negative affect	0.40**	0.30**
Positive affect	−0.09*	−0.06
Health anxiety		0.28**
R ^2	0.19**	0.25**
ΔR ^2		0.06**
*p<0.05, **p<0.01.

Table 3. GEOMIN rotated loadings for Goldberg's (1992) five factor adjectives and empathy.

	S	A/EC	C	ES	PT	I
Extroverted	0.77	0.00	−0.08	−0.08	0.04	−0.03
Energetic	0.52	0.15	0.18	0.05	−0.26	0.11
Talkative	0.78	0.03	−0.05	−0.17	0.07	−0.05
Bold	0.84	−0.17	0.00	0.00	0.10	0.00
Active	0.49	0.17	0.25	0.07	−0.25	0.09
Assertive	0.61	−0.14	0.23	−0.02	−0.02	0.03
Adventurous	0.42	0.11	0.02	0.09	−0.07	0.25
Warm	0.21	0.56	−0.04	0.13	0.02	0.04
Kind	−0.03	0.68	0.13	0.15	0.00	0.04
Cooperative	−0.16	0.55	0.22	0.19	−0.01	0.02
Unselfish	−0.02	0.54	0.06	0.26	0.01	−0.01
Agreeable	−0.10	0.49	0.11	0.12	0.00	−0.01
Trustful	0.09	0.40	0.17	0.21	−0.04	0.03
Generous	0.15	0.39	0.07	0.06	−0.06	0.16
Organised	0.02	−0.04	0.71	−0.06	−0.02	−0.18
Responsible	−0.04	0.12	0.75	0.05	0.00	−0.08
Conscientious	−0.04	0.13	0.69	−0.03	0.10	0.00
Practical	0.02	−0.02	0.57	0.10	0.04	0.12
Thorough	−0.05	−0.02	0.78	−0.04	0.05	−0.02
Hardworking	0.05	0.10	0.65	−0.07	−0.03	−0.05
Thrifty	−0.19	0.06	0.24	0.12	0.02	0.04
Calm	−0.04	0.16	0.00	0.64	0.11	0.03
Relaxed	0.32	−0.02	−0.16	0.80	0.03	0.03
At ease	0.45	−0.09	−0.16	0.69	0.00	0.03
Not envious	0.11	0.00	0.01	0.50	0.03	0.02
Stable	0.26	0.05	0.21	0.56	−0.05	−0.17
Contented	0.35	0.13	0.09	0.51	−0.01	−0.08
Unemotional	0.00	−0.29	−0.01	0.42	−0.18	−0.06
Intelligent	0.13	−0.15	0.34	0.11	−0.05	0.35
Analytical	0.04	−0.17	0.38	0.00	0.13	0.44
Reflective	0.02	0.00	0.31	−0.14	0.34	0.37
Curious	0.20	0.01	0.16	−0.12	0.16	0.46
Imaginative	0.00	0.26	−0.07	−0.06	−0.01	0.81
Creative	0.00	0.23	−0.05	0.01	0.00	0.80
Sophisticated	0.10	0.01	0.29	0.15	0.04	0.15
I often have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me [EC]	0.03	0.53	0.01	−0.09	0.33	0.00
Sometimes I don't feel very sorry for other people when they are having problems. [EC]R	−0.07	−0.43	0.02	0.05	−0.17	0.16
Other people's misfortunes do not usually disturb me a great deal. [EC]R	−0.05	−0.57	0.07	0.19	−0.27	0.14
When I see someone being treated unfairly, I sometimes don't feel very much pity for them. [EC]R	−0.08	−0.47	−0.02	0.17	−0.27	0.14
I am often quite touched by things that I see happen. [EC]	0.02	0.46	−0.02	−0.22	0. 38	0.14
I would describe myself as a pretty soft-hearted person. [EC]	−0.08	0.51	−0.10	−0.02	0.32	0.07
When I see someone being taken advantage of, I feel kind of protective towards them. [EC]	0.08	0.28	0.09	−0.14	0.39	0.03
I sometimes find it difficult to see things from the ‘other guy's’ point of view. [PT]R	−0.04	−0.16	−0.07	−0.13	−0.35	0.09
I try to look at everybody's side of a disagreement before I make a decision. [PT]	−0.09	−0.03	0.16	0.21	0.60	0.08
I sometimes try to understand my friends better by imagining how things look from their perspective. [PT]	0.02	0.12	0.00	0.14	0.61	0.00
If I'm sure I'm right about something, I don't waste much time listening to other people's arguments. [PT]R	0.09	−0.25	−0.02	−0.08	−0.24	0.14
I believe that there are two sides to every question and try to look at them both. [PT]	−0.03	0.02	0.10	0.19	0.62	0.11
When I'm upset at someone, I usually try to ‘put myself in his shoes’ for a while. [PT]	0.00	0.00	−0.05	0.34	0.74	−0.02
Before criticizing somebody, I try to imagine how I would feel if I were in their place. [PT]	−0.03	0.02	0.00	0.34	0.70	0.00
S, surgency; ES, emotional stability; I, intellect; C, conscientiousness; A, agreeableness; PT, perspective taking; EC, empathic concern. Note: The figures in bold indicate loadings greater than .30 on the target factor and the figures in bold italics indicate cross-loadings greater than .30

Table 4. Hierarchical regression of FFM domains and empathic traits on motivations for degree choice.

	Interest		Helping		Loafing		Career
	Step 1	Step 2	Step 1	Step 2	Step 1	Step 2	Step 1	Step 2
Surgency	−0.008	−0.003	0.03	0.05	−0.08*	−0.09*	0.02	0.02
Agreeableness	−0.002	−0.06	0.15***	−0.01	−0.19***	−0.03	0.05	0.13**
Conscientiousness	0.18***	0.17***	0.10**	0.08*	−0.18***	−0.15***	0.10**	0.11**
Emotional stability	−0.01	0.009	−0.04	0.03	0.12**	0.05	0.05	0.01
Intellect	0.15***	0.14***	0.06	0.03	0.07	0.10**	0.05	0.07
Empathic Concern		0.10*		0.28***		−0.30***		−0.14**
Perspective Taking		0.04		0.08*		−0.05		−0.02
R ^2	0.07***	0.07***	0.06***	0.06***	0.09***	0.09***	0.04***	0.04***
ΔR ^2		0.01**		0.08***		0.08***		0.015**
Note: *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001.

Figure 1.  CFA model for the Big 5 and alexithymia.

Note: *p<0.01, **p<0.001. ES, emotional stability; A, agreeableness; C, conscientiousness; I, intellect; S, surgency; DIF, difficulty identifying feelings; DDF, difficulty describing feelings; EOT, externally oriented thought. Coefficients in parentheses are those for the model with the correlated error between EOT and O specified.