Description

The Ten Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) is a brief psychometric tool developed by Samuel D. Gosling and colleagues in 2003 to assess the five major dimensions of personality according to the Five-Factor Model (FFM). The TIPI consists of 10 statements, two for each of the five personality dimensions: Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Openness to Experience.

Purpose

The main goal of the TIPI is to provide a quick and reliable measurement of the five major personality dimensions. This tool is useful in cases where time is limited or when a brief but valid assessment of personality is required, such as in large-scale surveys, educational settings, or the initial evaluation of an individual’s personality.

Analysis

The TIPI consists of 10 statements, which are evaluated using a 7-point Likert scale ranging from “strongly disagree” (1) to “strongly agree” (7). Each statement represents one pole of a personality dimension, and participants are asked to indicate the extent to which they agree with each statement.
The five personality dimensions assessed by the TIPI are:
Extraversion: Characterized by energy, sociability, and the search for stimulation.
Agreeableness: Characterized by kindness, trust, and cooperativeness.
Conscientiousness: Characterized by organization, diligence, and reliability.
Emotional Stability: The opposite of neuroticism, characterized by calmness and resilience to stress.
Openness to Experience: Characterized by open-mindedness, imagination, and a preference for variety and new experiences.

Scoring

Scoring the TIPI is done by summing the ratings of the two statements corresponding to each personality dimension. One statement in each pair is positively worded and the other negatively worded. The total scores for each dimension range from 2 to 14. These scores can be compared with population norms to determine an individual’s personality profile.

References

Gosling, S. D., Rentfrow, P. J., & Swann, W. B. (2003). A very brief measure of the Big-Five personality domains. Journal of Research in Personality, 37(6), 504-528.
Gosling, S. D., Rentfrow, P. J., & Swann, W. B. (2003). TIPI manual.
John, O. P., & Srivastava, S. (1999). The Big Five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives. In L. A. Pervin & O. P. John (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (pp. 102–138). Guilford Press.
Ehrhart, M. G., Ehrhart, K. H., Roesch, S. C., Chung-Herrera, B. G., Nadler, K., & Bradshaw, K. (2009). Testing the latent factor structure and construct validity of the Ten-Item Personality Inventory. Personality and Individual Differences, 47(8), 900–905.