What Is the General Factor of Personality and How Does It Work?

More “personalient” individuals are happier across the lifespan, an effect that snowballs over time. But what does it mean, and take, to be more personalient?

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Key points

• Personalient individuals are higher on the “general factor of personality” (GFP).
• GFP emerges as a singular factor for smooth personality function, tied to social and emotional intelligence.
• Personalient individuals enjoy greater life satisfaction, which tends to build on itself across the lifespan.

“Personalient” [1] is a term coined to describe how much an individual possesses of the “general factor of personality” (GFP). According to Satoshi Kanazawa, author of a recent study in the journal Personality and Individual Differences (2025), GFP is analogous to the general factor of intelligence (g) -but applies to the effectiveness of one’s personality.

Why is personalience [2] important? As Kanazawa explains, regardless of the personality model employed-whether the widely recognized Five Factor Model (OCEAN: Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism) or less common yet valid personality…