Abstract

This study was intended to carry out the basic research for identifying and establishing the factors and the structures of new character inventory utilizing empirical data based on personality typology theory focused on interpersonal relationship. First, through the personality typology workshops, the data of personality and behavior traits of Korean male and female adults who have good mental health was gathered, and the contents were analyzed. By these processes, various traits of Four-type (Extroverted Thinking, Extroverted Feeling, Introverted Thinking, and Introverted Feeling) centered on interpersonal relations were analyzed and reduced into basic items to create the inventory scale. These processes were verified by two professionals for reliability, and then a final 296 items with 216 items of normal traits domain, and 80 items of problematic traits domain were constructed. In the first period, 468 male and female adults were studied. With the factor analyses of the rated data for the 296 items, the factors roughly consistent with both normal and problematic trait domains were identified(4 factors×2 domains). In the second period, 2,149 male and female adults were studied. The rated data for the 160 items, which resulted from the combination of the two domains, were factor analyzed to produce five constructive factors. Four of the five constructive factors were directly related with the Four-type in their contents, and the fifth one was the constructive factor centered on problematic traits reflecting effective functioning of personality. The names of the five constructive factors were 'Challenging related to Extraverted Thinking', 'Sociability related to Extraverted Feeling', 'Acceptability related to Introverted Feeling', 'Prudence related to Introverted Thinking', and 'Interpersonal Sensitivity with no particular relationship with Four-type.