NEO™ Personality Inventory-3 (NEO™ -PI-3)

P.T. Costa & R.R. McCraw

The NEO  Personality Inventory -3 (NEO™ -PI-3) provides a comprehensive and detailed assessment of adult and adolescent personality based on the Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality.

The NEO PI-3, a revision of the revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R™), the standard questionnaire measure of the Five Factor Model (FFM), provides a systematic assessment of emotional, interpersonal, experiential, attitudinal, and motivational styles-a detailed personality description that can be a valuable resource for a variety of professionals. The NEO PI-R is a concise measure of the five major domains of personality (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness), as well as the six traits or facets that define each domain. Taken together, the five domain scales and 30 facet scales of the NEO PI-R, including the scales for the Agreeableness and the Conscientiousness domains, facilitate a comprehensive and detailed assessment of normal adult personality. It has useful applications in counselling, clinical psychology, psychiatry, behavioural medicine and health psychology, vocational counselling and industrial/organizational psychology, and educational and personality research.

The NEO PI-3 is based on decades of factor analytic research with both clinical and normal adult populations. The five domains measured by the instrument provide a clear and concise description summarizing an individual’s emotional, interpersonal, experiential, attitudinal, and motivational styles.

• Test materials and use.
• Administration and scoring procedures, including missing responses and three validity checks (Acquiescence, Nay-Saying, Random Responding).
• Conceptualization and interpretation of domain and facet scores.
• Interpretation of profiles.
• Test development and validation.
• Applications and directions for future research.

• Although both forms of the instrument are normed by sex, T scores can be calculated for combined-sex norms using the normative data contained in the  Manual.

Although the manual has been updated with the introduction of the NEO-PI-3, NEO PI-R norms and forms have not changed. 

Administration/Scoring

The NEO PI-R is self-administered and is available in two parallel versions. Each version contains 240 items and three validity items, and requires a 6th-grade reading level.

• Form S, designed for self-reports, is appropriate for use with adults, including individuals of college age.
• Form R, designed for observer reports, is written in the third person for peer, spouse, or expert ratings. It can be used as an alternative measure or as a supplement to self-reports from adult clients.
• Each item is rated on a 5-point scale.
• 2-part carbonless Answer Sheet, usable with either form, eliminates the need for separate scoring keys or templates.
• Self-carbon page of the Answer Sheet contains item values for rapid computation of scale raw scores.
• Three profile forms facilitate score-plotting and conversion to T scores.
• 1-page "Your NEO Summary" feedback sheet gives clients easy-to-understand information about the five domains of personality.
• Internal consistency coefficients for both Forms R and S range from .86 to .95 for domain scales and from .56 to .90 for facet scales.
• The NEO PI-R is validated against other personality inventories as well as projective techniques.

• The NEO PI-R also can be scored and/or administered electronically using the NEO Software System™.

New in this edition

• A Professional Manual addresses the NEO-PI-3, NEO-FFI-3, and NEO PI-R.
• Separate adolescent (12-20 years) and adult (21 years and older) norms are available.
• Profile forms have been made larger and more user-friendly. A separate profile form for combined-sex norms is now available.
• The NEO Problems in Living Checklist aids clinicians in planning treatment by spotlighting particular problems individuals may be facing; it is excellent for setting goals and planning interventions.
• The NEO Style Graph Booklet shows clients how their results form different areas of their personality.
• The NEO Job Profiler aids employers in finding the right candidate for a job based on personality traits needed in order to be successful in the position.

• The Your NEO Summary feedback sheet enables you to give clients a summary of their NEO performance.

Note: The NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R™) has been revised and replaced with the NEO-PI-3. New purchasers should please refer to the NEO-PI-3. Individual items of the NEO PI-R™ can still be purchased. The kits are no longer available.