The Five-Factor Personality Model and the Numinous - Ralph Piedmont

Current thinking in Psychology is that there are five dimensions we can use to describe the most important personality dimensions. Dr. Ralph Piedmont discovered the 6th one: 'the Numinous'.

The five-factor model of personality (FFM) is a set of five broad trait dimensions or domains, often referred to as the “Big Five”: Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism (sometimes named by its polar opposite, Emotional Stability), and Openness to Experience (sometimes named Intellect). 
The Big Five/FFM was developed to represent as much of the variability in individuals’ personalities as possible, using only a small set of trait dimensions. 
Many personality psychologists agree that its five domains capture the most important, basic individual differences in personality traits and that many alternative trait models can be conceptualized in terms of the Big Five/FFM structure (www.oxfordbibliographies.com). 

Dr. Ralph Piedmont discovered the 6th factor: the Numinous. According to Ralph Piedmont 'the numinous deals with our ultimate existential engagements with life. The Numinous has three central concerns: issues about mortality; meaning in life, and personal worthiness.'
(https://www.researchgate.net/publication/364950266_An_Introduction_to_the_Numinous_1_An_Introduction_to_the_Sixth_Major_Dimension_of_Personality_The_Numinous)

During our conversation, we discussed the following topics:

(1) 01:58 - The origins of the Five-Factor personality model 
(2) 08:08 - The Five-Factor personality model versus adopting a growth mindset
(3) 15: 26 - Dark Triads
(4) 17:12 - What is the Numinous?
(5) 25:00 - The relevance of the Numinous for agnostics and atheists
(6) 26:19 - Practical implications of the Numinous
(7) 33:00 - Applications of the Numinous in the world of business
(8) 41:37 - Leadership development and the Numinous
(9) 50:50 - Dysfunctional leadership behavior and the Numinous
(10) 57:50 From the "Big 5" to the "Big 6"? The future of the Numinous

Dr. Piedmont received his Ph.D. in Personality Psychology from Boston University. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institute on Aging, where he was trained in taxonomic models of personality and their relevance for understanding mental and physical outcomes. 

Dr. Piedmont was a full professor in the Department of Pastoral Counseling at Loyola University Maryland and is now the Managing Director of the Center for Professional Studies. 

His current research interests focus on the measurement of Spiritual Transcendence, a construct that represents a broad, nondenominational, motivational measure of spirituality. He has demonstrated the predictive value of this construct in both normal and clinical contexts, using both American and cross-cultural samples. 

Dr. Piedmont is extensively published in the scientific literature and is on the editorial boards for Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, Assessment, and Journal of Personality Assessment. 

He was the founding editor of the new APA journal, Psychology of Religion and Spirituality. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and a member of the American Counseling Association (ACA). He is also very much involved in Division 36, the Society for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality for the APA and ACA’s Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling.

E-mail dr. Ralph Piedmont: [email protected]
Website: https://centerforprofessionalstudies.com/

Publications: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=bJTbCUIAAAAJ&hl=en