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Big Five Inventory-2

BFI-2
psychologysocial sciencesFree for research use

A 60-item hierarchical measure of the Big Five personality domains, each with three facets, updating the original Big Five Inventory.

Items
60
Response format
5-point Likert
Version
1.0
Subscales
5

Ready-to-cite methods sentence

Personality was measured with the Big Five Inventory-2 (BFI-2; Soto & John, 2017), a 60-item hierarchical measure of five domains and 15 facets with high internal consistency (domain α ≈ .89).

Reliability & validation

Validation population
US internet and student samples (Soto & John, 2017)
Cronbach's α
0.89

Subscales

ExtraversionAgreeablenessConscientiousnessNegative EmotionalityOpen-Mindedness

Response anchors

Disagree strongly · Disagree a little · Neutral; no opinion · Agree a little · Agree strongly

Known limitations

Longer than brief alternatives; the 4-item facet scales are less reliable than domain scores, and self-report is subject to social-desirability and reference-group effects.

Original citation

Soto, C. J., John, O. P. (2017). The next Big Five Inventory (BFI-2): Developing and assessing a hierarchical model with 15 facets to enhance bandwidth, fidelity, and predictive power. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 113(1), 117-143.

https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000096

Questions researchers ask

What does the BFI-2 measure?

A 60-item hierarchical measure of the Big Five personality domains, each with three facets, updating the original Big Five Inventory.

How many items does the BFI-2 have?

The Big Five Inventory-2 (BFI-2) has 60 items across 5 subscales: Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Negative Emotionality, Open-Mindedness.

Is the BFI-2 free to use?

The BFI-2 is free to use for non-commercial academic research. You don't need to pay a license fee, but you should always cite the original publication.

Is the BFI-2 reliable?

Validation studies report Cronbach's α of 0.89. See the reliability section for the population studied and full statistics.

Who developed the BFI-2, and how do I cite it?

Soto, C. J., John, O. P. (2017). The next Big Five Inventory (BFI-2): Developing and assessing a hierarchical model with 15 facets to enhance bandwidth, fidelity, and predictive power. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 113(1), 117-143. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000096

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Library entry verified July 2026. Metadata is provided for reference; item wording is available inside Folio Surveyor, subject to each instrument's licensing.