General Interpretation
of NEO-AC Scores
When interpreting the results of a person’s completed NEO-AC test, it is important to remember that this tool is based on a top-down, or hierarchical, assessment. The first step is to look at the pervasive trends in the more broad domains (the five major factors), and to find out in which of these five factors the person most deviates from the mean. The second step is to analyze each subdomain (facet) to identify those that are contributing most to the overall major domain score.
What this means is that the five major domains always “pull rank,” compared to the individual facets. For example, if it turns out that a person scores “low” on one of the five major domains (let’s say on the Openness factor), but happens to score “very high” on one of the subdomains (let’s say on facet O3: Feelings), the more relevant result is always going to be the one for the major domain. This is not to say that the isolated “very high” score on O3 is unimportant or has no useful applications. Indeed, it is very important. But, in general, always consider domains first, and then look at facets.
A person’s NEO-AC numerical scores, both in the five major domains and in the thirty facets that make up the domains, are usually tabulated and plotted on an “Adult Norms Profile Sheet.” The Norms Sheet is copyrighted material and therefore is not reproduced in this book. However, if you have taken the NEO-AC, your results will be plotted on a Norms Sheet for you, and this is what you will be using and referring back to as you read the rest of this book.
The norms are valid for all adults aged 21 and up. A separate Norms Sheet is available for those test takers between ages 17 and 21. The NEO-AC has not been validated and should not be used in individuals younger than 17, at which time personality is still being molded and shaped. Also, as has been known since the start of time that men and women differ in their personality traits, and hence a different set of norms applies to each gender.
The adult Norms Sheet is basically a numerical representation of the bell-shaped curve we discussed earlier. For those of you who are statistically minded, the norms have been constructed to allow for conversion from raw scores to T scores. T scores have a mean of 50 and a full standard deviation of 10. Therefore, 68.26 percent of all test takers will fall within the first standard deviation from the mean (T scores between 40 and 60); 95.44 percent of test takers will fall within two standards deviation from the mean (T scores between 30 and 70); and 99.72 percent of all test takers will fall within three standards of deviation from the mean (T scores between 20 and 80).
For the layperson, it is easier to think in terms of severity, not T scores. The Adult Norms Profile sheet, to this end, categorizes all domain and facet scores as falling into one of five descriptive categories:
Very High
High
Average
Low
Very Low
The first step in interpreting NEO-AC scores is to identify all of the outlier scores, that is, those scores in the very high or very low zones. These are the traits that, by and large, can be most problematic and need the most attention. Scores in the average range can generally be ignored, whereas those in the high or low range are moderately important.