Scale library · Psychology & mental health
Big Five Inventory-10 (BFI-10): Rammstedt & John (2007)
The BFI-10 was shortened by Rammstedt and John (2007) from the 44-item Big Five Inventory, developed in parallel in English and German for surveys where response time is very limited. It covers five personality traits, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness, with 2 items each, one positively and one reverse-keyed. It is often used as a control or moderator in theses on consumer behavior, entrepreneurial intention, social media use and academic performance.
Cite the original, not the blog.
- Model or scale: BFI-10
- Constructs: 5
- Items: 10 (5 reverse-coded)
Original English items
Items marked (R) are reverse-coded: recode them before computing reliability or scale scores. Replace bracketed placeholders such as [system] with the name of the system, brand or organization you study.
Extraversion (E, 2 items)
| Code | Item wording | Reverse-coded |
|---|---|---|
| BFI1 (R) | I see myself as someone who is reserved. | Yes |
| BFI6 | I see myself as someone who is outgoing, sociable. | No |
Agreeableness (A, 2 items)
| Code | Item wording | Reverse-coded |
|---|---|---|
| BFI2 | I see myself as someone who is generally trusting. | No |
| BFI7 (R) | I see myself as someone who tends to find fault with others. | Yes |
Conscientiousness (C, 2 items)
| Code | Item wording | Reverse-coded |
|---|---|---|
| BFI3 (R) | I see myself as someone who tends to be lazy. | Yes |
| BFI8 | I see myself as someone who does a thorough job. | No |
Neuroticism (N, 2 items)
| Code | Item wording | Reverse-coded |
|---|---|---|
| BFI4 (R) | I see myself as someone who is relaxed, handles stress well. | Yes |
| BFI9 | I see myself as someone who gets nervous easily. | No |
Openness (O, 2 items)
| Code | Item wording | Reverse-coded |
|---|---|---|
| BFI5 (R) | I see myself as someone who has few artistic interests. | Yes |
| BFI10 | I see myself as someone who has an active imagination. | No |
Response scale
5-point Likert scale with the stem 'I see myself as someone who…': 1 = Disagree strongly, 2 = Disagree a little, 3 = Neither agree nor disagree, 4 = Agree a little, 5 = Agree strongly. Authors' scoring key: Extraversion 1R, 6; Agreeableness 2, 7R; Conscientiousness 3R, 8; Neuroticism 4R, 9; Openness 5R, 10 (R = reverse-scored, 6 minus the response). Each trait score is the mean or sum of its 2 items.
Recoding reverse-coded items: 1–5 scale: new score = 1 + 5 − score = 6 − score.
Licence and permission
According to the GESIS ZIS documentation, the scale is free for non-commercial research; other uses, or use in a form different from the published version, require the authors' consent. The source must be cited in all publications.
Sources (APA 7)
- Rammstedt, B., & John, O. P. (2007). Measuring personality in one minute or less: A 10-item short version of the Big Five Inventory in English and German. Journal of Research in Personality, 41(1), 203–212. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2006.02.001
- Rammstedt, B., Kemper, C. J., Klein, M. C., Beierlein, C., & Kovaleva, A. (2013). A short scale for assessing the Big Five dimensions of personality: 10 Item Big Five Inventory (BFI-10). Methoden, Daten, Analysen, 7(2), 233–249. https://doi.org/10.12758/mda.2013.013
Vietnamese translation
A Vietnamese translation of every item, with sample-size advice and studies that used the scale, is on the Vietnamese page for this scale.