Likableness, familiarity, and frequency of 844 person-descriptive words

This article describes the likableness, familiarity, and frequency of 844 person-descriptive words and compares these characteristics to those of shorter lists established by Anderson (1968) and (1984) [Anderson, N. H. (1968). Likableness ratings of 555 personality-trait words. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 9, 272–279; Myers, J. F. (1984). Schematic processing and self-reference during contiguous periods of clinical depression and symptomatic remission. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Calgary, Alberta: The University of Calgary]. Results show that the list offers reliable ratings of likableness and familiarity that are in keeping with those of these earlier lists. In addition, the list offers a direct comparison with the ratings of these earlier lists, as well as data on the frequency of each word in American English on the basis of two independent sources. We anticipate that this list will prove useful to researchers needing rapid access to ratings of likableness, familiarity, and frequency of person-descriptive words.