“Personalient”1 is a term coined to describe how much an individual possesses of the “general factor of personality” (GFP). According to Satoshi Kanazawa, author of a recent study in the journal Personality and Individual Differences (2025), GFP is analogous to the general factor of intelligence (g)—but applies to the effectiveness of one’s personality.

Why is personalience2 important? As Kanazawa explains, regardless of the personality model employed—whether the widely recognized Five Factor Model (OCEAN: Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism) or less common yet valid personality frameworks—GFP consistently accounts for the predictive power of these models. While not universally accepted among personality researchers, there is compelling evidence that a single factor underpins much of what makes our personality function effectively.

Kanazawa highlights that GFP has been significantly associated with overall happiness and well-being in the small but growing body of literature. Why might this be? He attributes the connection to the “savanna theory of happiness,” a concept that he helped develop, grounded in

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