PEN Model of Personality

Also known as: Eysenck PEN model · Psychoticism-Extraversion-Neuroticism · Three-factor personality

Personality organized around three biologically grounded superfactors — Psychoticism (tough-mindedness and nonconformity), Extraversion (sociability and positive arousal), and Neuroticism (emotional instability) — each linked to specific physiological mechanisms. Eysenck mapped the Extraversion × Neuroticism plane to the classical four temperaments (sanguine, choleric, melancholic, phlegmatic), making this the modern bridge between trait theory and temperament tradition.

Source:

Eysenck, H. J., & Eysenck, S. B. G. (1985). Personality and individual differences: A natural science approach. Plenum Press.