Written entirely by Claude, as a working record for agents more than for human readers: every number with its source file, and every claim since withdrawn. Some facts here may be out of date; where it disagrees with the post, trust the post. For the readable version, see the companion.

FA_Competence (Competence)

The second factor of the k=5 solution, Tucker congruence +0.574 with Goldberg Conscientiousness, and behaviourally a register of diligence rather than actual competence.

Second factor of the centred k=5 oblimin solution; SS loading = 8.42 (qwen35/results/fa_qwen35.md section 7; qwen35/analysis/fa_summary.json#centred_k5.factors[1].ss). Method on Factor analysis of the adapter Gram.

Loadings

Note that two Intellect markers (unintellectual, unintelligent) load negatively here alongside the Conscientiousness ones - the factor picks up a general "careful and capable" pole rather than a pure diligence pole.

Congruence with the Big Five keying

fa_qwen35.md section 6, centred_k5 oblimin row F2:

The +0.214 on Intellect is the numerical form of the two Intellect markers in the loading table. Its Eval congruence (+0.315) is the highest of the five factors - it is the most evaluatively loaded of the k=5 solution (fa_qwen35.md section 8, which records +0.315 as the maximum for centred_k5 oblimin, on F2).

Steering

qwen35/analysis/blog_data.json#replication.FA_Competence: judged as Conscientiousness, slope2 = +1.0166666666666664, sel2 = 2.7570621468926553, slope4 = +0.6121463077984818, sel4 = 2.965005745325394.

qwen35/analysis/qual_fa.json#directions[1].axis_label:

Register of diligence: breezy adolescent improvisation at negative alpha, corporate proceduralism at positive alpha. Delivers its name, but as a register shift rather than as actual competence.

qual_fa_notes.md heads its section "FA_Competence - delivers its name, but a quarter of the slope is damage". Negative pole: slangy, exclamatory, unplanned ("Oh wow", "totally pumped", "whatever feels right"), commitments treated as optional. Positive pole: impersonal management prose - stakeholder analysis, work breakdown structures, KPIs - refusing to improvise or speak in the first person. See Steering the base model along weight-space directions.

Qualifications (audit, 2026-09-11)

Four caveats a reader of the loadings alone would miss (Factor audit, 2026-09-11).

The amplifying sign is fragile. At matched Fisher dose FA_Competence is the only one of ten directions whose two signs move judged Conscientiousness the same way: -2.875 suppressing and -0.042 amplifying, bipolar = false (qwen35/analysis/matched_dose_steering.json#directions.FA_Competence). See Suppression versus amplification at matched Fisher dose.

The Intellect co-movement is one-sided. Judged Intellect falls with the suppressing sign and does not rise with the amplifying one (recomputed from qwen35/phase10_runs/judged_steerfix23.json records: 2.96 at -2, 5.54 at 0, 5.33 at +2; see wiki/raw/factor-audit-2026-09-11.md). The "competence bundle" is a fact about suppression.

Part of the negative pole belongs to Arousal. Competence and Arousal are the most oblique pair in the solution (direction cosine -0.728, qwen35/analysis/fa_chart_summary.json#factor_pairwise_cosines), and the only four traits that cross-load at 0.3 or more on this factor all cross-load on Arousal: Imperturbable, Composed, Shallow, Introverted (qwen35/results/fa_qwen35.json#solutions.centred_k5.loadings.oblimin). The breezy, exclamatory negative pole is partly Arousal's positive pole showing through.

The self-report instruments do not see it. An adapter's Competence coordinate does not predict its BFI Conscientiousness (r -0.030, n 134) or its TRAIT Conscientiousness (r +0.089, p 0.709, n 20), where Warmth reaches +0.822 on TRAIT (Inspect personality evaluations (BFI and TRAIT)). Consistent with the axis being a register of diligence rather than a disposition the adapter can report.

Supporting: the intelligence markers Intellectual (+0.482), Unintellectual (-0.582) and Unintelligent (-0.563) load here rather than on FA_Imagination (Imagination), which fits "competence" better than "diligence", and bf_conscientiousness_high/low land at +0.469 / -0.593 with nearest zoo neighbours neat and casual (Big Five factor adapters (Persona Cartography's own ten dials)).

Status

Current. qwen35/direction_pages/FA_Competence.html is historical.

Related: Factor analysis of the adapter Gram, axis_Conscientiousness (the named Conscientiousness axis), PC1 - Flooding and Composure, Steering the base model along weight-space directions, Conscientious.