Five Big, Big Five Issues

Abstract

This article discusses the rationale, content, structure, status, and cross-cultural assessment of the Big Five trait factors, focusing on topics of dispute and misunderstanding. Taxonomic restrictions of the original Big Five forerunner, the “Norman Five,” are discussed, and criticisms regarding the lexical hypothesis are refuted. The main issue of the psycholexical approach, namely, coverage of the trait domain, is elaborated upon, and the logic of the circumplexical structuring of the trait variables is summarized. A distinction is made between the common status of the Big Five approach, with a description of the competing positions of the Big Five model and other personality models, and the particular status of the Big Five approach, including its role as a general communication medium of personality traits. Finally, a review of recent, psychometrically based comparisons among different taxonomies is provided, lending support to the Big Five model as the main working hypothesis, on the one hand, but also showing discrepancies between languages, particularly as regards Factor V.