A contrarian view of the five-factor approach to personality description.

“The Big-Five framework enjoys considerable support and has become the most widely used and extensively researched model of personality (for reviews, see John & Srivastava, 1999, and McCrae & Costa, 1999), although it has not been accepted universally (Block, 1995). The Big-Five framework is a hierarchical model of per…”

“S. (1985). Differences between new and established industrial”

“There has been concern about the intercorrelations among the Big Five dimensions (e.g., Block, 1995); the highest intercorrelations among the NEO-PI-R domain scales exceed .40 (Costa & McCrae, 1992), as do those among Goldberg’s (1992) Big Five adjective scales.”

“Unfortunately, impulsivity su ers from both the ``jingle'' and ``jangle'' fallacies (Block, 1995).”

“Finally, because there is much concern in personality research about whether broad or specific personality traits best predict criteria (Block, 1995; Hough, 1992), we also investigate the relative predictive power of broad versus specific measures of the Big Five traits.”

“Critics of the Big Five point out nontrivial empirical overlap between Big Five scales that are conceptually orthogonal (see Block, 1995; Funder, 2001).”

“Although the five-factor 10 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SELECTION AND ASSESSMENT Volume 9 Numbers 1/2 March/June 2001 ß Blackwell Publishers Ltd 2001 model enjoys widespread support, critics have challenged the model on numerous grounds (Block 1995; Eysenck 1992).”

“…1980s and 1990s, the most pervasive empirical work in personality psychology involved the study of the Big Five traits (Goldberg, 1993; Goldberg & Rosolack, 1994; John & Srivastava, 1999) – so much so, that many people identified personality as merely, or essentially, the Big Five (Block, 1995).”

“Some researchers argue that the five-factor model provides too coarse a description of personality (Block, 1995; Hough, 1992). As Block (1995) notes, “for an adequate understanding of personality, it is necessary to think and measure more specifically than at this global level if behaviors and their mediating variable…”

“However, Block (1995) objected, noting that these two traits are conceptualized rather differently.”

“Unfortunately, short English labels for dimensions as broad as the Big Five are difficult to come by, and the existing labels have numerous shortcomings and are easily misunderstood ( Block, 1995; John, 1990, pp. 95-96); thus, we give short definitions of the five dimensions.”

“The pool of studies exemplifies five difficulties in stress measurement: 1) Stress measures are sometimes noncomparable and fall prey to the fallacy that because measures have the same name they measure the same construct (12).”

“As Block (1995) noted, "for an adequate understanding of personality, it is necessary to think and measure more specifically than at this global level if behaviors and their mediating variables are to be sufficiently, incisively represented" (p.”

“A number of critiques of factor analysis (e.g., Block, 1995) have pointed out that the interpretation of results can foster the illusion that the dimensions are ‘‘discovered’’ while masking the role of the researcher in selecting the initial items.”

“Although acceptance of the classification is far from universal (see Block, 1995; Eysenck, 1992), the Big Five has provided the most widely accepted structure of personality in our time.”

“Although the five-factor model of personality has its critics (e.g., see Block, 1995; Butcher & Rouse, 1996), it is widely accepted today.”

“For example, there has been a large amount of research into the structure of individual personality (Barrick & Mount, 1991; Block, 1995; Costa & McCrae, 1985, 1995).”

“taxonomy in particular and the concept of trait in general to provide all or even most ofthe right stuff for personality inquiry ( Block, in press; Briggs, 1989; Emmons, 1993; McAdams, 1992, 1994b; Pervin, 1994).”

“Finally, Table 5 presents intercorrelations among the two sets of scales, because some authors have expressed concern about the orthogonality of the five scales (Block, 1995).”

“…to this terminology, however, is that the term “trait” has been used traditionally to define characteristics that are viewed as stable across time and situations; these characteristics are potentially biologically based and thus are difficult to modify (e.g., Block, 1995; John & Srivastava, 1999).”

“However, if there is substantial communal or redundant variance shared by the measures, the problem is well summarized by Block (1995): “To the extent a variable correlates with other variables . . . it is said to be ‘explainable’ by these other variables and conveys no unique information” (p. 188).”

“(continued) Oreg et al. 477 Sometimes different terms were used for describing the same phenomenon (the “jangle” fallacy, Block, 1995), and at other times the same term was given to constructs with diverse definitions (the “jingle” fallacy, Block, 1995).”

“Although the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of the model are not completely without dispute (see Block, 1995; 2010), it is regarded as acknowledging at least some of the essential aspects of personality (McCrae & Costa, 1999).”

“Finally, this literature is rife with examples of the jangle fallacy (Block, 1995; Kelley, 1927) in which scales with disparate names appear to measure highly similar operationalizations of impulsivity.”

“that people might behave differently in different domains of life (Block, 1995; McAdams, 1992; Pervin, 1994).”

“One prominent critic – Block (1995, 2001) – focused mostly on the inductive origins of the taxonomy, both statistically (limitations in the use of factor analysis) and methodologically (the input into the factor analysis, namely the lexical and questionnaire approaches).”

“Instructive and informative concerns regarding the validity of the FFM have been raised (Block, 1995; Shedler & Westen, 2004; Westen, 1995), but it hardly seems an exaggeration to suggest that the empirical support for the construct validity of the DSM–IV–TR personality disorder categories pales in…”

“In their study of personality and leader-member exchange, Phillips and Bedeian (1994) found support for a relationship between exchange quality and extraversion, which is very similar to positive affectivity (Block, 1995). Fourth, Kurdek (1993) found that extraversion dissimilarity, along with other personality dimens…”

“Over the last two decades, scholars in both psychology and management have recognized the FFM of personality as a primary representation of salient aspects of personality (Barrick & Mount, 1991; Digman, 1990; Goldberg, 1990; for dissenting view, see Block, 1995).”

“The jingle fallacy occurs when different constructs have been labeled with the same name, leading the unsuspecting researcher to believe that all scales which bear the same name are interchangeable (Thorndike, 1904 as cited in Block, 1995). Wink (1991) explored the lack of correlation between the NPI and the NPDS by i…”

“Although the Big Five is presently the most researched model of personality, Saucier (2001, 2003) and others (Block, 1995, 2001) have questioned the universality of the model. Saucier (2003) explored the convergence of endogenously derived Filipino (Church, Katigbak, & Reyes, 1998; Church, Reyes, Katigbak, & Grimm, 19…”

“Despite criticism (Block, 1995), it has received considerable empirical support across cultures (McCrae and Costa, 1997).”

“Nevertheless, they have also been the target of serious concerns (e.g., Block, 1995; Paunonen, & Jackson, 2000).”

“Biological Reviews © 2012 Cambridge Philosophical Society measurements load with others (but see Block, 1995, for a criticism of data reduction techniques for this purpose).”

“There is good evidence that these diagnoses identify clinically meaningful maladaptive personality traits; several diagnoses seem especially well-validated, including antisocial (see Stoff, Breiling, & Maser, 1997), borderline (see Clarkin, Marziali, & Munroe-Blum, 1992), schizotypal (Raine, Lencz, & Mednick, 1995), n…”

“There has been valid criticism of the Five-Factor approach, including that the content of the factors vary somewhat from theorist to theorist, that some theorists propose different numbers of factors, that the five factors are too broad for some purposes, and that the factor labels are unclear (Block, 1995).”

“Despite the apparent consensus, Block (1995) objected to the term “model,” suggesting the term “approach” as a more accurate substitute.”

“Although the alter - native models of personality are not without their critics ( Block , 1995a , b , 2001 ) , their commonalties provide an important scheme for organizing what might otherwise be a bewildering array of findings on individual personality scales ( Konner , 1990 ; Hough , 1992 ;…”

“…impulsivity has been the subject of a great deal of terminological and conceptual confusion, including both the “jingle” and “jangle” fallacies (Block, 1995).1 Impulsivity, disinhibition, and sensation seeking, in particular, have come to comprise what we might term a “jingle-jangle…”

“Although the FFM is not universally accepted in the field (e.g., Block, 1995), scores of studies indicate that these basic personality dimensions are rooted in biology (Jang, McCrae, Angleitner, Riemann, & Livesley, 1998; Loehlin, 1992; Plomin & Caspi, 1999), are relatively stable throughout life…”

“Age Differences in the Big Five There is something of a consensus that five broad domains capture much of the variability in personality traits (John & Srivastava, 1999; but see Ashton & Lee, 2007; Block, 1995).”

“This lack of precision in terminology can inhibit the ability to build cumulative knowledge (Block 1995).”

“One of the most stinging criticisms of the Five-Factor model is that it is atheoretical (Block, 1995).”

“Some have suggested that greater predictive power can be achieved by focusing on the relationships between the different personality facets that underlie the major personality dimensions (Block, 1995; Hough, 1992).”

“…has developed that the structure of the personality trait domain can be encompassed by the five superordinate Big Five dimensions of Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness (John, 1990; McCrae & Costa, 1990; McCrae & John, 1992; but cf., Block, 1995).”

“Other differences in Five-Factor Models can also be noted (see reviews by Block, 1995; Digman, 1990; John, 1990; McCrae & John, 1992).”

“Although the FFM has become an increasingly accepted integrative framework for personality research, it has been criticized because of its primarily descriptive nature (e.g., Block, 1995; McAdams, 1992).”

“Costa & McCrae, 1992, 1995; De Raad & Schouwenburg, 1996; Furnham, 1996, but see Block (1995) for a more critical perspective). The so-called Big Five factors are usually labelled extraversion, neuroticism, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness. Two studies conducted in the Netherlands (Busato et…”

“Block (1995) lamented the inattention of five-factor enthusiasts to those dimensions in other inventories that are not recoverable in five-factor inventories (e.g., introspectiveness, narcissism, and forcefulness in the California Q-Set; see McCrae, Costa & Busch, 1986), pointing to the potential…”

“…a growing consensus has supported the five-factor model (FFM, see Digman 1990; Goldberg 1990; John 1990; McCrae & John 1992; McCrae 2001a; but see Block 1995) as a Smoking and the FFM 473 © 2004 Society for the Study of Addiction Addiction, 99 , 472–481 comprehensive yet manageable taxonomy of…”

“Although there are some divergences among various authors regarding the interpretation of each factor (see Block, 1995, Digman, 1990; Goldberg, 1990; John, 1990; John, Angleitner, & Ostendorf, 1988; McCrae, 1990), there is substantial agreement on using the following labels for these five factors:…”