Beyond the Big Five

This article aims at a discussion of three controversial issues about the Big Five (1) Is the ®ve-factor model comprehensive? (2) How should the amount of variance accounted for by the Big Five be measured? (3) Are the Big Five orthogonal and do they represent the highest hierarchical level of personality description? Subjects were 115 men and women in the age range from 20 to 63 years. They answered three Big Five measures (1) a German version of the NEO-FFI, (2) 45 bipolar ratings scales, developed by Ostendorf [Ostendorf, F. (1990). Sprache und PersoÈnlichkeitsstruktur. Zur ValiditaÈt des FuÈnf-Faktoren-Modells. [Language and the structure of personality. About the validity of the FiveFactor-Model]. Regensburg: Roderer.], (3) the Hamburg personality inventory, developed by Andresen [Andresen, B. (1995). Risikobereitschaft (R): der sechste Basisfaktor der PersoÈ nlichkeit: Konvergenz multivariater Studien und Konstruktexplikation. [Risk preference (R): the sixth basic factor of personality: convergence of multivariate studies and construct explication], Zeitschrift fuÈr Di€erentielle und Diagnostische Psychologie, 16, 210±236.], as well as the Trier personality inventory, developed by Becker [Becker, P. (1989). Der Trierer PersoÈnlichkeitsfragebogen TPF. Handanweisung. [The Trier personality inventory. TPI. Manual]. GoÈ ttingen: Hogrefe.] and the Trier behavior control inventory, developed by Becker [Becker, P. (1995). Seelische Gesundheit und Verhaltenskontrolle. Eine integrative PersoÈnlichkeitstheorie und ihre klinische Anwendung. [Mental health and behavior control. An integrative personality theory and its clinical application]. GoÈ ttingen: Hogrefe.]. The results of several factor analyses lead to the following conclusions (1) The ®ve-factor model is not comprehensive. At least a sixth factor hedonism/spontaneity can be replicated. (2) The Big Five and the six ®rst-order factors are not orthogonal but oblique so that two higher-order factors (the Big Two), labelled mental health and behavior control, can be found. The loadings of the 33 basic variables and of the six ®rst-order factors on the Big Two have a circumplex structure. # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.