i am looking for support for this model in terms of people who have
used it to assess personality such as McCrae and Costa (1985, 89, 91),
John (1990), Goldberg and also people that have criticised it such as
Block (1995), Mischel (1968), McAdams (1992)

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J Pers. 1992 Jun;60(2):329-61.  Related Articles, Links  


The five-factor model in personality: a critical appraisal.

McAdams DP.

Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208.

This critical appraisal aims to position the five-factor model within
the multifaceted field of personality psychology by highlighting six
important limitations of the model. These are the model's (a)
inability to address core constructs of personality functioning beyond
the level of traits; (b) limitations with respect to the prediction of
specific behavior and the adequate description of persons' lives; (c)
failure to provide compelling causal explanations for human behavior
and experience; (d) disregard of the contextual and conditional nature
of human experience; (e) failure to offer an attractive program for
studying personality organization and integration; and (f) reliance on
simple, noncontingent, and implicitly comparative statements about
persons. The five-factor model is essentially a "psychology of the
stranger," providing information about persons that one would need to
know when one knows nothing else about them. It is argued that because
of inherent limitations, the Big Five may be viewed as one important
model in personality studies but not the integrative model of
personality.

Publication Types: 
Review 
Review, Tutorial 

PMID: 1635046 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] 

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