Millennial contrarianism: The five-factor approach to personality description 5 years later

Some recent developments with regard to the five-factor approach are reported. Some inconsistencies seem to arise, as reported by a number of investigators. Especially to be noted is the finding that five factors do not encompass wider scans of the inventory domain. Further, the recent introduction of higher order factor analyses suggests that it is possible and conceptually attractive to reduce the five factors to only two broader factors. Finally, a new theoretical offering for the five-factor approach is argued as not intrinsically unique to the five-factor approach but applies instead to almost any personality orientation. (C) 2001 Academic Press.