CLARIFICATION OF THE 5-FACTOR MODEL WITH THE ABRIDGED BIG 5-DIMENSIONAL CIRCUMPLEX

This article shows how the Abridged Big Five Dimensional Circumplex (A B5C; W. K. Hofstee, B. de Raad, & L. R. Goldberg, 1992) clarifies disp utes about the Big Five or five-factor model. Trait ratings from instr uments representing 4 versions of the Big Five (L. R. Goldberg, 1992; R. Hogan & J. A. Johnson, 198 1; R. R. McCrae & P. T. Costa, 1985b, 19 87; W T Norman, 1963) were subjected to separate AB5C analyses for 2,1 48 American and 1,285 German Ss. Replicated results formed standard de signation codes representing trait adjectives' primary and secondary f actor loadings. These codes unveiled the unique coloring imparted by s econdary loadings to different scales proffered by researchers to repr esent the 5 factors.