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Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences pp 1–16Cite as

Big-Five Model

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Synonyms

B5M; FFM; Five-factor model; OCEAN

Definition

The Big-Five Model (B5M) is a representation of the universe of personality traits in terms of five broad personality dimensions: Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Intellect or Imagination. These five dimensions emerged reliably over decades of research factor-analyzing the way people describe each other with ordinary language traits such as aggressive, introverted, and sociable. The B5M is nearly identical to the Five-Factor Model (FFM), which emerged from research based on personality questionnaires. Although both the B5M and FFM have common roots in the research of Raymond Cattell and although the terms B5M and FFM are often used interchangeably today, the two models have distinctive histories, are based on different methods and theoretical assumptions, and hold slightly different conceptions of the factors, especially the fifth factor, labeled Openness to Experience in the FFM. The FFM...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

    John A. Johnson

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  1. John A. Johnson
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Correspondence to John A. Johnson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Virgil Zeigler-Hill

  2. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Ashton Southard

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Johnson, J.A. (2017). Big-Five Model. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1212-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1212-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

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