So what do you propose we use instead? A reply to Block

Abstract

Unfortunately, Block's brilliant critique is terribly biased, much like a legal brief that presents only one side of the issues at suit. It does not distinguish between the Big Five model of phenotypic personality attributes from alternative models of the causal underpinnings of personality differences. Ironically, it attempts to explain away the extensive evidence for the Big Five model as largely the result of data prestructuring, with no acknowledgement of the unique contribution of the lexical approach to minimizing such problems. Even more seriously, it omits a good deal of crucial evidence favorable to the Big Five model, including studies of Block's own Q-set and independent investigations of personality-related terms in other languages. Sadly, Block's closing suggestions provide little in the way of specific proposals for alternatives that he would have us use instead.