Two, Five, Six, Eight (Thousand): Time to End the Dimension Reduction Debate!

In the latest salvo in the century-long lexical-dimensionality-reduction debate (Galton, 1884), Ashton and Lee (2020a) argue their HEXACO model is superior to Big Five models. We argue that debates comparing alternative low-dimensional personality structures no longer advance personality science or practice. Instead, researchers should embrace the inherent complexity and high-dimensionality of human individual differences. If a low-dimensional model is used, investigators should choose a model based on its coherent representation of traits they deem meaningful for the research domain, rather than its alignment with a specific factor analysis solution. (C) 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology