Moderate Concept Summary: HEXACO Honesty-humility Trait

ED 304: Ed Psych and Human Development

Author: Natalie Peck

Validated by: 

Disclosure: ChatGPT3 was used in the creation of this resource.

What is HEXACO?

Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness to experience are six traits of the HEXACO inventory. It is a six-factor model of personality traits that describes an individual's personality. These traits are thought to be fairly stable across an individual's lifetime and culture. 

The HEXACO inventory is based on the idea that these six personality traits are the most important for understanding an individual's behavior and can be used to predict a wide range of outcomes, such as job performance and well-being. 

Honesty-humility trait

Honesty-humility was added after the original five were created. The test used to be referred to as the “Big Five”- now it is called the “Big Six”, or more commonly, HEXACO. The “H” in HEXACO, or the Honesty-Humility trait, was added as the sixth trait in the HEXACO model of personality to provide a more comprehensive understanding of human behavior and personality. The original five traits were found to capture important aspects of personality, but they did not fully capture the dimension of honesty and humility, which is particularly relevant for understanding social interactions and moral behavior.

The Honesty-Humility trait consists of people most would refer to as kind, humble, and possibly even unassuming. Individuals who score high in this trait tend to avoid boasting or self-aggrandizement, and they are honest and sincere in their interactions with others. They may also be cooperative and willing to help others. They are genuine in social interactions and are often seen as very modest. On the other hand, those who score low in this trait may be more prone to boastfulness and may be less honest or sincere in their interactions with others.

Quiz Questions:

1. Which of the following are personality traits indicative of the Honesty-humility personality type? (Select all that apply).

Little temptation to break the rules

Will flatter others to achieve their goals

Interested in wealth and status

Avoid manipulating others for personal gain

Feel no special entitlement to an elevated social status

2. How often does a person's HEXACO personality type change throughout their life?

Rarely

Once they hit age 50

After a midlife crisis

Every 5 years

3. Which description sounds most like a person with the Honesty-humility trait?

Avoid manipulating others for personal gain, feel little temptation to break rules, are uninterested in lavish wealth and luxuries, and feel no special entitlement to elevated social status.

Forgive the wrongs that they suffered, are lenient in judging others, are willing to compromise and cooperate with others, and can easily control their temper.

Fear of physical dangers, experience anxiety in response to life's stresses, feel a need for emotional support from others, and feel empathy and sentimental attachments with others.

Absorbed in the beauty of art and nature, are inquisitive about various domains of knowledge, use their imagination freely in everyday life, and take an interest in unusual ideas or people.

References and further reading:

Must-read: THE HEXACO PERSONALITY INVENTORY - REVISED. This resource is the official HEXACO website, where they explain each personality type and the scales/domains that lead to the assignment of each trait. https://hexaco.org/scaledescriptions

This website allows you to take the test yourself and briefly explains where the test comes from and other key info. https://www.idrlabs.com/hexaco/test.php