To boast or not to boast: Testing the humility aspect of the Honesty-Humility factor

TY - JOUR

T1 - To boast or not to boast

T2 - Testing the humility aspect of the Honesty-Humility factor

AU - Hilbig, Benjamin E.

AU - Heydasch, Timo

AU - Zettler, Ingo

PY - 2014/10

Y1 - 2014/10

N2 - Interest in the HEXACO Model of Personality has consistently grown in the past decade - with a particular focus on the newly proposed sixth basic factor: Honesty-Humility. In essence, this factor was proposed as the driving force behind cooperative, honest behavior and the basis for a modest, unassuming nature. However, whereas recent research has accumulated substantial evidence for the prediction that Honesty-Humility drives non-exploitative behavior, there is little conclusive evidence for the proposition that it also signals humility. We tested this conjecture in a web-based study - assessing modest behavior in terms of people's over- vs. under-representation of their actual abilities. As hypothesized, the Honesty-Humility factor scale and the Modesty facet scale of the HEXACO Personality Inventory-Revised predicted the degree to which participants' self-appraisals matched their actual general mental ability in the expected direction: those low in Honesty-Humility and/or Modesty overstated their ability.

AB - Interest in the HEXACO Model of Personality has consistently grown in the past decade - with a particular focus on the newly proposed sixth basic factor: Honesty-Humility. In essence, this factor was proposed as the driving force behind cooperative, honest behavior and the basis for a modest, unassuming nature. However, whereas recent research has accumulated substantial evidence for the prediction that Honesty-Humility drives non-exploitative behavior, there is little conclusive evidence for the proposition that it also signals humility. We tested this conjecture in a web-based study - assessing modest behavior in terms of people's over- vs. under-representation of their actual abilities. As hypothesized, the Honesty-Humility factor scale and the Modesty facet scale of the HEXACO Personality Inventory-Revised predicted the degree to which participants' self-appraisals matched their actual general mental ability in the expected direction: those low in Honesty-Humility and/or Modesty overstated their ability.

KW - General mental abilities

KW - HEXACO

KW - Honesty-Humility

KW - Modesty

KW - Self-appraisals

U2 - 10.1016/j.paid.2014.04.033

DO - 10.1016/j.paid.2014.04.033

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0191-8869

VL - 69

SP - 12

EP - 16

JO - Personality and Individual Differences

JF - Personality and Individual Differences

ER -