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

• The humility aspect of the Honesty–Humility personality factor is largely untested.
• In a strong test, we compare participants’ self-appraisals and actual ability.
• The difference between these is predicted by Honesty–Humility and its Modesty facet.
• Confirms that the Honesty–Humility factor indeed encompasses more modest behavior.

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.