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.