The HEXACO Personality Space Before and After Re-Rotation to Approximate the Big Five Dimensions

We re-oriented the HEXACO personality dimensions to approximate the Big Five, using two measures of the Big Five as targets in a derivation sample and then in cross-validation samples. The HEXACO approximations of Big Five Agreeableness represented blends of HEXACO Agreeableness, Emotionality, and Honesty-Humility. The HEXACO approximations of Big Five Neuroticism represented blends of Emotionality with low Agreeableness and low Extraversion. The residual sixth dimension, unrelated to the Big Five, contrasted Honesty-Humility with HEXACO Agreeableness. We then examined, in additional samples, some correlates of the original and re-rotated HEXACO dimensions. In the original HEXACO factor space, Honesty-Humility was the strongest correlate of unethical behaviors (selfishness and cheating), participant age, and "assumed similarity" to a friend or partner. Upon re-rotation of the HEXACO factors, associations involving these variables were divided between Big Five Agreeableness and the residual sixth dimension. Sex differences were mainly associated with Emotionality but after re-rotation of the HEXACO factors were divided between Big Five Agreeableness and Neuroticism. We discuss the relative merits of the original and Big Five-targeted HEXACO dimensions with reference to the practical utility of Big Five Agreeableness and Neuroticism and the simplicity and theoretical interpretability of the original HEXACO factors.

Academic Majors and HEXACO Personality

Self-reports on the HEXACO-PI-R scales were examined in relation to academic majors in post-secondary education ( N > 73,000). Openness to Experience showed the largest mean differences across academic major areas, with the Visual/Performing Arts and Humanities areas averaging higher and Health Sciences and Business/Commerce averaging lower. Emotionality showed the second largest differences, with the Engineering and Physical Sciences/Math areas averaging lower and Visual/Performing Arts averaging higher; these differences in Emotionality became smaller in within-sex analyses. In addition, Extraversion tended to be higher for Business/Commerce and lower for Physical Sciences/Math, while Honesty-Humility was lower for Business/Commerce. The facet-level analyses provided additional detail, as facet scales in the same domain sometimes showed considerably different means within a given academic major area. In one case, Visual/Performing Art majors averaged lower in Prudence, but higher in Perfectionism, even though both facets belong to the Conscientiousness domain.

On the relations between HEXACO agreeableness (versus anger) and honesty-humility

The HEXACO personality factors of Agreeableness-versus-Anger (A) and Honesty-Humility (H) are interpreted as two complementary aspects of reciprocal altruistic tendency. Here we consider several ways of representing the positive associations between the defining traits of A and of H, through common factor analysis of self-report HEXACO Personality Inventory-Revised (HEXACO-PI-R) facet scale scores (N ≈ 111,000). We describe orthogonal solutions that differ in the extent to which H facets show secondary loadings on A (and vice versa), as well as an oblique solution compatible with a higher-order "cooperativeness" factor. We discuss the psychological plausibility of these solutions, and we review research showing differential associations of several phenomena or outcomes with A and H. We conclude that the optimal representation of A/H trait associations is not yet known but that the value of separate A and H factor scales is well established.

Sex, Power, and Money: Prediction from the Dark Triad and Honesty–Humility

Data were collected from two undergraduate student samples to examine (i) the relations of the ‘Dark Triad’ variables (Machiavellianism, Psychopathy, and Narcissism) with the HEXACO personality dimensions, as well as (ii) the ability of the aforementioned characteristics and of the Big Five personality factors to predict outcome variables related to sex, power, and money. Results indicated that the common variance of the Dark Triad was very highly correlated with low Honesty–Humility and that the unique variance of each of the Dark Triad variables also showed theoretically meaningful relations with the other five HEXACO factors. Furthermore, the Dark Triad and Honesty–Humility were strong predictors of three domains of outcome variables—Sex (short–term mating tendencies and sexual quid pro quos), Power (Social Dominance Orientation and desire for power), and Money (conspicuous consumption and materialism)—that were not well predicted by the dimensions of the Big Five. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The structure of the French personality lexicon

The structure of the French personality lexicon was investigated. Self‐ratings on the 388 most frequently used French personality‐descriptive adjectives were obtained from 415 French‐speaking people. The scree plot of eigenvalues indicated six large factors. In the varimax‐rotated six‐factor solution, the four largest factors, in order of size, corresponded fairly closely to the Big Five dimensions of Agreeableness, Emotional Stability, Extraversion, and Conscientiousness. The fifth factor was similar to the Honesty dimension found in several other languages. The sixth factor was defined by Imagination‐related terms, but not by Intellect‐related terms. Solutions involving one to five factors were also investigated and correlations between the factors that emerged from these different solutions are presented. The results are discussed in relation to other lexical studies of personality structure. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Taxonomy and structure of the Polish personality lexicon

We identified 1839 person‐descriptive adjectives from a Polish dictionary, and 10 judges classified those adjectives into five descriptive categories. Two hundred ninety adjectives (16 per cent) were classified by most judges as ‘Dispositions’ (i.e. relatively stable personality traits and abilities). We examined the structure of those 290 adjectives in self‐ratings from 350 respondents. In the five‐factor solution, two dimensions closely resembled Big Five Conscientiousness and Agreeableness, and two others represented rotated variants of Extraversion and Emotional Stability. The fifth factor was dominated by Intellect, containing little Imagination and no Unconventionality content. A six‐factor solution closely resembled the cross‐language HEXACO structure (but with ‘Intellect’ rather than ‘Openness to Experience’). Analyses of 369 peer ratings revealed five‐ and six‐factor solutions nearly identical to those of self‐ratings. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Six independent factors of personality variation: a response to Saucier

We address the concerns raised by Saucier about our proposed six‐factor structure of personality. First, we dispute Saucier's new interpretation of the Negative Valence factor as a meaningful dimension of personality variation. We explain that Negative Valence terms may distort the structure of personality‐descriptive terms, and that the substantive variance of Honesty is weakly correlated with Negative Valence. Also, we point out that our proposed six factors are (like the Big Five) roughly orthogonal, and that the occurrence of rotational variants within this six‐dimensional space is not problematic. We argue that in terms of comprehensiveness, parsimony, independence of factors, and replicability across languages, our proposed six‐factor model so far seems to be the optimal structure of personality characteristics. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Trait and source factors in HEXACO‐PI‐R self‐ and observer reports

We examined the joint factor structure of self‐reports and observer reports on the facet scales of the HEXACO Personality Inventory—Revised in a sample of 563 pairs of well‐acquainted persons. In separate analyses based on a targeted orthogonal rotation and on a CFA model, we identified six trait factors (representing the HEXACO dimensions) plus two source factors (representing the favourability bias of self‐reports and observer reports, respectively). All six trait factors were recovered with substantial loadings for the appropriate facet scales. The content of the self‐report and observer report source factors suggested that the former mainly involved ‘egoistic’ or ‘agentic’ biases and the latter mainly involved ‘moralistic’ or ‘communal’ biases. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

German lexical personality factors: relations with the HEXACO model

We correlated the scales of the HEXACO Personality Inventory (HEXACO‐PI) with adjective scale markers of factors previously obtained in indigenous lexical studies of personality structure in the German language. Self‐ratings obtained from a sample of 323 German participants showed a pattern of strong convergent and weak discriminant correlations, supporting the content‐based interpretation of the German lexical factors in terms of the HEXACO dimensions. Notably, convergent correlations were strong for both the broader and the narrower variants of the Honesty‐Humility factor as observed in German lexical studies. Also, convergent correlations for HEXACO Openness to Experience were, as expected, stronger for German adjectives describing a creative and intellectual orientation than for German adjectives describing intellectual ability. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A defence of the lexical approach to the study of personality structure

In recent years there have been many investigations of personality structure, and much of this research has been based on the lexical strategy for finding the major personality dimensions. However, this approach has frequently been criticized on several grounds, including concerns regarding the use of adjectives as personality variables, the use of lay observers of personality, the limited explanatory power of lexically derived personality dimensions, and the lack of any similar strategies used in other sciences. In this paper, these criticisms are addressed in detail and judged to be invalid. It is argued that the study of personality structure via the lexical approach is an important area of research. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Comment on Anderson and Ones (in press)

The "erratum and addendum" by Anderson and Ones (this issue) does not state unambiguously that participants' HPI scale scores were incorrectly matched with their scores on the other inventories' scales, nor does it mention the existence of other errors in the scoring of the OPQ and BPI scales. We demonstrate these errors, and we recommend the retraction of the articles by Anderson and Ones (2003) and Ones and Anderson (2002).

Self‐reports and stereotypes: a comment on McCrae et al

The results and conclusions of McCrae, Terracciano, Realo, and Allik (this issue) are discussed, with particular attention to the question of the accuracy of mean self‐reports and stereotypes as indicators of national or regional differences in personality. It is suggested that more evidence will be needed to evaluate the accuracy of these indicators, and that mean self‐reports cannot yet be taken as the standard against which the accuracy of stereotypes can be judged. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Between‐ and within‐person structures of personality: response to Cervone (2005)

Our response to Cervone (2005) can be summarized as follows. The factor structure of intraindividual fluctuations in personality‐related variables does not bear on the evaluation of a model of (interindividual) personality structure. Even if such a model is associated with claims regarding the causal origins of its dimensions, this does not imply that the sources of between‐person differences would be expected to be the same as the sources of within‐person fluctuations. Moreover, observed differences between intraindividual and interindividual structures do not undermine the applicability of the latter to the description of individuals' personalities. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A theoretical basis for the major dimensions of personality

We argue that lexical studies of personality structure suggest the existence of six major dimensions of personality: (I) Surgency, (II) Agreeableness, (III) Conscientiousness, (IV) Emotional Stability, (V) Intellect/Imagination, and (VI) Honesty. We then propose a two‐part theoretical basis for these dimensions. First, Honesty and rotated variants of Agreeableness and Emotional Stability are interpreted in terms of three traits—fairness/non‐exploitation, forgiveness/non‐retaliation, and empathy/attachment—that underlie prosocial versus antisocial tendencies. Second, the Surgency, Conscientiousness, and Intellect/Imagination factors are interpreted as traits that involve active engagement within three domains of endeavour—social, task‐related, and idea‐related endeavour. Predictions that follow from these interpretations are tested and found to be supported. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Nonverbal assessment of the Big Five personality factors

The Nonverbal Personality Questionnaire (NPQ) is an experimental, structured, nonverbal measure of 16 personality traits. Its items lack verbal content and, therefore, the inventory is useful for cross‐cultural research. Our goal is this research was to select a subset of the NPQ items to form a new nonverbal questionnaire based on the Five‐Factor Model of personality. We describe the construction of the Five‐Factor Nonverbal Personality Questionnaire (FF‐NPQ), and present data on its psychometric properties. These data include scale internal consistencies, intercorrelations, convergences with verbal measures of the Big Five factors, discriminant validity correlations, correlations with peer ratings, and ability to predict socially important behaviour criteria such as smoking and alcohol consumption. In a second study, we report on the psychometric properties of the FF‐NPQ in an independent sample of respondents from seven different countries. The utility of the new nonverbal inventory for cross‐cultural research is discussed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A review of personality/religiousness associations

We review research on personality/religiousness associations, integrating earlier meta-analyses with recent large-sample online studies. We find that general religiousness shows small positive associations with broad personality factors (e.g. HEXACO Honesty-Humility, Big Five Agreeableness, Conscientiousness) and somewhat stronger positive associations with narrower personality traits involving prosocial tendencies (e.g. altruism, fairness, forgivingness). The link between religiousness and prosociality appears not to be an artifact of self-report method variance. Religious fundamentalism and spirituality show negative and positive associations, respectively, with the Openness factor of personality. Religiousness/personality associations tend to be weak in relatively non-religious countries but moderately strong in highly religious countries. The direction of causal influence between personality and religiousness is not yet clear. Religiousness shows modest negative associations with IQ and appears to be somewhat negatively related to scientific thinking.

Objections to the HEXACO Model of Personality Structure—and why those Objections Fail

The six–dimensional HEXACO model of personality structure and its associated inventory have increasingly been used in personality research. But in spite of the evidence supporting this structure and demonstrating its advantages over five–dimensional models, some researchers continue to use and promote the latter. Although there has been little overt, organized argument against the adoption of the HEXACO model, we do hear sporadic offerings of reasons for retaining the five–dimensional systems, usually in informal conversations, in manuscript reviews, on social media platforms, and occasionally in published works. In this target article, we list all of the objections to the HEXACO model that we have heard of, and we then explain why each objection fails. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology

Recovering the HEXACO Personality Factors – and Psychoticism – From Variable Sets Assessing Normal and Abnormal Personality

Abstract. We examined the joint factor structure of the 30 facets of the NEO Personality Inventory – Revised (NEO-PI-R; or the NEO-PI-3) with either (a) the 25 facets of the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5) or (b) the 15 facets of the Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality (SNAP) plus several dissociation scales, using self-reports from participant samples of previous research. The NEO-PI-R[3]/PID-5 variable set produced seven factors that represented the HEXACO factor space plus a “psychoticism” dimension. The NEO-PI-R/SNAP/dissociation variable set produced a similar set of seven factors. The results indicate that even some questionnaire variable sets not constructed to measure the HEXACO factors can recover those personality dimensions. Researchers interested in integrating the domains of normal and abnormal personality are advised to adopt a model consisting of six HEXACO-like dimensions plus a dimension of psychotic tendency.

Personality and Sexual Orientation: Extension to Asexuality and the HEXACO Model

Previous research has examined self-identified sexual orientation in relation to self-reports on the Big Five personality factors. Here we extend this research by including asexuality as a fourth sexual orientation and by assessing the HEXACO personality factors, using self-report data from a large anonymous online sample (N ≈ 100,000). A large overlap was observed among all sexual orientation groups on all six HEXACO dimensions, but notable group differences also emerged. All nonheterosexual groups, particularly bisexual people, averaged higher in openness to experience than did heterosexuals. Heterosexual men averaged much lower in emotionality than heterosexual women, but only a small difference was observed between gay men and lesbians on this dimension. Asexual men and women averaged lower in extraversion and in some facets of emotionality (specifically, dependence and sentimentality) than did the other sexual orientation groups of the same sex. Results are discussed in relation to the different social realities that each sexual orientation group often experiences, along with the (gender-related) developmental influences hypothesized to underlie in part the origins of sexual orientation.

Honest People Tend to Use Less-Not More-Profanity: Comment on Feldman et al.'s (2017) Study 1

This article shows that the conclusion of Feldman et al.'s (2017) Study 1 that profane individuals tend to be honest is most likely incorrect. We argue that Feldman et al.'s conclusion is based on a commonly held but erroneous assumption that higher scores on Impression Management Scales, such as the Lie Scale, are associated with trait dishonesty. Based on evidence from studies that have investigated (1) self-other agreement on Impression Management Scales, (2) the relation of Impression Management Scales with personality variables, and (3) the relation of Impression Management Scales with objective measures of cheating, we show that high scores on Impression Management Scales are associated with high-instead of low-trait honesty when measured in low-stakes conditions. Furthermore, using two data sets that included an "I never swear" item, we show that profanity use is negatively related to other reports of HEXACO honesty-humility and positively related to actual cheating.

Personality, Religion, and Politics: An Investigation in 33 Countries

The relations of HEXACO personality factors and religiosity with political orientation were examined in responses collected online from participants in 33 countries ( N = 141 492). Endorsement of a right–wing political orientation was negatively associated with Honesty–Humility and Openness to Experience and positively associated with religiosity. The strength of these associations varied widely across countries, such that the religiosity–politics correlations were stronger in more religious countries, whereas the personality–politics correlations were stronger in more developed countries. We also investigated the utility of the narrower traits (i.e. facets) that define the HEXACO factors. The Altruism facet (interstitially located between the Honesty–Humility, Agreeableness, and Emotionality axes) was negatively associated with right–wing political orientation, but religiosity was found to suppress this relationship, especially in religious countries. In addition to Altruism, the Greed Avoidance and Modesty facets of the Honesty–Humility factor and the Unconventionality and Aesthetic Appreciation facets of the Openness to Experience factor were also negatively associated with right–wing political orientation. We discuss the utility of examining facet–level personality traits, along with religiosity, in research on the individual difference correlates of political orientation. Copyright © 2018 European Association of Personality Psychology

The Structured Assessment of Personality across Cultures

The purpose of this article is to review several popular, structured, personality questionnaires in terms of their applicability in cross-cultural assessment contexts. Prior to our review, we describe the types of psychometric data that can be used to support claims of a measure's cross-cultural applicability. More important, we list several factors, not all of which have to do with the measure itself, that can undermine such cross-cultural evidence. We then review relevant cross-cultural data on the California Psychological Inventory, the Comrey Personality Scales, the 16 Personality Factors Questionnaire, the Pavlovian Temperament Survey, the Personality Research Form, and the Nonverbal Personality Questionnaire. We show that those inventories have each demonstrated mostly replicable factor structures across cultures. In contrast, relatively little data are available regarding the cross-cultural generality of their criterion validities.

Psychometric Properties of the HEXACO-100

Psychometric properties of the 100-item English-language HEXACO Personality Inventory–Revised (HEXACO-PI-R) were examined using samples of online respondents ( N = 100,318 self-reports) and of undergraduate students ( N = 2,868 self- and observer reports). The results were as follows: First, the hierarchical structure of the HEXACO-100 was clearly supported in two principal components analyses: each of the six factors was defined by its constituent facets and each of the 25 facets was defined by its constituent items. Second, the HEXACO-100 factor scales showed fairly low intercorrelations, with only one pair of scales (Honesty–Humility and Agreeableness) having an absolute correlation above .20 in self-report data. Third, the factor and facet scales showed strong self/observer convergent correlations, which far exceeded the self/observer discriminant correlations.

Stereotype Accuracy: Estimating the Academic Performance of Ethnic Groups

The authors investigated the accuracy of stereotypes of the academic performance of ethnic groups. Ninety-four participants estimated the mean academic performance of Toronto highschool students from nine ethnic groups and completed measures of right-wing authoritarianism, intelligence, and attitudes toward the groups. The estimated academic performance means were compared with the true means as derived from data published by the Toronto Board of Education. These comparisons revealed that, on average, participants were fairly accurate in their perceptions of both the relative standings of groups and the magnitude of between-group variability. Underestimation of between-group variability was associated with lower authoritarianism, whereas overestimation of between-group variability was associated with lower intelligence. Attitudes toward a group were significantly correlated with estimates of the group’s mean academic performance, but only for the three groups whose mean academic performance levels were significantly over-or underestimated by participants overall.

Connectedness to Nature and to Humanity: their association and personality correlates

People differ in the extent to which they identify with humans beyond their ingroup and with non-human living things. We refer to the former as the Connectedness to Humanity (CH) and to the latter as the Connectedness to Nature (CN). In a sample of 324 undergraduate students, CH and CN were operationalized using the Identification with All Humanity Scale (McFarland et al., 2012) and the CN Scale (Mayer and Frantz, 2004), respectively. These variables correlated moderately with each other (r = 0.44) and shared Openness to Experience and Honesty–Humility as their primary personality correlates. CN was found to play an important role in mediating the relationships between the two personality variables and some specific pro-environmental/pro-animal attitudes and ecological behaviors.

One- Through Six-Component Solutions from Ratings on Familiar English Personality-Descriptive Adjectives

We report solutions for one through six components for self-ratings (N = 559) on 449 familiar English personality-descriptive adjectives (see Lee & Ashton, 2008 ). The first unrotated component mainly contrasted desirable with undesirable characteristics. The varimax-rotated two-component solution contained dimensions closely resembling the Social Self-Regulation and Dynamism constructs of Saucier et al. (2014) . The three-component solution contained dimensions closely resembling the Affiliation, Dynamism, and Order constructs of De Raad et al. (2014) . In the four-component solution, an Emotional Stability dimension emerged, absorbing some variance from dimensions of the three-component solution. The five-component solution added an Intellect/Imagination/Unconventionality (Openness) component, and thus resembled the classic Big Five structure (e.g., Goldberg, 1990 ). In the six-component solution, the variance of the Big Five Agreeableness and Emotional Stability components was reorganized, producing components corresponding to HEXACO Agreeableness and to rotated variants of HEXACO Emotionality and Honesty-Humility. Solutions based on peer ratings (N = 303) were generally similar to those based on self-ratings, but showed a much larger first unrotated component.

Hogan's framework for the study of behavior as applied to personality psychology

Hogan's framework for the study of behavior can be used as a guide to the study of personality, considered here as interindividual differences in typical behavioral tendency. For any given dimension of personality variation, one can examine its development, its causal biological bases, its genetic and environmental origins, and its function and evolutionary history. These topics are discussed after a brief introduction to personality assessment and structure, and are followed by a brief review of personality research on non-human animals. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: In Honor of Jerry Hogan.

The HEXACO Honesty-Humility, Agreeableness, and Emotionality factors: a review of research and theory

We review research and theory on the HEXACO personality dimensions of Honesty-Humility (H), Agreeableness (A), and Emotionality (E), with particular attention to the following topics: (1) the origins of the HEXACO model in lexical studies of personality structure, and the content of the H, A, and E factors in those studies; (2) the operationalization of the H, A, and E factors in the HEXACO Personality Inventory-Revised; (3) the construct validity of self-reports on scales measuring the H factor; (4) the theoretical distinction between H and A; (5) similarity and assumed similarity between social partners in personality, with a focus on H and A; (6) the extent to which H (and A and E) variance is represented in instruments assessing the "Five-Factor Model" of personality; and (7) the relative validity of scales assessing the HEXACO and Five-Factor Model dimensions in predicting criteria conceptually relevant to H, A, and E.

Major Changes

In a sample of 346 college students, we compared students of different academic major areas in their personality characteristics, mental abilities, and vocational interests, and we examined the congruence between vocational interests and academic major as a predictor of academic outcomes (grade point average, satisfaction, and change of major). Results were mainly consistent with predicted differences between the four academic major groups (arts/humanities, business, science, and helping/child related), and several of the observed differences were moderately large. However, congruence between interests and major was unrelated to academic outcomes.

The maladaptive personality traits of the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5) in relation to the HEXACO personality factors and schizotypy/dissociation

The Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5), a new measure of maladaptive personality traits, has recently been developed by the DSM-5 Personality and Personality Disorders Workgroup. The PID-5 variables were examined within the seven-factor space defined by the six HEXACO factors and the Schizotypy/Dissociation factor (Ashton & Lee, 2012) using participant samples from Canada (N = 378) and the Netherlands (N = 476). Extension analyses showed that several PID-5 facet-level scales represented each of the Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and Schizotypy/Dissociation factors. In contrast, only one PID-5 scale loaded strongly on HEXACO Agreeableness, and no PID-5 scales loaded strongly on Openness to Experience. In addition, a joint factor analysis involving the PID-5 variables and facets of the Five-Factor Model was conducted in the Canadian sample and recovered a set of seven factors corresponding rather closely to the HEXACO factors plus Schizotypy/Dissociation. The authors discuss implications for the assessment and structure of normal and abnormal personality.