Individual Differences in Selfishness as a Major Dimension of Personality: A Reinterpretation of the Sixth Personality Factor

Abstract

Research on the structure of personality has identified a sixth major trait that emerges in addition to the Big Five. This factor has been characterized in a number of ways—as integrity, morality, trustworthiness, honesty, values, and, most commonly, honesty-humility. Although each of these labels captures some of the attributes associated with the trait, none of them fully represents the range of associated characteristics. In this article, we provide a reinterpretation of the sixth factor as reflecting individual differences in selfishness and review research that supports this interpretation. Interpreting the sixth trait as dispositional selfishness parsimoniously represents the array of variables that are associated with the sixth factor and reflects the behaviors of people who score low versus high on the trait. This reinterpretation provides greater coherence to six-factor models of personality and suggests new directions for research on the sixth factor and on dispositional selfishness more generally.

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

“…(Come to think of it, we've also given more attention to the low pole than to the high pole—see our ‘field guide to low‐H people’ in Lee & Ashton, ). And consistent with this view, Diebels, Leary, and Chon () recently suggested—on the basis of their detailed review of research on the correlates of Honesty‐Humility—that this dimension should be labelled, in reference to its low pole, as ‘Selfishness’. We don't have any strong disagreement with that suggestion, although for the sake of consistency, it should also come with a focus on the low pole of the other cooperation‐related dimension—HEXACO Agreeableness—which might be called ‘Anger’.…”

Open Peer Commentary and Author's Response

“…Note that this is not an objection to the HEXACO model: antisocial characteristics can be just as important as prosocial ones. However, I suspect that it's a common misconception about the Honesty-Humility domain, and I agree with the suggestion that adopting an alternative label, such as Selfishness (Diebels, Leary, & Chon, 2018) or Haughtiness-Hypocrisy (to preserve the HEXACO acronym), would more clearly communicate this domain's emphasis on deceitful, arrogant, and greedy behaviors rather than honest, humble, and generous ones (Soto, 2019b).…”

“…The real test of the meaning is empirical and is revealed in the conceptual net of correlates and behavioral predictions (see Diebels et al, 2018, for a recent and fuller account). In dictator games, Honesty/Humility predicts sharing more money with others, even when there are no consequences for sharing or hoarding.…”

“…A second possible solution is to get more clarity on the range of correlates, particularly on whether Honesty/Humility predicts truthfulness, lying, and humility. A third possible solution is change the label of the trait to something such as "Selfishness" (Diebels et al, 2018). To me, the correlates and items suggest "Benevolence and Simplicity" as most apt.…”

“…Regarding the name of the Honesty-Humility factor, Soto suggested that we should name it for the low end of the dimension, using a label such as Selfishness (see Diebels et al, 2018). We don't have any objection to this suggestion, but as discussed above, the Honesty-Humility dimension is unambiguously bipolar, tapping a wide range of variation and showing a normal distribution when assessed with the HEXACO-PI-R Honesty-Humility scale.…”