The H Factor of Personality: Why Some People are Manipulative, Self-Entitled, Materialistic, and Exploitive—And Why It Matters for Everyone

People who have high levels of H are sincere and modest; people who have low levels are deceitful and pretentious. The “H” in the H factor stands for “Honesty-Humility,” one of the six basic dimensions of the human personality. 

 It isn’t intuitively obvious that traits of honesty and humility go hand in hand, and until very recently the H factor hadn’t been recognized as a basic dimension of personality. But scientific evidence shows that traits of honesty and humility form a unified group of personality traits, separate from those of the other five groups identified several decades ago.

This book, written by the discoverers of the H factor, explores the scientific findings that show the importance of this personality dimension in various aspects of people’s lives: their approaches to money, power, and sex; their inclination to commit crimes or obey the law; their attitudes about society, politics, and religion; and their choice of friends and spouse. Finally, the book provides ways of identifying people who are low in the H factor, as well as advice on how to raise one’s own level of H.

1

Prologue:  Meet the H Factor

Kibeom Lee, and Michael C. Ashton

A short introduction to the H factor of personality and its importance in everyday life, with an overview of the book itself.

2

The Missing Link of Personality Psychology

Kibeom Lee, and Michael C. Ashton

The story of the discovery of the H factor. We explain how psychologists have tried to find the basic dimensions of personality. After a brief history of the “Big Five” personality characteristics, we tell how we discovered the sixth personality dimension—the H factor, or Honesty-Humility.3

HEXACO:  The Six Dimensions of Personality

Kibeom Lee, and Michael C. Ashton

Descriptions of the six basic personality dimensions, known by the acronym “HEXACO”. For each dimension, we discuss the trade-offs between higher and lower levels of each dimension, both in modern life and in the prehistoric past of our ancestors.

4

A Field Guide to Low-H People

Kibeom Lee, and Michael C. Ashton

Character portraits of persons having low levels of the H factor. We explain how a person’s expression of low H depends on his or her levels of the other five personality dimensions. Here we explore the wide variety of these low-H personalities. 

5

Can You Tell Someone’s Level of H?

Kibeom Lee, and Michael C. Ashton

The accuracy of people’s judgments of each other’s personalities. We explain the research findings and we describe the conditions that make it harder or easier to tell someone’s level of the H factor. 

6

Do High-H People Flock Together?

Kibeom Lee, and Michael C. Ashton

Which characteristics are similar between friends and spouses, and which are not. We tell the story of how we found that friends and spouses are similar in the H factor—but not quite as similar as they think they are. 

7

Politics

Kibeom Lee, and Michael C. Ashton

How personality influences political attitudes. We focus on the role of low O (Openness to Experience) in social conservatism, as well as the role of low H in preference for social hierarchy.

8

Religion

Kibeom Lee, and Michael C. Ashton

How personality influences religious beliefs. We explain the personality differences between “traditionally religious” and “mystically spiritual” people. We then discuss how low-H people and high-H people differ in their approach to religious belief and practice.

9

Money, Power, and Sex

Kibeom Lee, and Michael C. Ashton

The unethical tactics used by low-H people in pursuit of money, power, and sex. We integrate findings from psychological research with observations from everyday life, and we highlight the social costs of low-H behavior.

10

How to Identify Low-H People—and How to Live Around Them

Kibeom Lee, and Michael C. Ashton

Some subtle signs that can help you tell low-H people from high-H people—and some “obvious” signs that don’t. We give advice about getting along in a world with so many low-H people.
11

Epilogue:  On Becoming a High-H Person

Kibeom Lee, and Michael C. Ashton

Reflections about increasing your level of H:  How to use your high-H values to overcome your low-H temptations.