The Big 6th Trait?

We’ve all heard of the Big 5; extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness to experience, and conscientiousness. But what about a potential 6th trait?

The “honesty-humility” dimension arises from the HEXACO personality inventory created from cross-cultural studies of personality involving European and Asian cultures. This dimension measures honesty, humility, sincerity, and loyalty as well as deceitfulness, slyness, and greediness; traits that can be used to describe a person’s moral compass.

According to researchers, this trait can predict dishonest behaviours. In particular, it can be used to measure an individual’s Machiavellianism. Some examples of this personality type include fictional characters like Petyr Baelish from ‘The Game of Thrones’ and Frank Underwood from ‘House of Cards’. These individuals have a tendency to be manipulative, cunning, and deceitful.

A further look online will show personality tests for Machiavellianism (MACH-IV). Around twenty statements are given with each to be rated from 1 to 5 (strongly disagree to strongly agree) and a final score out of 100.

One known critique of the honesty-humility dimension is that it borderlines onto the agreeableness factor. After taking the test, I can see why people would argue this. There seems to be quite a few similarities so perhaps a better distinction should be made to ensure that the two dimensions are distinct and not simply variants of each other.