Two studies tested the hypothesis that humility is characterized by the belief that, no matter how extraordinary one’s accomplishments or characteristics may be, one is not entitled to be treated special because of them (hypo-egoic nonentitlement). Participants identified either one (Study 1) or five (Study 2) positive accomplishments or characteristics, rated those accomplishments/characteristics, indicated how they believed they should be treated because of them, and completed measures of humility and related constructs. As predicted, humility was inversely associated with the belief that other people should treat one special because of one’s accomplishments and positive characteristics. However, humility was not related to participants’ ratings of the positivity of their accomplishments or characteristics or of themselves. Ancillary analyses examined the relationships between hypo-egoic nonentitlement, humility, and measures of self-esteem, narcissism, self- and other-interest, psychological entitlement, individualism-collectivism, and identification with humanity.
AlickeM. D.SedikidesC. (2009). Self-enhancement and self-protection: What they are and what they do. European Review of Social Psychology, 20, 1-48.
2.
BrownK. W.LearyM. R. (Eds.) (2016). Oxford handbook of hypo-egoic phenomena. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
3.
CampbellW. K.BonacciA. M.SheltonJ.ExlineJ. J.BushmanB. J. (2004). Psychological entitlement: Interpersonal consequences and validation of a self-report measure. Journal of Personality Assessment, 83, 29-45.
4.
ChancellorJ.LyubomirskyS. (2013). Humble beginnings: Current trends, state perspectives, and hallmarks of humility. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 7, 819-833.
5.
ChurchI. M.BarrettJ. L. (2017). Intellectual humility. In WorthingtonE. L.DavisJr., D. E.HookJ. N. (Eds.), Handbook of humility: Theory, research, and applications (pp. 62-75). New York, NY: Routledge.
6.
DavisD. E.HookJ. N.McAnnally-LinzR.ChoeE.PlaceresV. (2017). Humility, religion, and spirituality: A review of the literature. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 9, 242-253.
7.
DavisD. E.McElroyS. E.RiceK. G.ChoeE.WestbrookC.HookJ. N.. . . WorthingtonE. L.Jr. (2016). Is modesty a subdomain of humility?Journal of Positive Psychology, 11, 439-446.
8.
DavisD. E.WorthingtonE. L.Jr.HookJ. N. (2010). Review of measurement strategies and conceptualization as personality judgment. Journal of Positive Psychology, 5, 243-252.
9.
DunningD.HeathC.SulsJ. M. (2004). Flawed self-assessment: Implications for health, education, and the workplace. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 5, 69-106.
10.
DwiwardaniC.HillP. C.BollingerR. A.MarksL. E.SteeleJ. R.DoolinH. N.. . . DavisD. E. (2014). Virtues develop from a secure base: Attachment and resilience as predictors of humility, gratitude and forgiveness. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 42, 83-90.
11.
ExlineJ. J.HillP. C. (2012). Humility: A consistent and robust predictor of generosity. Journal of Positive Psychology, 7, 208-218.
12.
FarrellJ. E.HookJ. N.RamosM.DavisD. E.TongerenD. R.RuizJ. M. (2015). Humility and relationship outcomes in couples: The mediating role of commitment. Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice, 4, 14-26.
13.
FlemingJ. S.CourtneyB. E. (1984). The dimensionality of self-esteem: II. Hierarchical facet model for revised measurement scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 404-421.
14.
GerbasiM. E.PrenticeD. A. (2013). The self- and other-interest inventory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 105, 495-514. doi:10.1037/a0033483
15.
HillP. C.LaneyE. K. (2016). Beyond self-interest: Humility and the quieted self. In LearyM. R.BrownK. W. (Eds.), Oxford handbook of hypo-egoic phenomena (pp. 243-269). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
16.
HillP. C.LaneyE. K.EdwardsK. J.WangD. C.OrmeW. H.ChanA. C.WangF. L. (2017). A few good measures: Colonel Jessup and humility. In WorthingtonE. L.DavisJr., D. E.HookJ. N. (Eds.), Handbook of humility: Theory, research, and applications (pp. 119-133). New York, NY: Routledge.
17.
JohnO. P.SrivastavaS. (1999). The Big-Five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives. In PervinL. A.JohnO. P. (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (Vol. 2, pp. 102-138). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
18.
KleinD. C. (1992). Managing humiliation. Journal of Primary Prevention, 12, 255-268. doi:10.1007/BF02015513
19.
KnightP. A.NadelJ. I. (1986). Humility revisited: Self-esteem, information search, and policy consistency. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 38, 196-206. doi:10.1016/0749-5978(86)90016-6
20.
KruseE.ChancellorJ.LyubomirskyS. (2017). State humility: Measurement, conceptual validation, and intrapersonal processes. Self and Identity, 16, 399-438.
21.
KruseE.ChancellorJ.RubertonP. M.LyubomirskyS. (2014). An upward spiral between gratitude and humility. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 5, 805-814.
22.
LaBouffJ. P.RowattW. C.JohnsonM. K.TsangJ.WillertonG. M. (2012). Humble persons are more helpful than less humble persons: Evidence from three studies. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 7, 16-29.
23.
LangstonC. A.CantorN. (1989). Social anxiety and social constraint: When making friends is hard. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 649-661.
24.
LearyM. R.BankerC. C. (2019). A critical examination and reconceptualization of humility. In WrightJ. (Ed.), Humility. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
25.
LearyM. R.DiebelsK. J.Jongman-SerenoK. P.HawkinsA. (2016). Perspectives on hypo-egoic phenomena from social and personality psychology. In BrownK. W.LearyM. R. (Eds.), Oxford handbook of hypo-egoic phenomena (pp. 47-61). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
26.
LeeK.AshtonM. C. (2004). Psychometric properties of the HEXACO personality inventory. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 39, 329-358.
27.
LeeK.AshtonM. C. (2018). Psychometric properties of the HEXACO-100. Assessment, 25, 543-556.
28.
McElroy-HeltzelS. E.DavisD. E.DeBlaereC.WorthingtonE. L.Jr.HookJ. N. (2018). Embarrassment of riches in the measurement of humility: A critical review of 22 measures. Journal of Positive Psychology, 14, 393-404. doi:10.1080/17439760.2018.1460686
29.
McFarlandSBrownD.WebbM. (2013). Identification with all humanity as a moral concept and psychological construct. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 22, 192-196.
30.
McFarlandS.WebbM.BrownD. (2012). All humanity is my ingroup: A measure and studies of identification with all humanity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 103, 830-853.
31.
NadelhofferT.WrightJ. C. (2017). The twin dimensions of the virtue of humility: Low self-focus and high other-focus. In Sinnott-ArmstrongW.MillerC. (Eds.), Moral psychology: Virtues and happiness (Vol. 5, pp. 309-371). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
32.
PetersA. S.RowattW. C.JohnsonM. K. (2011). Associations between dispositional humility and social relationship quality. Psychology, 2, 155-161.
33.
RaskinR. N.HallC. S. (1979). A narcissistic personality inventory. Psychological Reports, 45, 590.
34.
ReynoldsW. M. (1982). Development of reliable and valid short forms of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 38, 119-125.
35.
RichardsN. (1988). Is humility a virtue?American Philosophical Quarterly, 25, 253-259.
36.
RosenbergM. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
37.
SchraderS. W.TangneyJ. P. (2017). Assessing humility is a humbling experience: Commentary on Nadelhoffer and Wright. In Sinnott-ArmstrongW.MillerC. B. (Eds.), Moral psychology: Virtue and character (pp. 343-350). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
38.
SezerO.GinoF.NortonM. I. (2018). Humblebragging: A distinct—and ineffective—self-presentation strategy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 114, 52-74.
39.
SnowN. (1995). Humility. Journal of Value Inquiry, 29, 203-216.
40.
StellarJ. E.GordonA.AndersonC. L.PiffP. K.McNeilG. D.KeltnerD. (2017). Awe and humility. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 114, 258-269.
41.
TangneyJ. P. (2000). Humility: Theoretical perspectives, empirical findings and directions for future research. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 19, 70-82.
42.
TangneyJ. P. (2002). Humility. In SnyderC. R.LopezS. J. (Eds.), Handbook of positive psychology (pp. 411-419). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
43.
TangneyJ. P. (2009). Humility. In LopezS. J.SnyderC. R. (Eds.), Oxford handbook of positive psychology (2nd ed., pp. 483-490). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
44.
TongE. M.TanK. W.ChorA. A.KohE. P.LeeJ. S.TanR. W. (2016). Humility facilitates higher self-control. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 62, 30-39.
45.
TriandisH. C. (2001). Individualism-collectivism and personality. Journal of Personality, 69, 907-924.
46.
TriandisH. C.GelfandM. J. (1998). Converging measurement of horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 118-128.
47.
Van TongerenD. R.DavisD. E.HookJ. N.RowattW.WorthingtonE. L.Jr. (2018). Religious differences in reporting and expressing humility. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 10, 174-184.
48.
WangF.EdwardsK. J.HillP. C. (2017). Humility as a relational virtue: Establishing trust, empowering repair, and building marital well-being. Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 36, 168-179.
49.
WeidmanA. C.ChengJ. T.TracyJ. L. (2018). The psychological structure of humility. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 114, 153-178.
50.
WeissH. M.KnightP. A. (1980). The utility of humility: Self-esteem, information search, and problem-solving efficiency. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 25, 216-223.
51.
WorthingtonE. L.Jr. (2008). Humility: The quiet virtue. Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 27, 270-273.
52.
WorthingtonE. L.Jr., DavisD. E.HookJ. N. (Eds.) (2017). Handbook of humility: Theory, research, and applications. New York, NY: Routledge.
53.
WrightJ. C.NadelhofferT.PeriniT.LangvilleA.EcholsM.VeneziaK. (2017). The psychological significance of humility. Journal of Positive Psychology, 12, 3-12.
54.
WrightJ. C.NadelhofferT.RossL. T.Sinnott-ArmstrongW. (2018). Be it ever so humble: Proposing a dual-dimension account and measurement of humility. Self and Identity, 17, 92-125.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
