Morality
A facet of agreeableness. Four items in the IPIP-NEO-120.
The second facet of agreeableness is straightforwardness and not using people: dealing honestly, not cheating to get ahead, and not treating other people as a means to an end. The authors call it morality. All four items are keyed in reverse, so a high score means denying the four kinds of exploitation they describe.
What it does not mean
A low score is not a verdict on a person's character, and a high score is not proof of virtue. The items ask whether a person admits to using, cheating and obstructing others; people differ in how frankly they answer, and a candid answer can score lower than a flattering one.
This facet is not the whole of honesty. Keeping promises and telling the truth are measured by dutifulness, a facet of conscientiousness.
Four items make a short scale. A facet score moves more between attempts than the 24-item domain score, and it describes a tendency in ordinary life as the person reports it, not a diagnosis of anything.
High and low in daily life
High. People high on this facet say they do not use others for their own ends, do not cheat to get ahead and do not take advantage of people. In daily life that shows as straight dealing in negotiation, declining an edge that would cost someone else, and discomfort with flattery and manoeuvring even when they work.
Low. People low on this facet admit, more than most, to using others, cutting corners and getting in people's way when it suits them. In daily life that shows as a strategic view of other people, comfort with hard bargaining, and a belief that everyone is playing the same game. Many low scorers are candid about it, which is its own kind of honesty.
Parent domain
- Agreeableness: the broad trait this facet belongs to, with five sibling facets.
What the research says it predicts
Of the Big Five facets, straightforwardness and modesty are the two that most closely track the honesty-humility factor of the six-factor HEXACO model. (Ashton and Lee, 2005)
Straightforwardness, cooperation and modesty form the politeness aspect of agreeableness, as distinct from the compassion aspect made of sympathy and altruism. (DeYoung, Quilty and Peterson, 2007)
Where people fall
The spread of scores
Curve height shows how common each score is; the darker middle holds half of all people. If you have taken a test on this device, your marker is drawn on.
IPIP-NEO-120, morality, 4 items
410,376 people
The other facets of agreeableness
Sources and licence
Ashton, M. C., & Lee, K. (2005). Honesty-humility, the Big Five, and the Five-Factor Model. Journal of Personality, 73(5), 1321-1354. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.2005.00351.x
DeYoung, C. G., Quilty, L. C., & Peterson, J. B. (2007). Between facets and domains: 10 aspects of the Big Five. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93(5), 880-896. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.93.5.880
Instrument: IPIP-NEO-120. Johnson, J. A. (2014). Measuring thirty facets of the Five Factor Model with a 120-item public domain inventory: Development of the IPIP-NEO-120. Journal of Research in Personality, 51, 78-89. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2014.05.003 Key: https://ipip.ori.org/30FacetNEO-PI-RItems.htm.
Norms: Johnson, J. A. IPIP-NEO-120 public dataset (IPIP120.dat), OSF component wxvth of osf.io/tbmh5, https://osf.io/wxvth/.
Licence: Public domain (IPIP). Permission is granted automatically for any person to use IPIP items for any purpose, commercial or non-commercial. https://ipip.ori.org/newPermission.htm
Instrument: IPIP Big-Five Factor Markers. Goldberg, L. R. (1992). The development of markers for the Big-Five factor structure. Psychological Assessment, 4(1), 26-42. doi:10.1037/1040-3590.4.1.26 Key: https://ipip.ori.org/newBigFive5broadKey.htm.
Norms: Open-Source Psychometrics Project, IPIP Big-Five Factor Markers responses (IPIP-FFM-data-8Nov2018.zip), 1,015,342 responses collected 2016 to 2018, https://openpsychometrics.org/_rawdata/.
Licence: Public domain (IPIP). Permission is granted automatically for any person to use IPIP items for any purpose, commercial or non-commercial. https://ipip.ori.org/newPermission.htm