Wrightsman Philosophy of Human Nature Scale

Abstract

The Wrightsman Philosophy of Human Nature Scale (Wrightsman, 1964) is a comprehensive, 84-item Likert-type instrument developed to measure an individual’s fundamental expectancies regarding human behavior and the underlying motive forces driving it. Initially comprising 120 items, the scale was designed to assess six distinct philosophies of human nature: trustworthiness, altruism, independence, will and rationality, human complexity, and human variability. Following two stages of rigorous item analysis, the final scale was structured into six subscales, each containing 14 items. These subscales demonstrate adequate internal consistency and strong long-term temporal stability.

The scale provides researchers with a robust tool for exploring how different expectations about intrinsic human qualities—such as unselfishness, independence, and complexity—influence psychological and social phenomena.

Keywords

Altruism, Complexity, Independence, Strength of Will and Rationality, Test Development, Test Reliability, Test Validity, Trustworthiness, Variability, Human Nature, Rationality, Test Construction, Trust (Social Behavior).

Authors

Wrightsman Jr., Lawrence S.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Wrightsman Philosophy of Human Nature Scale is to systematically assess a person’s fundamental expectancies concerning human behavior. It aims to quantify an individual’s beliefs about the basic goodness, rationality, reliability, and motive forces inherent in other people.

By measuring these deep-seated expectations, the scale facilitates research into how differing worldviews regarding human nature correlate with attitudes, social behavior, and political beliefs.

Construct

The central construct measured by the instrument is Expectancies of Human Behavior. This construct refers to an individual’s implicit theories, or philosophies, regarding the inherent character traits and motivational structures of the general human population.

The scale operationalizes this construct across six theoretically derived dimensions, which constitute the core philosophies of human nature:

• Trustworthiness: Beliefs regarding the honesty and reliability of others.
• Altruism (Unselfishness): Expectations regarding the degree to which others act for collective good rather than self-interest.
• Independence: Beliefs about the extent to which people can resist external pressure and maintain self-determination.
• Will and Rationality: Expectations regarding the ability of humans to control their actions and make rational decisions.
• Human Complexity: Beliefs about whether human behavior is simple and easily understood or complex and multifaceted.
• Human Variability: Expectations about the degree to which individuals change over time or across different situations.

Validity

Validity for the PHN Scale was demonstrated through correlations with established psychological measures. Significant correlations were observed between the PHN subscales and measures of self-concept dissatisfaction, political cynicism, and Machiavellianism.

Specifically, negative correlations between the PHN Scale and measures of cynicism and Machiavellianism indicated that individuals who hold a more negative or skeptical view of human nature also tend to exhibit higher levels of these socially cautious or manipulative traits. Conversely, positive correlations with measures like the Faith-in-People Scale confirmed that an optimistic outlook on human nature was associated with higher scores on the corresponding PHN subscales, supporting the instrument’s convergent validity.

Reliability

The Wrightsman Philosophy of Human Nature Scale demonstrates adequate reliability across both internal consistency and temporal stability metrics. For undergraduate samples (male and female), the split-half reliability coefficients were consistently above .60, with nine out of the twelve coefficients exceeding the .70 threshold, indicating strong internal consistency within the subscales.

Reliability coefficients for graduate student samples showed a wider range, from .40 to .78, a variation attributed by the author to the inherent homogeneity of attitudes often found within specialized graduate populations. Furthermore, Test-retest reliability coefficients for the subscales ranged robustly from .34 to .90, providing evidence of good stability of these fundamental expectancies over time.

Factor Analysis

The initial documentation of the Wrightsman Philosophy of Human Nature Scale does not report the use of formal factor analysis to confirm the six-factor structure. The scale structure was derived theoretically and refined through two extensive item analyses based on the scale developer’s established criteria for content validity and internal consistency.

Instrument

Test Type: Original

Format: The instrument is a rating scale where each statement is responded to on a 6-point scale of agreement and disagreement.

Language Available: English

Population Group: Human; Male; Female

Age Group: Adulthood (18 years & older)

Population Details: Sample: Undergraduate and Graduate Students

Test Methodology: Test Reliability; Internal Consistency; Split-Half Reliability; Test-Retest Reliability

Keywords

Expectancies of Human Behavior, Rating Scale, Trustworthiness, Will and Rationality, Psychological Reports, Attitude Measurement, Test Construction.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: N/A

Affiliation Email addresses: N/A

Correspondence Address: N/A

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Wrightsman Philosophy of Human Nature Scale was first published in 1964. The instrument is not classified as commercial, and there is no associated fee for its use in academic research. However, the test items are not generally available in the public domain. Researchers seeking to utilize the full 84 items of the scale must contact the author, Lawrence S. Wrightsman Jr., or the publisher of the original journal article for permission and access to the copyrighted materials.

Reference’s

Wrightsman, L. S., Jr. (1964). Measurement of philosophies of human nature. Psychological Reports, 14(3), 743–751. The original source article is available via DOI: https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1964.14.3.743

Items of the Wrightsman Philosophy of Human Nature Scale

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

The full 84 items of the Wrightsman Philosophy of Human Nature Scale are not publicly available in the source documentation. Researchers interested in utilizing the complete instrument are advised to contact the original author, Lawrence S. Wrightsman Jr., or the publisher of the original journal article for permission and access to the copyrighted scale items.