A Measure of the Six Major Dimensions of Personality

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Abstract

The HEXACO-PI-R 60-item short form is a widely used instrument in personality psychology designed to measure the six major dimensions of human personality structure. Developed by Kibeom Lee and Michael C. Ashton, this inventory provides a concise assessment tool for researchers and practitioners interested in the comprehensive HEXACO model. The scale is typically administered as an observer rating, requiring the respondent to rate a specific target person based on a series of descriptive statements.

This 60-item version efficiently captures the core variance across the six domains, making it suitable for studies where administration time is limited. The inclusion of the Honesty-Humility factor distinguishes the HEXACO framework from traditional five-factor models, offering enhanced predictive validity for ethical and prosocial behaviors.

Keywords

HEXACO-PI-R, Kibeom Lee, Michael C. Ashton, Honesty-Humility, Six-Factor Model, personality assessment, psychometric scale, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotionality, eXtraversion, Openness to Experience

Authors

Kibeom Lee, Ph.D., Michael C. Ashton, Ph.D.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the HEXACO Personality Inventory-Revised (60-item version) is to provide an efficient and reliable measure of the six fundamental dimensions of personality. This short form is often used in large-scale studies or contexts where the full 200-item inventory is impractical. It aims to quantify individual differences across the six domains identified through extensive cross-cultural lexical studies, thereby facilitating research into the biological, social, and occupational correlates of these traits.

The instrument is designed for flexibility, allowing for both self-report and observer ratings, though the provided materials specifically reference the observer rating format (“the person that you are rating now”). The results inform on the relative standing of individuals concerning key trait clusters, such as integrity (Honesty-Humility) and emotional resilience (Emotionality).

Construct

The instrument measures the six dimensions of the HEXACO model of personality structure. This model is based on the lexical hypothesis, which posits that the most socially important personality differences are encoded in language. The six dimensions assessed are:

  • Honesty-Humility (H): Measures sincerity, fairness, greed avoidance, and modesty. Low scores indicate manipulation, narcissism, and materialism.
  • Emotionality (E): Assesses fearfulness, anxiety, dependence, and sentimentality. This factor is distinct from Neuroticism in the Five-Factor Model (FFM) as it excludes anger-related facets.
  • eXtraversion (X): Reflects social boldness, sociability, liveliness, and positive self-regard.
  • Agreeableness (A) (versus Anger): Measures patience, gentleness, flexibility, and forgiveness. Unlike the FFM Agreeableness, the HEXACO version strongly emphasizes the absence of temper and hostility.
  • Conscientiousness (C): Involves organization, diligence, perfectionism, and prudence.
  • Openness to Experience (O): Relates to intellectual curiosity, creativity, appreciation of art, and unconventionality.

The scale employs a hierarchical structure, where the 60 items load onto the six main domains, which in turn are composed of specific facets (though the short form focuses primarily on domain-level scoring).

Validity

The validity of the HEXACO-PI-R is supported by extensive research demonstrating its construct, convergent, and predictive validity. Construct validity is established through robust Factor Analysis confirming the orthogonality and independence of the six dimensions across numerous samples and cultures. The distinct structure, particularly the separation of Honesty-Humility and the reframing of Agreeableness and Emotionality, has been consistently replicated.

Convergent validity is high, showing expected correlations with existing personality measures, such as the NEO-PI-R, while also demonstrating discriminant validity for the unique Honesty-Humility factor, which correlates strongly with measures of integrity, ethical behavior, and Machiavellianism. Predictive validity studies have shown the HEXACO dimensions to be powerful predictors of outcomes in areas such as job performance, academic achievement, counterproductive work behaviors, and criminal tendencies, often outperforming the traditional Five-Factor Model, particularly when predicting integrity-related outcomes.

Reliability

The HEXACO-PI-R, including the 60-item short form, exhibits strong internal consistency and temporal stability, meeting standard criteria in Psychometrics. For the domain scales of the 60-item inventory, internal consistency estimates (Cronbach’s alpha) typically range from .70 to .85 across diverse samples. While shorter forms inherently have slightly lower reliability than the full inventory, the 60-item version maintains sufficient reliability for research applications.

The stability of the scores over time (test-retest reliability) is also consistently high, reflecting the enduring nature of the core personality traits measured. Researchers often confirm these reliability statistics prior to analysis, ensuring that the short form adequately captures the stable variance of the underlying six dimensions.

Factor Analysis

The development of the HEXACO-PI-R is rooted in multivariate statistical techniques, primarily exploratory and confirmatory Factor Analysis (FA). Initial lexical studies conducted across multiple languages (e.g., English, Dutch, Korean, Hungarian) consistently revealed a six-factor structure when analyzing personality descriptors derived from dictionaries, rather than the five factors commonly found in FFM research.

The 60 items included in this short form were selected based on their high factor loadings onto the respective six dimensions and their ability to represent the breadth of the underlying facets within each domain. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) is routinely used to validate that the observed item correlations align with the hypothesized six-factor structure, confirming that the scale accurately measures the intended constructs as distinct, yet related, dimensions of personality.

Instrument

Test Type: Personality Inventory (Trait Measure)

Format: 60 items, Observer Rating (Other-Report) or Self-Report

Language Available: English (Original), with official translations available for dozens of languages (e.g., German, French, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese).

Population Group: General population (Adults and Adolescents)

Age Group: Typically 16 years and older

Population Details: Used globally in academic research, organizational psychology, and cross-cultural studies. The short form is especially useful for maximizing response rates in online or time-constrained environments.

Test Methodology: Respondents rate statements using a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The rating instructions provided here specify observer rating, focusing on “the person that you are rating now.”

Keywords

HEXACO, 60-item, personality measurement, psychometric properties, observer rating, self-report, six factors, Honesty-Humility, Kibeom Lee, Michael C. Ashton

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Information varies; specific ORCIDs for K. Lee and M.C. Ashton can be found via academic databases.

Affiliation Email addresses: Contact information generally directed through the official HEXACO website (see Reference).

Correspondence Address: Correspondence is typically managed through their respective university affiliations (e.g., Brock University for Ashton).

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The HEXACO-PI-R and its short forms are generally available for non-commercial academic research without charge, provided proper citation is given. Commercial use usually requires specific permission and licensing agreements with the authors. The core development of the HEXACO model and the initial HEXACO-PI-R structure was established in the early 2000s, with the revision (HEXACO-PI-R) and associated short forms formalized around 2008.

Reference’s

The authoritative source for the scale, materials, and scoring keys is the official project website:

  • HEXACO Personality Inventory-Revised Official Website
  • Ashton, M. C., & Lee, K. (2008). The HEXACO-60: A short measure of the major dimensions of personality. Journal of Personality Assessment, 90(3), 304-305.
  • Lee, K., & Ashton, M. C. (2004). Psychometric properties of the HEXACO Personality Inventory. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 39(2), 329-358.

Items of the A MEASURE OF THE SIX MAJOR DIMENSIONS OF PERSONALITY

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

On the following pages you will find a series of statements about the person that you are rating now. Please read each statement and decide how much you agree or disagree with that statement. Then write your response in the space next to the statement using the following scale:

5 = strongly agree
4 = agree
3 = neutral (neither agree nor disagree)
2 = disagree
1 = strongly disagree

Please answer every statement‚ even if you are not completely sure of your response.

Please provide the following information about the person that you will be rating.

Number of years that you have been acquainted with this person: ______ years

Sex of the person that you will be rating (circle): Female Male

Age of the person that you will be rating: ______ years

1
He/she would be quite bored by a visit to an art gallery.
2
He/she plans ahead and organizes things‚ to avoid scrambling at the last minute.
3
He/she rarely holds a grudge‚ even against people who have badly wronged him/her.
4
He/she feels reasonably satisfied with himself/herself overall.
5
He/she would feel afraid if he/she had to travel in bad weather conditions.
6
He/she wouldn’t use flattery to get a raise or promotion at work‚ even if he/she thought it would succeed.
7
He/she is interested in learning about the history and politics of other countries.
8
He/she often pushes himself/herself very hard when trying to achieve a goal.
9
People sometimes say that he/she is too critical of others.
10
He/she rarely expresses his/her opinions in group meetings.
11
He/she worries about little things.
12
If he/she knew that he/she could never get caught‚ he/she would be willing to steal a million dollars.
13
He/she would enjoy creating a work of art‚ such as a novel‚ a song‚ or a painting.
14
When working on something‚ he/she doesn’t pay much attention to small details.
15
People sometimes think that he/she is too stubborn.
16
He/she prefers jobs that involve active social interaction to those that involve working alone.
17
When he/she suffers from a painful experience‚ he/she needs someone to make him/her feel comfortable.
18
ha‎ving a lot of money is not especially important to him/her.
19
He/she thinks that paying attention to radical ideas is a waste of time.
20
He/she makes decisions based on the feeling of the moment rather than on careful thought.
21
People think of him/her as someone who has a quick temper.
22
On most days‚ he/she feels cheerful and optimistic.
23
He/she feels like crying when he/she sees other people crying.
24
He/she thinks that he/she is entitled to more respect than the average person is.
25
If he/she had the opportunity‚ he/she would like to attend a classical music concert.
26
When working‚ he/she sometimes has difficulties due to being disorganized.
27
His/her attitude toward people who have treated him/her badly is “forgive and forget”.
28
He/she feels that he/she is an unpopular person.
29
When it comes to physical danger‚ he/she is very fearful.
30
If he/she wants something from someone‚ he/she will laugh at that person’s worst jokes.
31
He/she has never really enjoyed looking through an encyclopedia.
32
He/she does only the minimum amount of work needed to get by.
33
He/she tends to be lenient in judging other people.
34
In social situations‚ he/she is usually the one who makes the first move.
35
He/she worries a lot less than most people do.
36
He/she would never accept a bribe‚ even if it were very large.
37
He/she has a good imagination.
38
He/she always tries to be accurate in his/her work‚ even at the expense of time.
39
He/she is usually quite flexible in his/her opinions when people disagree with him/her.
40
The first thing that he/she always does in a new place is to make friends.
41
He/she can handle difficult situations without needing emotional support from anyone else.
42
He/she would get a lot of pleasure from owning expensive luxury goods.
43
He/she likes people who have unconventional views.
44
He/she makes a lot of mistakes because he/she doesn’t think before he/she acts.
45
Most people tend to get angry more quickly than he/she does.
46
Most people are more upbeat and dynamic than he/she generally is.
47
He/she feels strong emotions when someone close to him/her is going away for a long time.
48
He/she wants people to know that he/she is an important person of high status.
49
I don’t think of him/her as the artistic or creative type.
50
People often call him/her a perfectionist.
51
Even when people make a lot of mistakes‚ he/she rarely says anything negative.
52
He/she sometimes feels that he/she is a worthless person.
53
Even in an emergency he/she wouldn’t feel like panicking.
54
He/she wouldn’t pretend to like someone just to get that person to do favors for him/her.
55
He/she finds it boring to discuss philosophy.
56
He/she prefers to do whatever comes to mind‚ rather than stick to a plan.
57
When people tell him/her that he/she is wrong‚ his/her first reaction is to argue with them.
58
When he/she is in a group of people‚ he/she is often the one who speaks on behalf of the group.
59
He/she remains unemotional even in situations where most people get very sentimental.
60
He/she’d be tempted to use counterfeit money‚ if he/she were sure he/she could get away with it.

Cite this article

Mohammed looti (2025). A Measure of the Six Major Dimensions of Personality. Psychological Scales & Instruments Database. Retrieved from https://db.arabpsychology.com/scales/a-measure-of-the-six-major-dimensions-of-personality-2/

Mohammed looti. "A Measure of the Six Major Dimensions of Personality." Psychological Scales & Instruments Database, 3 Nov. 2025, https://db.arabpsychology.com/scales/a-measure-of-the-six-major-dimensions-of-personality-2/.

Mohammed looti. "A Measure of the Six Major Dimensions of Personality." Psychological Scales & Instruments Database, 2025. https://db.arabpsychology.com/scales/a-measure-of-the-six-major-dimensions-of-personality-2/.

Mohammed looti (2025) 'A Measure of the Six Major Dimensions of Personality', Psychological Scales & Instruments Database. Available at: https://db.arabpsychology.com/scales/a-measure-of-the-six-major-dimensions-of-personality-2/.

[1] Mohammed looti, "A Measure of the Six Major Dimensions of Personality," Psychological Scales & Instruments Database, vol. X, no. Y, ص Z-Z, November, 2025.

Mohammed looti. A Measure of the Six Major Dimensions of Personality. Psychological Scales & Instruments Database. 2025;vol(issue):pages.

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