Hexaco

The HEXACO model of personality structure is a six‑factor framework for describing human personality. It was proposed by Michael A. Ashton and Kibeom Lee in the early 2000s, and the name HEXACO reflects its six dimensions: Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness to Experience. The model extends the traditional Big Five framework by adding a distinct dimension that captures prosocial and moral qualities.

The six dimensions are defined as follows. Honesty-Humility encompasses sincerity, fairness, greed avoidance, and modesty. Emotionality relates to emotional reactivity, fear, anxiety, sentimentality, and attachment. Extraversion covers sociability and energetic engagement. Agreeableness emphasizes patience, forbearance, forgiveness, and gentleness. Conscientiousness reflects organization, reliability, diligence, and prudence. Openness to Experience involves curiosity, creativity, aesthetic appreciation, and openness to new ideas.

Measurement in the HEXACO framework is most commonly implemented with the HEXACO Personality Inventory-Revised (HEXACO-PI-R), which provides scores for the six factors and, in longer forms, facet-level subscales. The inventory has been translated and adapted for many languages, supporting cross-cultural research and broader validation of the model’s structure.

Research highlights a robust cross-cultural replication of the six-factor structure and evidence that Honesty-Humility, in particular, predicts a range of ethical and pro-social outcomes beyond what is captured by the Big Five. The HEXACO model is used in personality assessment, organizational psychology, and cross-cultural studies, and it remains a subject of ongoing evaluation and methodological discussion.

Overall, HEXACO offers a complementary perspective to Big Five by emphasizing moral and social dispositions alongside the conventional dimensions.