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Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 30 (2011) 1173 1176

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A Study Of The Psychometric Properties And

The Standardization Of HEXACO Personality Inventory

Hassan Bashiri*, Usha Barahmand b , Saeed Akabri Z c , Hossein Ghamari G d Asghar
Vusugi e
a. Department of Psychology: Mohaggeg Ardabili university, Ardabil, Iran
b. Department of Psychology: Mohaggeg Ardabili university, Ardabil, Iran
c. Department of Psychology: Allameh university, Tehran, Iran
d. Department of Psychology: Mohaggeg Ardabili university, Ardabil, Iran
e. Department of Psychology: Tabriz university, Tabriz, Iran

Abstract
Aim: The purpose of the study was two-fold: first, to compare the NEO-PI and HEXACO personality inventories and to
determine the major dimensions of personality, and next, to explore for any sex differences on the personality dimensions.
Method: Using a stratified random sampling procedure, 613 students (270 males and 343 females) out of a total of 12221
university students ranging in age from 18 to 25 years were recruited for the study. The short forms of the NEO-PI (60 items) and
the HEXACO (100 items) were administered. The data obtained were analyzed using factor analysis, Pearsons correlation
coefficients, and multivariate analyses of variance. Results: Findings revealed high reliability scores for all the subscales of both
instruments. Significant positive correlations between the extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness and openness scales of
the two inventories were obtained (p<0.05). The emotionality and altruism subscales of the HEXACO correlated significantly
with the neuroticism and agreeableness subscales of the NEO-PI, respectively (p<0.05). maximum likelihood analysis with
varimax rotation and Kaiser normalization confirmed a five factor solution: extroversion, conscientiousness, openness, emotional
instability (neuroticism and emotionality), and agreeableness-altruism. An examination of gender differences revealed that
women scored higher than men on conscientiousness, emotional instability and altruism (p<.05). Honesty failed to emerge as an
independent factor and loaded on agreeableness-altruism and conscientiousness. Conclusions: The five dimensions of
personality as measured by both the NEO-PI and the HEXACO is confirmed while the honestyhumility factor suggested by the
HEXACO failed to emerge as an independent dimension and was found to merge with the dimensions of agreeableness and
conscientiousness.
Keywords: Big Five,Big Six, HEXACO, personality dimension

Introduction
Psychologists have tried to classify personality characteristics into a few basic groups, such that correlated
characteristics will belong to the same group and uncorrelated characteristics will belong to different
groups. Currently, the most widely-used model of personality structure is based on the analyses of personalitydescriptive adjectives. This model consists of the five personality factors collectively known as the Big Five Over
the past decade, the Five-Factor model (FFM) of personality became one of the dominant paradigms in trait
* Hassan Bashiri. Tel.: +989149052440; fax: +984115542880.
E-mail psychology_bashiri@yahoo.com
1877-0428 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of the 2nd World Conference on Psychology,
Counselling and Guidance.
doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.10.228

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psychology (McCrae, 2001). The Factor Model of Personality (FFM) has received widespread attention in research
and several studies have suggested that personality can be adequately assessed using these five broad dimensions
(Piedmont & Chae, 1997; Yang et al., 1999). The most comprehensive and best validated of personality measures on
the basis of the FFM is the NEO-PI which is also the most widely used because it is psychometrically welldeveloped and can bring considerable interpretative and predictive power to research on the five-factor model
(Piedmont & Chae, 1997; 2002). The Five-Factor model of personality as measured by NEO PI-R has been
explored in different cultures (McCrae & Costa, 1998). Research suggests that five basic dimensions underlie adult
personality and are independent of dominant culture (McCrae & Allik, 2002). Broadly speaking, these factors o f
Neuroticism ( N ) , Extraversion ( E ) , Openness to Experience (O), Agreeableness (A), and Conscientiousness (C)
are known as the dimensions of the Five-Factor Model (FFM) or the Big Give. This trait-like conceptualization of
personality has received wide-spread support across cultures (McCrae & Costa, 1997). However, there still remain
cultures where values, socialization practices, and lifestyles, are substantially, different from those found in the
West, and these need to be studied.
Although early investigations found only the Big Five factors, more recent studies conducted in various languages
(including English) and with larger sets of adjectives were found to recover six factors (saucier, 2009). Research
studies conducted in various languages, including Croatian, Dutch, Filipino, French, German, Greek, Hungarian,
Italian, Korean, Polish, and Turkish and comparisons of the results from these investigations have suggested that as
many as six factors have emerged in similar form across these different languages, including English.These findings
led to the development of The HEXACO model of personality structure which summarizes human personality
characteristics in terms of six dimensions, or factors: Honesty-Humility (H), Emotionality (E), Extraversion (X),
Agreeableness (A), Conscientiousness (C), and Openness to Experience (O).The HEXACO dimensions are
conceptually similar to the Big Five factors but for the sixth dimension of honesty-humility which emphasizes
trustworthiness, modesty, and a lack of greed.
Considering that the Iranian culture is very similar to the Turkish culture in terms of collectivism, low gender
egalitarianism, male dominance, loyalty to family, religious characteristics, the present study aimed at validating
the six factor structure using the HEXACO. To this end, the NEO-PI and HEXACO personality inventories were
compared to determine the major dimensions of personality, and next, sex differences on the personality dimensions
were explored.
Participants
Using a stratified sampling procedure, 12221 students were selected for the study. Participants were 613
undergraduate students who were taking courses at Tabriz University, Iran. The mean age of participants was 20.37
years (SD = 1.66) and 56% of participants were women. The students provided self reports on the items of the
Persian version of the HEXACO.
The HEXACO personality inventory
For the present research, the Persian version of the HEXACO-PI was used. HEXACO-PI items were administered
using a 5-point response scale. Coefficient alpha reliabilities of the Persian HEXACO-PI scales were .81 for
Extraversion, .80 for HonestyHumility, .76 for Openness to Experience, 74 for Emotionality, .73 for
Agreeableness, .71 for Conscientiousness, and. each of the other four factors.
The data obtained were analyzed using factor analysis, Pearsons correlation coefficients, and multivariate analyses
of variance.
Results
Findings revealed high reliability scores for all the subscales of both instruments. Significant positive correlations
between the extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness and openness scales of the two inventories were
obtained (p<0.05). The emotionality subscale of the HEXACO correlated significantly with the neuroticism and
agreeableness subscales of the NEO-PI, respectively (p<0.05). (Table 1)
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Table 1. Correlations between subscales of the NEO-PI and HEXACO

NEO-PI Scales

HEXACO Scales
Emotionality

Extroversion

Openness

Agreeableness

Neuroticism

.410**

Extraversion

-.165

.740**

Openness

-.103

.319

.358**

Agreeableness

-.078

.168

.120

.288**

Conscientiousness

-.124

.280

.243

.061

Conscientiousness

.603**

Maximum likelihood analysis with varimax rotation and Kaiser normalization confirmed a five factor solution:
extroversion, conscientiousness, openness, emotional instability (neuroticism and emotionality), and agreeablenessaltruism. (Table 2)
Table 2. The rotated component matrix showing the five factors
Component
1
NEO-Extraversion
HEXACO-Extraversion

.851

.138

.180

-.041

.081

.805

.187

.253

-.248

.142

HEXACO-Honesty

-.474

.432

.393

-.162

.084

HEXACO-Altruism

.102

.748

.185

.221

.130

-.011

.703

-.102

-.399

.082

NEO-Agreeableness

.185

.667

.013

.153

-.027

NEO-Conscientiousness

.242

.118

.848

.015

.045

HEXACO-Agreeableness

HEXACO-Conscientiousness

.095

-.039

.801

-.103

.202

HEXACO-Emotionality

-.030

.271

.017

.864

-.057

NEO-Neuroticism

-.375

-.257

-.363

.664

.004

.273

.075

-.012

-.076

.820

-.095

.056

.263

.010

.782

HEXACO-Openness
NEO-Openness

An examination of gender differences revealed that women scored higher than men on conscientiousness, emotional
instability and altruism, while men scored higher on agreeableness (p<.05). Honesty failed to emerge as an
independent factor and loaded on agreeableness-altruism and conscientiousness. (Table 3)
Table 3. Gender differences on the subscales of the HEXACO
sex
Emotionality
Extroversion
Agreeableness
Conscientiousness
Openness
Altruism

Mean

Std. Deviation

male

270

50.10

7.75

-5.41**

famale

343

53.64

8.25

male

270

55.17

9.16

famale

343

56.30

9.40

male

270

49.37

7.62

famale

343

47.20

8.05

male

270

54.38

7.19

famale

343

55.81

7.41

male

270

54.11

8.66

famale

343

54.65

8.99

male

270

15.38

2.65

famale

343

15.85

2.40

-1.50
3.38**
-2.40**
-.75
-2.32**

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Bashiri/etProcedia
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Discussion
In this study, we investigated the factor structure of personality in the Iranian sample. From these analyses, it was
found that in the Iranian context, a five factor solution emerged. The sixth factor found in other languages including
Turkish failed to emerge as an independent factor. Four of the HEXACO factors, extraversion, agreeableness,
openness and conscientiousness were very similar to dimensions of the Big Five. Furthermore, the dimension of
neuroticism on the NEO-PI and that of emotionality on the HEXACO were significantly correlated. It appears that
despite the sociocultural similarities between Turkey and Iran, the six dimensional structure of personality failed to
be replicated, calling into question the possibility of a widespread cross-cultural generalizability of the six
dimensional structure of personality variation.
Conclusions
The five dimensions of personality as measured by both the NEO-PI and the HEXACO is confirmed while the
honestyhumility factor suggested by the HEXACO failed to emerge as an independent dimension and was found to
merge with the dimensions of agreeableness and conscientiousness.

References
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