The personality bases of socio-political attitudes: The role of Honesty–Humility and Openness to Experience

Abstract

We investigated the personality bases of two broad dimensions of socio-political attitudes—Hierarchy (versus Equality) Orientation and Social Conformity (versus Change) Orientation. In a US adult sample and in Canadian and Korean college student samples, we administered the HEXACO Personality Inventory—Revised, and we assessed the socio-political dimensions using the Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) and Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) scales and the Schwartz Value Survey (SVS). As predicted, Hierarchy Orientation variables correlated primarily with low Honesty–Humility, whereas Social Conformity Orientation variables correlated primarily with low Openness to Experience. The findings suggest that the major dimensions of socio-political attitudes can be understood in part as expressions of the personality dimensions of Honesty–Humility and Openness to Experience.