Copyright American Psychological Association

Introduction

Heroic humility is inspirational humility—humility that leads us to

want to emulate it. To begin our journey of understanding it, let’s consider
how heroism, humility, and leadership might intersect. Scott and his col-
leagues developed a five-factor theory of leadership (Allison & Goethals,
2011, 2013; Goethals & Allison, 2012). The theory focuses on the leader’s
(a) persona, (b) vision, (c) ethics, (d) actions, and (e) influence. But not
all leaders are heroic leaders. Heroic leaders are exceptional. Allison and
Goethals (2011) surveyed people and factor analyzed the responses. They
identified what they called the Great Eight traits that describe heroes: caring,
charismatic, inspiring, reliable, resilient, selfless, smart, and strong. Where the
Great Eight traits of heroes overlap with the five factors of leadership, there
is the heroic leader. The intersection centers on helping other people achieve
their potential. Heroic leaders have courage and seek to help others, some-
times at great costs to themselves.

[Link]
Heroic Humility: What the Science of Humility Can Say to People Raised on Self-Focus, by E. L. Worthington Jr.
and S. T. Allison
Copyright © 2018 by the American Psychological Association. All rights reserved.

3
 Copyright American Psychological Association

Not all heroic leaders are humble. Genghis Khan was a heroic leader,
but he was not humble. Some of the great presidents of the United States
were heroic leaders, such as Teddy Roosevelt. Although admired, they were
not humble heroic leaders, such as George Washington or Abraham Lincoln.
That addition of humility to the heroic leader zeroes in on some very excep-
tional people—those who are not just pursuing leadership positions for the
sake of power and personal aggrandizement, or even self-sacrificially but for
the betterment of only their own political group or country. Rather, heroically
humble leaders are willing to serve others, lead others, and endure costs for
others, even for those who might not be in a narrowly focused ingroup.
Humility has three qualities. Humble people are those who (a) have an
accurate sense of self, know their limitations, and are teachable; (b) present
themselves modestly in ways that do not put others off by arrogance or by
false, insincere modesty or displaying weakness; and (c) are especially oriented
to advancing others—not through groveling weakness but through power
under control, power used to build others up rather than squash them down.
This definition is based on numerous research studies that have accumulated
since 2008 from the labs of Worthington, Don Davis, Joshua Hook, Daryl
Van Tongeren, and our colleagues. Although the definition derives originally
from Worthington (2007) and from D. E. Davis, Worthington, and Hook
(2010), it has been elaborated on by adding to it the idea of teachability
(see Owens & Hekman, 2012), the concept of modest self-presentation (see
D. E. Davis, McElroy, Rice, et al., 2016), and a distinct ramping up of focus
on being other-oriented (see Worthington, Goldstein, et al., in press). At this
point, no single instrument can assess all aspects of the definition. A set of
targeted instruments is required.
It is within the grasp of most of us to rise to moments of humility. In
fact, we often see interviews with heroes who say such things as, “I didn’t do
anything special. I just did what anyone would do.” (They may only have
run through a hail of bullets into a fire or through an earthquake to save
orphans.) Those are indeed humble heroes, and we are usually astounded by
their sincerity in such self-effacing statements about their hero status. Yet,
as admirable as such humble heroes are, in this book we are more concerned
with a different type of humility. We are concerned with people who are truly
humble—self-aware, modest, and other-oriented—but who take that to lev-
els and depths that most of us struggle merely to understand. These are not
just humble heroes; they are exemplars of heroic humility. Usually, they are
leading organizations and social movements, like Nelson Mandela or Mother
Teresa did. But sometimes they are just everyday people whom we cannot
help but admire. They seem to be uncaring about their own advancement and
promote others—sometimes even others they don’t know but simply think are
worthy of advancement. And as one of those exemplars of heroic humility,

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they become leaders. In Table 1, we compare aspects of heroes, leadership, and

humility to get a sense of what those heroically humble people might be like.
Heroically humble leaders are the noble champions of society that most
people are inspired by and aspire to be. They are not weak but are strong at
their core. They can employ their assorted virtues to successfully achieve the
goals of a group and the people within it. They are virtuous and have worked
hard to build positive character, glimpsing the goal to which they personally
aspire; practicing virtue until it has become a habit of the heart; meeting
tests, trials, temptations, and suffering while maintaining integrity; and expe-
riencing a deep satisfaction (even if they are not exactly happy) because they
feel that they are doing the right things.
Most people look up to, and perhaps even learn from and are inspired by,
heroic (especially heroically humble) leaders. Although not everyone aspires

TABLE 1
Comparison of Aspects of Leadership, Heroism, and Humility
Five-factor leadership model Great eight traits of heroes Definition of humility

Persona: shows high Caring: compassionate, Accurate self-

energy, tolerates stress, empathic, kind appraisal including
acts emotionally mature Charismatic: dedicated, awareness of
and confident, engenders eloquent, passionate limitations
trust Inspiring: admirable, amaz- Modest self-
Vision: appeals to the val- ing, great, inspirational presentation
ues, hopes, and ideals of Reliable: loyal, true Other-orientedness
the followers; embodies Resilient: accomplished, that uses one’s
society’s most noble determined, persevering power under con-
ideals Selfless: altruistic, honest, trol to lift others
Ethics: uses power wisely humble, moral up and not squash
consistent with the Smart: intelligent, wise them down
morals and ethics of Strong: courageous, domi-
society; integrity; honesty nating, gallant, leader
Actions: acts to benefit
the group; works hard to
benefit the group; creates
(ideas, opportunities, envi-
ronment for accomplish-
ing goals), communicates,
collaborates
Influence: communicates
their vision to others;
models energy and loy-
alty; builds trust and unity;
honors commitments;
provides feedback; dele-
gates effectively; coaches
others to improve; moti-
vates; inspires

introduction      5
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to be a leader, many people want to build heroic virtues, such as humility,

that are uplifting to others and built to last. Not all leaders are humble. Some
might touch on humility at times, but few reach the level of heroic humility.
Instead, today we are more likely to equate business leadership with just the
opposite—hubris, arrogance, and pride.

THE NEED FOR A BOOK ON HEROIC HUMILITY

Humility is a key ingredient for people of today. Yet, finding recent

resources about it is difficult.

Generations Have Neglected It

Humility has, until recently, been virtually unaddressed in the popular

and scientific literature, though religious resources are more numerous. Many
people have been reared on “do your own thing” (the 1960s) high self-esteem
(the 1980s and 1990s). Recently, youth have been called “Generation Me”
or “iGen,” as Jean Twenge (2014) sometimes refers to the generation from
their midthirties and younger. Twenge has devoted countless pages to docu-
menting evidence of this increasing self-focus (see Twenge, 2014; Twenge &
Campbell, 2009). With the generations of self-focus, humility is increasingly
needed. It might be needed to tear apart the welding of political gridlock, to
negotiate across cultures and countries, or to prevent breakups and divorces
in romantic relationships.

We Have Forgotten Powerful Heroes of Humility

Humility, at first blush, sounds like something only a weakling would do.
It sounds like capitulation, like self-imposed humiliation and self-flagellation. It
seems anemic. We seem to have forgotten the heroes of humility like Presidents
George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, boxer Joe Louis, scientist Marie
Curie, activist Harriet Tubman, and rescuer of people in ill-health Mother
Teresa. Humility is not a tame virtue. There is power there, but not wild power.
Humility involves power under control.
Humility can sometimes be found amid humiliation because humilia-
tion often pushes us to the end of ourselves. Frederick A. Douglass, orator
and advocate for freedom from slavery, was raised as a slave. Biographer
David J. Bobb (2013) wrote,
Frederick began to see the power of humility through lessons learned in
his early life. Whether by negative examples (his masters and mistresses
and slave interests throughout his life) or positive examples (his mother

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and Uncle Lawson), Frederick saw what it took to be humble even in

the midst of humiliation. Submission of one sort was thrust on him as a
slave, but before he could escape the bonds of slavery, Frederick had to
make himself a student. His humility as a learner was preparation for his
life as a leader. In humbling himself as a seeker, he gained the pride and
dignity that unfitted him for slavery. (p. 188)
Douglass found other exemplars of humility after escaping from slav-
ery. He worked with abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. After Lincoln
released the Emancipation Proclamation, Douglass paid honor to Garrison
in a speech at Hillsdale College on January 21, 1863. Even though Douglass
had broken with him 12 years earlier, he still recalled how much he owed
to Garrison and honored his tireless work. Douglass said of Garrison, “Truth
was powerful; a single individual armed with truth was a majority against the
world” (Bobb, 2013, p. 181).

Humility Seemed to Be Relegated to Religious People

In the early 20th century, humility was seen as something fit for reli-
gion, but to be hidden behind sacred doors and out of secular view. Humility
was not a seemly virtue, it was thought, for business or community organi-
zations. During the late 1970s, writers suggested that humility might help
organizations. In 1979, Christopher Lasch claimed that the United States
had embraced a culture of narcissism. (Oh, how prescient.) He suggested
that humility was essential to successful cultural progress. After those early
writings, even with the brief popularity of Greenleaf’s (1977) servant-leader
model, humility lay dormant in both organizations and secular society.

Suddenly the Need for Humility Became Starkly Apparent

In the early 21st century, the need for humility burst through church doors
into the halls of corporate power. A series of accusations of fraud and dishon-
esty occurred. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Enron Jeff Skilling and former
CEO of Enron Kenneth Lay were accused of fraud in 2001. Bernie Ebbers met a
similar fate in 2002. Tyco’s CEO Dennis Kozlowski and Chief Financial Officer
Mark Swartz were added to the wall of shame. In 2003, HealthSouth’s CEO
Richard Scrushy (shall we say) slightly exaggerated their assets to the tune
of $1.4 billion to appease shareholders, and Freddie Mac’s executive manage-
ment team also exaggerated (by $5 billion) their assets and were caught at it.
In 2005, Hank Greenberg (American Insurance Group’s CEO) and Lehman
Brothers’ executives and auditors were caught hiding $50 billion in loans
disguised as sales. Not to be outdone, Bernie Madoff used a Ponzi scheme to
bilk investors out of $65 billion. The trend continued. In almost all of these

introduction      7
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cases, analysts agreed that massive pride, hubris, entitlement, and arrogance
were root causes (Owens, Johnson, & Mitchell, 2013).
In a decade, these ethical failures, with pride at the base, created ques-
tions about business leadership. Were business leaders being trained in profit-at-
any-cost self-interest that ignores others—investors, shareholders, individuals
in the company, legitimate competitors within the industry, and the general
population? Weick (2001) observed that humility was a vital, yet at that
point neglected, personality trait for business leaders in the 21st century. Hess
and Ludwig (2017) surveyed the recent advances in artificial intelligence and
dubbed humility “the new smart” because smart humans have to recognize
our limits.

Enter a Science of Humility

Fortunately, just as the social, relational, and personal needs for humil-
ity became critical, the science of humility exploded. Many studies of humil-
ity have burst on the scene in the past 10 years. Several grants have funded
subaward grant competitions that, in turn, have funded (or will fund) multi­
ple research labs, principal investigators, collaborators, postdocs, and gradu-
ate students. The infrastructure is being constructed right now for a robust
science of humility.
One area in the psychological literature could address humility’s obverse—
narcissism. H. M. Wallace and Baumeister (2002) observed that people with
subclinical narcissistic personality traits seek esteem in their own and others’
eyes by competitively trying to outperform others and thus win admiration.
The level of subclinical narcissism moderates this relationship. People on the
high end of the (subclinical) narcissism continuum tend to work harder to
reach their goals when they know people are watching, whereas people on the
low end tend to work equally hard regardless of whether they believe people
are watching. Some of the personal and societal difficulties that we have noted
have arisen from 21st-century narcissistic entitlement and to a lesser extent
from the millennial mindset. Those might be dealt with by applying basic
research to narcissism—especially subclinical narcissism. However, to do so,
we believe, would set up a negative framework. It would focus attention on
what not to do or how not to be narcissistic. It would not tell what to do. We
know that in many areas, the absence of one thing does not necessarily imply
its opposite. The absence of diseases does not mean one is healthy. The absence
of depression does not mean one is happy. The absence of anxiety does not
mean one is peaceful. Similarly, the elimination of narcissism does not mean
one is acting humbly in a positive, health-producing, society-benefiting way.
Some characteristics need cultivation to promote flourishing. We believe one
of those is humility.

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Thus, humility might be a virtue that holds promise in an age when

vanity in the form of narcissism seems to be an ever-increasing phenom-
enon (Twenge, 2014). Political humility is needed in an age of embittered,
name-calling, belittling gridlocked politics (Worthington, 2017). Relational
humility is needed in an age of divorce, couple conflict, organizational power
politics, and institutional frauds (D. E. Davis, Placeres, et al., 2017).

INTEREST IN THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF HUMILITY

Worthington, Davis, and Hook (2017) searched PsycINFO on

July 1, 2016. We adapted their findings in Table 1. In 4-year increments,
we summarize next the number of indexed publications that used the word
humility (see Table 2).
We can see that there is much existing research and theoretical writing
on humility. The rate of publication is increasing, and that uptrend started
with the initiation of the positive psychology movement (1999–2000). In
fact, the rate of increase of publication is a modest exponential curve—an
appropriately humble growth rate. Much of the writing prior to 1999 was
theoretical. It encouraged developing a virtuous character or recommended
humility as a trait for successful psychotherapists. Little research was empiri-
cal except for a measure of personality traits (i.e., the HEXACO model
on Honesty–Humility). However, since positive psychology (Seligman &
Csikszentmihalyi, 2000), with its commitment to the empirical study of
the virtues, took hold (probably 2002–2003), the tide has changed. Much
research and scientific theorizing has taken place. The doubling time for
number of publications has been about 4 years.
We are seeing many signs that a science of humility has taken root. In
2008, I (Ev) was fortunate to receive a grant to study humility in couples making

TABLE 2
PsycINFO Publications Indexing the Word Humility
(1,339 total hits from 1900–2015)
Number of publications
Years indexed in PsycINFO

1900–1995 211
1996–1999 36
2000–2003 77
2004–2007 186
2008–2011 292
2012–2015 537
2016–June 28, 2017 (18 months) 337 (on schedule for 854 in 4-year period)

introduction      9
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the transition to parenthood, which gave me a leg up at establishing a program

of research on humility. That grant led to a national conference on humility
research in Atlanta in 2015 and an edited book on humility (Worthington
et al., 2017). In the 2010s, the John Templeton Foundation funded three grants
that had provisions for funding more research on humility. Although humility
has now been increasingly mentioned in almost 1,700 articles, the direct
and principal focus of empirical research articles on humility is less—more like
483 articles in which humility is a keyword. This is great news for investigators
jumping into its scientific study. There is still much low-hanging fruit.
Research has accumulated in a curve matching the rate of increase in
Table 2, but publications are now poised to explode. We estimate that about
30 research teams have been funded on those initiatives. Research teams
engage doctoral-level collaborators, use postdocs, train doctoral and master’s
students, hire paid research assistants, and expose volunteer undergraduate
research assistants to the research. The infrastructure of researchers who will
study humility in the next decade is growing daily.
Furthermore, the exposure has cut across disciplines. All manner of
psychologists—social, personality, health and neuro-, organizational, clini-
cal, and counseling psychologists—have studied humility. Other fields have
joined the fun—marriage and family specialists, human development sci-
entists, management scholars, leadership scholars, neuroeconomists, biolo-
gists, nurses, physicians, psychiatrists, psychometricians, conflict resolution
specialists, and peace workers. We believe that this book will entice people
from many disciplines to study humility and could entice a variety of profes-
sional applications to diverse other fields.
Although we draw research and illustrations from this variety of disci-
plines, we have a special affinity for several of the fields because the overlap
with and integration into those fields is most obvious. First, we draw heavily
from positive psychology, which itself is eclectic. Most positive psychologists
would define the field as either the psychological science of character strength
and virtue or of happiness and well-being. We find humility to snuggle in most
comfortably to a definition that emphasizes character strength and virtue. But
as with positive psychology, liberal support is drawn from topics, methods, and
styles from personality, social, psychophysiological, clinical, counseling, and
other subdisciplines.
Second, we draw on research and theory from social psychology. At the
very basic level, we emphasize the power of the situation—with relationships
being a key to structuring situations. Thus, we incorporate interdependence
theory (Kelley & Thibaut, 1978; Thibaut & Kelley, 1959) and sociometer
theory (Leary, Tambor, Terdal, & Downs, 1995), which focus on the ways
people shape their personalities (including their senses of self and their self-
esteem; see Baumeister, Campbell, Krueger, & Vohs, 2003) and relationships

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in response to social perception. We clearly acknowledge people’s uncon-

scious biases, which Kahneman (2011) helped identify and social psychology
expanded by thoroughly investigating self-enhancing biases (Kwan, John,
Kenny, Bond, & Robins, 2004). And we examine the difficulty of maintain-
ing and practicing virtuous behavior through referring frequently to topics
such as willpower and ego depletion (see Baumeister & Tierney, 2011) and
self-control (Finkel & Campbell, 2001).
Third, we often draw on personality psychology as well. We refer to the
helpfulness of the person–perception strain of personality (Funder, 1995) in
measuring humility, and we examine the personality correlates with humility
(for a review, see Leman, Haggard, Meagher, & Rowatt, 2017).
Fourth, we are particularly grateful to counseling, clinical, and orga-
nizational psychologies. Together, they help us apply many of the findings
from more basic research using positive psychological and social psycho-
logical methods.
Accordingly, we hope to address many theoretical, empirical, and prac-
tical questions in this book. These are relevant to (a) scientists who study
humility and its antecedents and sequelae and (b) psychological scientists
who apply the findings to psychotherapy, business, organizations, leadership,
political science, and other areas.

FOCUS OF THE BOOK

We seek to analyze the rapidly emerging science of humility. We con-

textualize it within the current need for heroic humble leadership in society,
relationships, and personal lives. We arrive at the fundamental concept of
the book—heroic humility. This is a trait by people who practice humility
consistently, especially when their ego is placed under strain and the practice
of humility is difficult. We are particularly focused on one aspect of heroic
humility—its warm orientation toward others, seeking to lift others by using
power under control, tempered by promoting good in those others.

What We Seek to Accomplish

David Brooks, New York Times syndicated columnist, wrote a brilliant

book in 2015, The Road to Character. In it, he described Frances Perkins
(1880–1965). She was one of two aides to stick with Franklin D. Roosevelt
for his entire term as president, and she was a major force in shaping the
policies of Roosevelt’s New Deal administration. She was the central force
in creating Social Security, the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Public
Works Administration, and (by way of the Fair Labor Standards Act) the

introduction      11
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first minimum wage law and overtime law. She was deeply involved in child
labor legislation and unemployment insurance. After ending her time in
government, she wrote a biography of Roosevelt.
I began to see what the great teachers of religion meant when they said
that humility was the greatest of virtues. . . . If you can’t learn it, God will
teach it to you by humiliation. Only so can a man be really great, and it
was in those accommodations for necessity that Franklin Roosevelt began
to approach the stature of humility and inner integrity which made him
truly great. (Perkins, 1946/2011, p. 29)
Brooks (2015) described her education at Mount Holyoke College
(South Hadley, Massachusetts). We were struck with how much his descrip-
tion captures themes explored in this book:
A dozen voices from across the institution told students that . . . a well-
lived life involves throwing oneself into struggle, that large parts of the
most worthy lives are spent upon the rack, testing moral courage and
facing opposition and ridicule, and that those who pursue struggle end
up being happier than those who pursue pleasure.
Then it told them that the heroes in this struggle are not the self-
aggrandizing souls who chase after glory; they are rather the heroes of
renunciation, those who accept some arduous calling. . . . It emphasized
that performing service is . . . a debt you are repaying for the gift of life.
Then it gave them concrete ways to live this life of steady heroic
service. . . . The Mount Holyoke education was dominated by theology
and the classics—Jerusalem and Athens. The students were to take from
religion an ethic of care and compassion, and from the ancient Greeks
and Romans a certain style of heroism—to be courageous and unflinch-
ing in the face of the worst the world could throw at you. (pp. 29–30)

Misconceptions We Seek to Combat

We believe that the public perception of humility is sometimes negative.

By the end of the book, we hope you will not share those unhelpful percep-
tions. For example, many people think of humility as follows (misconceptions
in italics): (a) Humility is a Christian topic. It isn’t. It is a human topic. We
approach it as a secular topic. Although some studies we review have assessed
Christians (and other religious people), most have not. (b) It is associated with
humiliation. This is a misunderstanding of humility. Our emphasis on heroic
humility—humility so deeply embraced that it is of heroic proportions—and
on our tripartite definition should easily discredit this. (c) It means one has
to present oneself (and perhaps actually become) a person of low self-esteem,
“aw-shucks” modesty, and personal weakness. That will hamper achievement.
Our emphasis on heroic humility should easily discredit this, too. (d) Humility

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is thought of as a doorway to being taken advantage of and abused, because it is

assumed to be equated with absolute deference to authority. This is false. We treat
it not as a lack of power but as power under control. Professor and writer John
Dickson (2011) defined humility (incompletely, we think, but partially true
in this regard) as “willingness to hold power in service of others” (p. 24).
(e) Humility is often thought of as something that might be favored by the already
powerful but not good for the disempowered and socially marginalized. We dis-
agree. Gandhi was among the disempowered and socially marginalized, yet
he brought the British Empire to heel. Nelson Mandela was imprisoned and
abused, yet he, through tender-hearted, tough-minded humility, took down
apartheid and united South Africa. (f) Being more humble is a matter of will-
power, self-control, or exerting conscious ego control over unconscious impulses. We
confess that we do hope that many people who read this book will personally
conclude that they would like to become more humble more of the time.
We believe wholeheartedly that such transformation requires some willpower,
self-control, self-regulation (Ng et al., 2012), and grit (Duckworth, 2016) to
stick with the transformative process when it threatens to grind to a halt. But
grasping at humility by force of willpower is like trying to close your fingers
on air. It is elusive. Rather, it is through focusing actively and passionately on
others that one finds one has become more humble.
None of these common beliefs is true. Just the opposite of each is actu-
ally true. It is for Christians and people who are not Christian. It is not being
humiliated, which is accepting a position of degraded worth, but it is under-
standing one’s true worth. It is not merely a self-presentational style, but it is
an attitude of living that is respectful of self and other. It is not failing to stand
up for oneself or others who are needy, but it is using power under control to
stand up for those who need power. It is possible to be humble even when
having no political or social power and yet emerge with more social power.

Organization of the Book

In the first part of the book, we provide a scientifically informed descrip-

tion of humility. We examine the different types of humility. We also show
how humility is measured.
In the second part, we discuss what science has shown to be related to
humility, including social correlates; relationships to other virtues and vices;
mental health and physical health sequelae; relationships with religion, spiri-
tuality, and philosophy; and the promise of connections between humility
and a better life for individuals and society.
Then, in the third part, we discuss the need for heroic leadership and
humble leaders. In that portion, we argue that heroic humility can be a per-
sonally stabilizing, even a world-stabilizing force today.

introduction      13
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In the final part, we draw together the insights and integrate them with
the scientific findings. We offer direct advice, bolstered by scientific findings,
on how people might be more heroically humble, and we describe the results
of clinical trials that have studied the efficacy of a workbook to promote
humility. In an epilogue, we extract important lessons from the book.

Questions

Several important questions arise from our review. These questions sug-
gest that learning more about humility is vital in this modern world.

Aren’t We Just Talking About Learning Humility From Humble Models?

We describe many humble heroes and people exhibiting heroic humil-
ity. We draw from well-known leaders, but we also discuss everyday heroes
and hope to inspire more. In fact, we pepper the book with exemplars of
heroic humility. Cognitive psychology tells us that most learning isn’t due to
rational, logical teaching. Rather, learning involves intuition and experience,
and we can gain much of that intuition and experience by observing models,
exemplars, and heroes. But learning humility is not just about copying models
as described by social learning theory (Bandura, 1963). Rather, heroic humil-
ity is more than demonstrating behaviors or attitudes. We can learn to drive
by watching experienced drivers, like our parents, yet from such models we
don’t usually decide that we want to be the next NASCAR champion. But
many people who saw the work of Mother Teresa and Gandhi were inspired
to change their lives and also have the humility they were observing. This is
the difference between copying models and being inspired by heroic humility.

Will I, a Psychological Scientist, Be Interested in This Book?

Certainly, high-profile researchers like Jean Twenge (2014) and her
colleague Keith Campbell (Twenge & Campbell, 2009) have called atten-
tion to today’s narcissistic trends in “normal” self-expression. This might sug-
gest that research is needed to balance narcissistic pressures. On one hand,
more and better research on humility has appeared within the past 15 years.
Numerous researchers are studying humility. Even better, young researchers
who are looking for a field to devote themselves to can join early in the field’s
development. Studying humility, providing more information about it, and
helping those who wish to become more humble are noble acts. Humility can
benefit individuals, couples, families, communities, societies, and the world
as a whole. You’ll catch that glimpse throughout this book. The supply and
demand are coalescing. We hope you agree with our analysis: This is a scien-
tific field on the cusp of explosion.

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Will I, a Psychological Scientist, Find the Book and Topic

to Be One That Sustains My Interest?
There are several reasons, given next, to believe that people will once
again come to embrace humility as a cherished virtue and that this will repay
scientific study. People are seeing that some mental health disorders are due
to competitiveness, stress, narcissism, and self-focus. Best-selling books by
David Brooks (2015) and Jean Twenge’s (2014) Generation Me suggest that
the problems with self-focus and the solutions afforded through humility
can make inroads into public consciousness. The need for knowing more
about humility is important to life today. This is true for business, profes-
sions, politics, religion, relationships, and the person on the street. In fact,
Worthington et al. (2017) recently edited a collection of scholarly articles on
humility. In their introduction, they pointed out important topics to look for
throughout the book. They stated five hypotheses—that humility might be
related to virtue, social functioning, health, societal peace, and satisfaction
with life—which they thought were vital connections. But they also identi-
fied seven other important, but probably not essential, questions. Next, we
paraphrase some of those questions regarding religious, political, intellectual,
cultural, and relational humility (see Worthington et al., 2017, pp. 8–9).
Religions value humility, and worldwide, most people still are religious
(Berger et al., 1999). Virtually all religious and spiritual traditions value humil-
ity and provide mechanisms and rituals by which their adherents are encour-
aged to be more humble. If people exercised more religious humility, religious
conflict and violence would probably lessen. Religious humility speaks to the
conflicts that have recently intensified between radical Muslims and other
religions and people in secular societies. This has shown up in such ways as the
massacre of over 2,000 people in Nigeria by Boko Haram and by the attacks
on a variety of sites in Paris, Turkey, and throughout the world. Muslims of
differing theologies need to dialogue to work out a position that decreases
violence and prevents worldwide reaction against Islam. In fact, people of
all religions need to be in dialogue with each other. Conflicts involve every
major religion. Religion is a major motivator of behavior. It is imperative in
the modern world to be able to respect others’ religions while humbly adhering
to one’s own religious beliefs and practices.
If people exercised more political humility, we might have more civil
political campaigns and elections. Political gridlock would be lessened because
mutual respect might engage lawmakers more in finding solutions than in
pandering to special contingencies. Conflict will likely never be eradicated,
but more worldwide political humility might lead to fewer political struggles
within nations—and (we can dream) fewer wars. For a civil society that
values differences and freedom to talk about those differences, political
humility is also necessary. In recent decades, political dialogues have become

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more polarized. Even within parties, polarization has germinated, sprouted,

and grown—like a cancer, some might say. Understanding how humility
might mitigate polarization could help promote more thriving and peaceful
governments.
If people exercised more intellectual humility, they might share more risky
ideas, engage in synthetic win–win problem solving, and express less intel-
lectual arrogance. To have civil conversations and discuss ideas that advance
knowledge usually requires thinking outside of the box. So, for productive dis-
cussions, we need intellectual humility. Ideally, intellectual communities might
correct self-interested biases. But we live in a deeply self-justifying world, so we
often tend to bolster biases instead of correct them. But, to the extent we can
become more intellectually humble, perhaps some of those biases might be put
aside. That might help many communities not become so entrenched in the
absolute “rightness” of their ideas.
If people exercised more cultural humility, we might improve inter-
national relations, help international businesses thrive, and have better
relations across ethnicities. In today’s worldwide culture, we need humility
to deal with multinational corporations and in international travel. We
spend each day interacting with and exchanging information with people
across cultures. (Just today, I [Ev] have arranged a meeting with a law-
yer from Colombia, e-mailed a professor from Germany and another from
Spain, and worked on a grant with people from both Ghana and South
Africa—a typical day.) Within the helping professions, cultural humility is
crucial. A helper must understand many people’s problems in the context
of their culture.
If people exercised more relational humility, we might live more peaceably
in romantic partnerships, families, workplaces, and communities. Relational
humility refers to our ability to place the needs of the relationship over
self-interest. Thus, relational humility looks different in different types of
relationships. We must be sympathetic to the other person, consider his or
her needs, and then—because in humility we are other-oriented—we ele-
vate the other person’s agenda for the good of the relationship. We create
a context where sacrificing for the relationship becomes self-reinforcing
because partners value each other. This can contribute to a sense of trust.
In support of a warm other-orientation as an essential component of humil-
ity, Thielmann and Hilbig (2015) examined personality traits (using the
HEXACO model) within a trust game. Trustworthiness was predicted by
unconditional kindness—operationalized by honesty–humility—but not by
either positive reciprocity or negative reciprocity. This at least hints at a
warmth component of humility. Partners can become more committed when
they perceive each other as trustworthy and can enjoy giving to each other.
Humility helps relationships thrive.

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In short, we believe your interest in humility, and research on it, can be

self-sustaining. This is true because its importance and relevance today and
in the future will likely increase.

Will the Scientific Study of Humility Enrich Humanity?

Taken together, more knowledge about the varieties of humility and
more examples of how people throughout history have acted humbly in very
difficult situations can pay off for individuals, families, groups, communi-
ties, societies, and the world. The stakes are high. Egos are on display every-
where and conflict with each other. And humility often hides when egos
are strained. So, now is the time for us to consolidate the knowledge and
experiences we have in a variety of areas regarding humility so that we can
formulate agendas that set the next steps to social improvement. In the fol-
lowing chapters, we seek to consolidate scientific knowledge while making
an important case that humility is formed and nurtured as people are oriented
toward others.
We believe that the field needs consolidation, and we are taking a step
in that direction with this book. The new generation of researchers who are
actively pursuing research in humility, as well as their postdocs and students,
are all pursuing research agendas. We hope to describe some of those agendas
in the remaining pages. We try not to “preach” humility as the cure to all ills
or human suffering. But we certainly believe that humility has a lot of payoffs,
that heroically humble people have things to teach us, and that a nascent
science of applying humility can teach us things about self-improvement,
character development, organizational living, and leadership.

INTRODUCTION TO AND THEMES OF HEROIC HUMILITY

Throughout the book we keep returning to several major themes.

1. Scientific study of humility has burgeoned. There is consensus
about the definition of humility. One major question remains: Is
humility merely lack of self-focus, or is it focusing on others (and
thereby focusing less on the self)? We take the latter position.
2. The scientific study of humility has progressed because scien-
tists have gotten past the measurement conundrum—that one
cannot trust self-reports of humility.
3. Hypotheses can be formulated regarding humility. Many have
received empirical support. These include our definition of
humility; humility’s connection to other virtues; the relationship

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of humility to good social relationships; and the benefits of

being humble to physical health, mental health, spirituality,
society, and one’s ultimate life satisfaction.
4. If humility is to experience a cultural resurgence, we must
be weaned from the self-focus that Western culture has been
nursed on. That will require heroism, leadership, and humil-
ity. Developing humble heroic leadership is personally and
culturally beneficial.
5. This is possible in our very me-oriented culture. We provide
examples in historical, religious, political, and public life that
illustrate aspects of humility, show how it looks in practice, and
inspire people to move toward development of heroic humility.
6. Many have become heroically humble, some even rising from
adversity or from dishonor.
7. We draw researchable life lessons from both the science of
humility and from the models of heroic humility that we iden-
tified to show how people can develop humility in the midst of
a self-focused culture. We discuss the strains and challenges of
being humble.
8. Clinical trials have tested the use of a humility-promoting
workbook, PROVE Humility.
9. There are practical ways that psychological and clinical scientists
can help others be more humble and reap humility’s benefits.
As we move into the in-depth study of humility, we begin, in Part I, at
the most basic level. What is humility? How does it reveal itself? How is it
assessed?

WHAT DID WE LEARN IN THIS CHAPTER?

1. Heroic humility is inspirational. It is humility so deeply ingrained

in a person and so consistently practiced that we want to emulate
it to be a more noble person.
2. Humility has three characteristics: Humble people (a) have an
accurate sense of self, know their limitations, and are teachable;
(b) present themselves modestly; and (c) are especially oriented
to advancing others by using their power under control to build
others up and not to squash them down.
3. We need a book on heroic humility because (a) recent gen-
erations have neglected humility; (b) we have forgotten many
inspirational heroes of humility; (c) it isn’t just for religious

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people; and (d) arrogance has led to spectacular falls from power
in business, and 2016 political campaigning was hardly a paragon
of humility on either side.
4. The study of humility—religious, political, intellectual, cul-
tural, and relational humilities—can help people be better and
build a better world. It can engage scientists in a new ground
floor field, which is on the verge of exploding in activity.
5. We identified nine themes to which we will repeatedly return.

THREE QUESTIONS FOR THOUGHT AND DISCUSSION

1. What are the differences between a humble hero and heroic

humility?
2. Where do you stand on the definition of humility? Must people
simply be less self-focused to be humble, or do they need to be
oriented to help others?
3. Which is the most important reason to study humility scientifi-
cally, and why: because deficits in humility show how very much
individuals and society need humility or because we might do
good things through the study.

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