Bringing angels and demons down to earth: Real-life generality and mechanisms of the link between personality and ethical behavior

这一拟议的后续项目旨在延续前一个项目的核心调查结果。最初的项目调查了最近提出的赫士古人格模型中定义的人格维度诚实-谦逊的有效性。作为一项中心测试，我们调查了--与潜在理论相对应--自我报告的诚实--谦逊分数是否真的可以分别预测道德行为或诚实行为。在一系列实验中，先前的项目表明，在已建立的行为范式中，诚实-谦逊(但没有其他基本特质维度)与诚实行为产生了一致、实质性和强有力的正向关系。拟议的项目是对这一发现的跟进，旨在提供关于道德行为的一般更广泛的知识，并更彻底地理解这种行为和个性之间的关系。相应地，该项目针对观察到的诚实效应的一般性(何时)和潜在的心理过程(为什么)-谦逊-主要目的是揭示涉及的心理过程(即，社会、认知和动机)。为此，该项目提出并建立了一个理论框架，该框架基于这一研究领域的当前知识状况，明确了道德行为的核心组成部分。通过对理论派生成分的具体实验操作，以及对相应的人-情境交互作用的测试，该项目严格审查了一系列关于人格特征(特别是诚实-谦逊)如何影响道德行为以及在哪些条件下(在现实生活中)是这样的具体假设。通过不同的范例扩展和新的操作，结果将额外扩展关于(不)诚实行为的一般先验知识。

This proposed follow-up project aims at continuation of the central findings from the previous Project. The original project investigated the validity of the personality dimension Honesty-Humility as defined in the recently proposed HEXACO Model of Personality. As a central test, we investigated whether - corresponding to the underlying theory - self-reported Honesty-Humility scores can actually predict ethical or honest behavior, respectively. In a series of experiments, the previous project showed that Honesty-Humility (but no other basic trait dimension) yielded a consistent, substantial, and robust positive relation to honest behavior in established behavioral paradigms. The proposed project follows-up on this finding, aiming to provide broader knowledge on ethical behavior in general and a more thorough understanding of the relation between such behavior and personality in particular. Correspondingly, the project targets both the generality (when) and the underlying psychological processes (why) of the observed effect of Honesty-Humility - with the primary aim of uncovering the psychological (that is, social, cognitive, and motivational) processes involved. To this end, the project puts forward and builds upon a theoretical framework that specifies the central components of ethical behavior based on the current state-of-knowledge in this research area. By means of specific experimental manipulations of the theoretically derived components - and tests of corresponding person-situation interactions - the project critically scrutinizes a series of specific hypotheses on how personality traits (specifically Honesty-Humility) influence ethical behavior and under which conditions (in the sense of real-life situations) this is the case. Through diverse paradigmatic extensions and new manipulations, the results will additionally extend prior knowledge on (dis)honest behavior in general.