The “H” in the H factor stands for “Honesty-Humility,” and it’s one of only six basic dimensions of personality. People who have high levels of H are sincere and modest; people who have low levels are deceitful and pretentious. It isn’t intuitively obvious that traits of honesty and humility go hand in hand, and until very recently the H factor hadn’t been recognized as a personality dimension. But scientific evidence shows that honesty and humility belong to a unified group of personality characteristcs, separate from five other groups identified several decades ago.

This book, written by the discoverers of the H factor, explores the importance of this personality dimension in various aspects of people’s lives: their approaches to money, power, and sex; their inclination to commit crimes or obey the law; their attitudes about society, politics, and religion; and their choice of friends and spouse. Finally, the book provides ways of identifying people who are low in the H factor, as well as advice on how to raise one’s own level of H.