Honesty-humility and prosocial behavior: The mediating roles of perspective taking and guilt-proneness

Abstract

The prosocial personality trait of honesty-humility has received extensive attention in the last decade. However, research on the mechanism underlying the relationship between honesty-humility and prosocial behavior is rather scarce. This study aims to explore the internal mechanism underlying this relationship to draw a complete picture of the honesty-humility trait. A sample of 458 Chinese young adults was obtained to complete self-report measures of honesty-humility, perspective taking, guilt-proneness, and prosocial behavior. The mediation model revealed that: (1) honesty-humility positively related to prosocial behavior; (2) perspective taking and guilt-proneness mediated the relationship between honesty-humility and prosocial behavior, separately; and (3) the effect of honesty-humility on prosocial behavior was mediated via perspective taking and then guilt-proneness. In conclusion, we provide an initial support for the mediating roles of perspective taking and guilt-proneness in the relationship between honesty-humility and prosocial behavior. Both theoretical and practical implications for understanding the psychological mechanisms of prosocial behavior are discussed.

Keywords: Guilt-proneness; honesty-humility; mediation model; perspective taking; prosocial behavior; prosocial personality.