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This version was published on July 1, 2008
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 34, No. 7, 978-992 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0146167208316734

Everyday Conceptions of Modesty: A Prototype Analysis

Aiden P. Gregg

University of Southampton, aiden{at}soton.ac.uk

Claire M. Hart

University of Southampton

Constantine Sedikides

University of Southampton

Madoka Kumashiro

Goldsmiths College, University of London

Good theoretical definitions of psychological phenomena not only are rigorously formulated but also provide ample conceptual coverage. To assess the latter, we empirically surveyed everyday conceptions of modesty in a combined U.S./U.K. sample. In Study 1, participants freely generated multiple exemplars of modesty that judges subsequently sorted into superordinate categories. Exemplar frequency and priority served, respectively, as primary and secondary indices of category prototypicality that enabled central, peripheral, and marginal clusters to be identified. Follow-up studies then confirmed the ordinal prototypicality of these clusters with the aid of both explicit (Studies 2 and 3) and implicit (Study 3) methodologies. Modest people emerged centrally as humble, shy, solicitous, and not boastful and peripherally as honest, likeable, not arrogant, attention-avoiding, plain, and gracious. Everyday conceptions of modesty also spanned both mind and behavior, emphasized agreeableness and introversion, and predictably incorporated an element of humility.

Key Words: modesty • humility • prototype analysis


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