Personality and the Likelihood to Sexually Harass

Abstract

To identify personality traits associated with sexual harassment proclivities, scales that measure the Likelihood to Sexually Harass (LSH) and personality traits were administered to 150 respondents. Peer reports of personality were also obtained from respondents' acquaintances. The Big Five factors and a newly suggested major dimension of personality, named Honesty–Humility, were measured to represent respondents' personalities. Two major findings were obtained. First, as predicted, Honesty–Humility was more strongly associated with sexual harassment proclivities than were any of the Big Five, within both self- and peer reports. Second, among the Big Five, only peer-reported Intellect/Imagination (i.e., Openness to Experience) contributed to the prediction of LSH independently of Honesty–Humility. The importance of using an optimal framework of personality structure was discussed.