HONEST

The Paired Statements for Honest:

“I believe that honesty is the basis for trust.
I would not lie; even to get myself out of trouble.”

Figure 1. HONEST espousers

Demographically, these espousers are over-indexed amongst females (ratio to males 60/40); and amongst the over 55s; there is a straight-line index increase from 18-65+. They are under-indexed amongst males; and in the age group 18-44.

In many senses this is the core of any personal and cultural values system - and the healthy functioning of individual psyches and society at large. The propensity of individuals to tell the truth, even at their own expense, drives sustainable systems of trust in self and in others.

Individuals who refuse to lie to themselves have usually discovered, often through bitter experience, that owning their own truth saves a lot of unnecessary grief in the future. Espousal of this Attribute increases steadily at each stage of life; with the youngest adult age group (18-21) only indexing at 37 (63% below the average) and the 22-24 age group also under indexing at 48 (52% below average), while the 55-64 age group over indexes at 123, and the over 65s at 161.

This tells us that Honesty is a learned Attribute rather than something that is inherent in us all.

Understanding just this simple observation helps people, from mothers and fathers teaching their children to policy makers framing the way organizations and institutions operate, to create the conditions in which honesty drives truth and truth drives trust.

The more that people and cultures tell the truth, the more a ‘just society’, based on trust, can be created and sustained.

The basis of trust – the key element in healthy minds and just societies – is honesty. When there is little or no positive recognition and reward for honesty at an individual or cultural level the truth is oft times typified as ‘Brutal’. But life teaches people that telling the truth makes their life simpler and more satisfactory. Culturally one can speak and recognize truth in the absence of trust, but one cannot fully trust in the absence of truth.

In today’s world of culturally transmitted misinformation, disinformation and accusations of ‘fake news’, honesty is a purposeful, designed casualty. The truth is not valued and as a result the ability of people and cultures to ‘trust’ has been eroded.

Today’s culture wars are not about two competing versions of truth, or disputes about ‘alternative facts’. The disruption of trust is created by a wilful telling of lies by a minority of citizens, and groups, particularly within the on-line world. Those who reject the HONEST Attribute, personally and organizationally use the technology of social-media to create, transmit and amplify misleading memes and messages. The insidious creep of dishonesty creates the conditions for, not just the media-driven ‘culture wars’, but the much deeper Values War that reaches into the deeper realms of morality and ethics.

HONEST espousers realize that being honest provides the grounding for truths that are testable and rational, providing a base to understand reasons for their own and others’ attitudes, beliefs and behaviours.

These espousers tend to think things through before making up their minds; and seek to understand why they’ve made whatever choice they’ve made. They call this a rational approach. They use reason consciously to expose their own truth, which often carries through to what they say and do. Note that this does not reference any kind of ‘universal’ truth but simply reflects the espousers ‘internal, congruent’ truth. It just makes sense.

Being honest and telling the truth might seem at first to create a quite dull person to be around. Always using reason and thinking things through – very utilitarian. But life is not a series of routines in which logic determines attitudes and feelings. Life is chaotic; a second-by-second kaleidoscope of multi-sensual impacts on the espousers’ values system and physical body – constantly exposing them to change and testing their learned truths; their values. This is learning. Life is a process of continuous learning. Bit-by-bit these espousers build a consistent picture of the world in their own minds and conscience. Without self-honesty the chances of making ‘reasonable/sensible’ decisions are put at risk, both now and into the future. Being honest is a survival strategy second to none.

Even an honest person can be deflected from knowing a truth about something if dishonest statements and ‘facts’ are perpetrated at the social level and become ‘normalized’ through channels of distribution and repetition. In the age of social-media, continuous opportunities ‘to learn’ about almost anything are constantly present. The content of social-media, while a rich brew of tasty facts and opinions, can also be a fetid stew of wilful, dishonest disinformation and the spewing’s of unreasoning minds. Among the espousers of HONEST, their propensity to examine consciously their own patterns of thought and behaviour means that they are constantly aware of their learnings. Learning to learn is a learning to them. Their honestly and awareness of their own biases keeps the truth fresh and easily explicable - a natural counter to lies and distortion from others that may make truths harder to define.

So does this kaleidoscopic picture lead to a ‘reasonable and sensible’ view that life is basically meaningless and that only a constantly reactive response is the practical option – living in the now but with the knowledge that there are no real truths, only continual changes? Is this a world view that leads espousers to ‘live fast, die young and have a beautiful corpse’ because there really is no tomorrow, just another ‘now’?

The short answer is ‘no’! In fact, it is exactly the opposite of the valorization of short term hedonism or a potentially reactive nihilism in the face of continuous change.

HONEST espousers realize that a life clearly perceived is to see, in many ways, that they are blessed with the life they have. No matter how awful others may say life is, there is always something to be grateful for. The truth in any situation is always a matter of perspective - and these espousers’ perceptions arc towards gratitude, rather than disappointment, anxiety or anger. Honesty, reasoning and learning lead them to an awareness of the benign nature of their own life – a source of happiness and gratitude for their existence. These people feel grateful for the life they have led so far. This is a hard-won reward for their approach to life (remember HONEST increases with age) and leads naturally onto their relations with others.

This is a response that finds joy in the accomplishments, achievements and happiness of others. Honesty leads to a clarity of vision of the world around them. They are grateful for their many blessings in life and one of those blessings is the ability to feel others’ happiness. They are not ‘closed off’, ‘rational’ people, moralistically judging the world and others. These are people who are open to new ideas and experiences. Their awareness of themselves allows them to ‘relax boundaries’ and genuinely empathize with others’ lives. This is a ‘growth experience’ – the experience of joy outside of oneself. To feel the honesty of joy in others becomes a truth to build-on in their own life. A virtuous cycle.

This positivity continues even in the face of potential catastrophe, like the state of the environment and climate change. They believe that, as an individual, they can and should make the effort to mitigate what is happening. This is simply part of their internal truth, and it will not be denied. Embracing HONEST has led them to truths that are likely to be defined as brutal and even a threat to their very existence – not existential threats but actual physical threats. They connect their life with environmental changes that effect multitudes of species, including our own. Because of their orientation to honesty and reason, they have determined they are part of the solution, not just drivers of the problem.

Making connections (personal and global) is a result of the initial honesty with themselves. This is why ‘dishonest’ disinformation and misinformation is so poisonous to a healthy culture. Dishonesty means that truth cannot be established and a sense of gratitude experienced. Feeling gratitude in one’s life and joy in other’s lives enables trust in others.

All of which leads to a perhaps unexpected insight. A picture of a self-aware independent thinker and socially connected individual willing and able to examine critically any situation at any time has emerged in this narrative. They are their own expert and able to stand their ground against other opinions. This is coming from a good place and allows them to ‘respectfully’ listen to others and to defer to greater expertise or insight as the situation demands. This means that their initial reaction to authority figures is to assume there is something to learn from them – just as they assume there is something to learn from the lowest of us. Showing respect for others is their default orientation – regardless of position in society – and does not imply a subservience to authority in either direction; though it may do so in others with different values systems.

They believe that respect is something they have to give, which they do willingly, but they also realize that others may not hold their values. The key to greater connection is not to charge full-bore at ‘issues’ at the level of disagreement but to have the respect for others to engage at deeper and more personal levels; to reframe issues with those in authority with whom the espouser may disagree; having the patience to create conditions where honesty, reason and learning can create an atmosphere of gratitude and joy to be experienced by those in authority.

Conclusion

Espousing HONEST is extremely rewarding and sustainable for all people. It is the key to digging ourselves, individually and as a species, out of some of our collective self-made holes – intellectually, morally, emotionally, politically and environmentally.


Here’s how HONEST breaks out amongst the Maslow groups.

Maslow Group Population (base) % Attribute % Index
Pioneers 37.7 42.6 113
Prospectors 36.8 29.8 81
Settlers 25.5 27.6 108


Figure 2. HONEST espousers - Pioneers

Demographically, these Pioneer espousers reflect much of the overall profile. They are still largely female. They still under index in the 25-44 age range, but more highly indexed among the 65+. They are under indexed in the C2 socio-economic group.

Amongst their top 6 associated Attributes, these Pioneers share 5 with the general profile. As the highest indexed Maslow Group (113), we might expect this.

So, what has been said in the description of the general group can be reflected here, with the thought that everything is amplified – with one significant exception.

These Pioneers feel less need to defer their judgements to ‘higher authority’. Though DEFERENCE is still over indexed at 115 among Pioneers, it only ranks 33 in terms of espousal amongst them; as opposed to DEFERENCE ranking seventh among the wider section of HONEST espousers. As noted at the end of the first section the Pioneers are liable to approach DEFERENCE with a very different mindset. Indeed, they would immediately want to know “what higher authority?” and “what makes it so?”

There is an old story about a gentleman who orders a poacher to leave his land immediately or suffer the consequences. The poacher asks by what right the gentleman claims it as HIS land, to which the gentleman replies that his ancestors fought for it and won it. The ‘Pioneer’ poacher thinks about this line of reasoning for a bit before ‘reasonably’ saying, “Then I will fight you for it”!

This orientation ties up nicely with the Pioneer ‘change starts with me’ acceptance of responsibility for the environment in which they live. Land-owners may legally own the land and do with it as they desire (within rules and laws); but Pioneer HONEST espousers will question not only the owners right to the land, but also the legitimacy of the behaviours of the landowners, or owners of capital, to run their legacies and organizations in a manner that these espousers find detrimental to the health of their immediate environment/community and to the world as a whole. Less deference and more responsibility and accountability is a hallmark that differentiates Pioneer HONEST espousers from the other HONEST espousers.

Conclusion

What makes these espousers stand out from the general profile is the strength of their commitment to being responsible and accountable for their actions in terms of the environment. Their honesty with themselves, does in fact lead to ‘brutal’ truths about their place in the world. Because of psychological bias towards gratitude and joy they are likely to seek positively to learn better ways of engaging with others – even those who may try to stand on their social position of a ‘higher authority’. To these Pioneers, deference is a two way street, as is honesty.


Figure 3. HONEST espousers - Prospectors

Demographically, this is skewed female/male 60/40 and over indexed in the 18-34 age group.

These Prospector HONEST espousers share only two of their top six Attributes with the general group. They do try to think things through before they make decisions. But we will shortly see that the type of things to which they put their critical faculties to work are in quite stark contrast to the interests of the HONEST group as a whole, but also between them and other groups.

Fortunately for them their honesty does lead them to be self-aware about themselves and their dreams for a better future. This truth leads to a sense of gratitude, and a very long list of things for which they are grateful. They will be among the most satisfied Prospectors, having found their purpose in life.

When ‘reasonably’ thinking things through, they will frequently think about how they will look if they choose one thing over another. This can impact their attitude to the truth.

They may often feel the need to compartmentalize what they, in their HONEST espousal hearts, believe from what they feel that they can safely express in public. Telling their truth, whilst one of their core values, can be more difficult to actually do; more so than it might to a Pioneer HONEST espouser. Seeking approval from others is a central driving principle for these Prospectors, so social displays creating approval in the eyes of others is very important. If the social behaviours driven by the two motivations – telling the truth and looking good - are not in congruence, a state of cognitive dissonance can develop. For the Prospector, this is the worst of ‘punishments’ – the potential disapproval by others, particularly those who ‘matter’.

Again, in common with Prospectors in general, almost at the top of their list of real concerns are actual physical appearances, and their acceptance by others. Their home, whatever shape or form it takes, is a crucial vehicle to express their identity – ‘MY’ space. If they invite you into it, they expect you to treat it with respect, and hope that you will be impressed. Their personal appearance – clothing and grooming – parallels this orientation, whether their chosen ‘look’ is grandiose, foppish, smart, casual or grunge. The important thing is that they ‘look the part’ for their particular reference group.

These Prospector espousers feel that they have found their purpose in life; that they have a good sense of what makes life meaningful. This can best be described as ‘a life well lived’, with some emphasis on possessions and experiences that can be bought. But they still have a very highly developed sense of ‘more’, wanting not just to achieve something in life for them and their family, but to create something of lasting value – to be recognized even after they depart the limelight, or even depart life altogether. In their honesty about their motives and their seeking and finding of their truths they CAN create something of lasting value. Many great philanthropic endeavours – charitable foundations, university chairs, community structures (hospitals, centres of community mixing – often associated with the arts, etc.) have been the legacy of HONEST Prospectors satisfying their needs to create lasting importance, in terms of their own materialistic values.

This is a very interesting group. They are the group responsible for the over-indexing of ‘deference to authority’ mentioned within the general HONEST profile. While the DEFERENCE Attribute itself does not appear in their top six, it does rank eighth out of 118 for them – higher than it is for any other group. Those to whom they will ‘defer’ are those to whom their aspirations are directed – those who they want to be seen to be ‘associated’ with. If they genuinely share their values set with those they aspire to be noticed by and emulate, it is likely they will be able to maintain and amplify their whole values set – creating great good for the communities within which they create ‘lasting importance. The downside for them is when their integrity – to be honest – clashes with the desires of those with higher authority; then their life can become filled with anxiety and drama.

Great literature, in many traditions and cultures, often produces stories of these HONEST espousing Prospectors facing dilemmas generated by their values. Taking responsibility for being true to their purpose – but being assailed by the internal turmoil caused by their deference to authority. The narrative is built on a basic dichotomy, i.e. a constant battle between those in authority wanting them to ‘do the thing right’ and the HONEST espousing Prospectors own values system pushing them to ‘do the right thing’.

Conclusion

What makes these espousers stand out from the crowd is simply that – they stand out from the crowd. This is a deliberate tactic. They have found a purpose in their life. They use reason, thinking through their own motives, to create images of themselves as people to be trusted, publicly displaying their achievements and visibly espousing their desire to do ‘even more’ – which has both upsides and downsides for them.


Figure 4. HONEST espousers - Settlers

Demographically, this group of Settler HONEST espousers over-index amongst DE males, peaking in the 45-54 age group. They under-index amongst the under 45s; and also amongst the AB socio-economic group.

Telling the truth is important to these espousers because life is almost unknowable for them. They can feel hemmed in and full of fear about the world at large – or almost anything outside their firmly locked front door. This self-created small world approach to life – “the less you know, the safer you feel” – can present a very different feel of HONEST espousers when compared to the other groups.

Almost all cultures have been derived from satisfying the fears, uncertainties and doubts of the Settlers. One of the oft found ways of allaying fears is through truth telling – exposing fears to the sunlight of knowledge, eliminating the shadows of fear - by being honest about the real and imagined shadows that blight lives.

In the moralistic world of many Settlers the dichotomy of ‘good vs evil’ is frequently used to frame issues that give cause for concern. In this world something isn’t just acceptable, it is Good. Something isn’t just a bit naff, it is Evil.

In todays polarized world people who hold views different from the Settlers can be demonized in the media, and common language usage, as 'Evil' (out to destroy our way of life, our country, and corrupt our children). In this same values world, ideas that are not particularly special or significant, but are espoused by authority figures can be heralded as 'Good'.

But at times deference to authority figures and their version of ‘the truth’ clashes with the HONEST espousing Settler telling no lies to themselves – craving the truth no matter how frightening that might be. In their internal narratives they want to know the truth, unlike other Settlers who find the truth can be frightening and would rather not question the ‘given’ version of it, even if it is against their own best interest. An old saying sums up the HONEST espousing Settler, “Tell the truth and shame the Devil.”

Another old saying sums up the role of truth in the mind of these Settlers, “the truth shall set you free”. Freedom from fear is protected by clinging to the truth, refusing to accept lies from themselves and others. By their nature these are not the activists in their groups and communities, they come to their honesty as a means of simplifying their life, cutting out the infuriating complexities. A life of no lies may be uncomfortable at times, but the more they tell their truth and live up to it, the simpler their life becomes. And the simple life is all they really want – to just coast along and survive in a world of conflicting opinions and unclear motivations.

They look for simple solutions to social issues that come to the fore after successive cascades of failures to resolve them. Brexit and promises of “controlling” borders, laws and money is an example of such a simple solution. Fears driven by the real needs of Settlers, for safety and protection from ‘the other’ encroaching on ‘their’ borders and threatening ‘their’ way of life, were exploited by ‘bad-faith partisans’ claiming to espouse HONEST. They were promised new rules and they voted for it expecting that others had the same orientation to HONEST as they did. It just goes to show, these Settlers might say, that you don’t need to fool the ALL people ALL of the time.

These espousers expect those in higher authority to rigidly enforce the rules, both old and new. Transgressors should be suitably punished; and children are not excluded from this. These people see strict discipline as in a child’s best interests; to prevent them from turning out as ‘deviant’ in the eyes of society.

Another simple solution to complex issues resulting from compounded failures is the approach to crime. Convicted criminals can expect only the harshest penalties from these referees. But there are certain types of crime that are particularly abhorrent to them; sex crimes, like rape and the abuse of children. These crimes are, in their view, deserving of more publicly visible retribution; whipping, flogging, maybe even capital punishment. These worst of deviants need to be seen to get their just desserts.

Does telling the truth and being oriented to simple solutions, strict rules and strong punishments generated by higher authorities produce feelings of gratitude? The quick answer is no.

Telling their truth does not bring them an expanded sense of self, the benefits of gratitude experienced by the Pioneers and Prospectors. The solutions they seek from authorities are hopes that they will be cocooned and protected from their fears, as opposed to the breaking out of the chrysalis of fear into a world of transformation, full of blessings to be counted.

Conclusion

These Settler espousers are primarily concerned with gaining and maintaining safe foundations for their lives. Compliance with rules and laws is expected; transgressions must be punished. Telling the truth is felt by Pioneers and Prospectors to open their world and widen their place within it, but to the Settlers it is more driven to seeking protection from the fears and anxieties generated by their view of the world.