UC Riverside

Humility is a quality marked by a secure, accurate self-concept and high focus on others relative to oneself. Although humility is socially valued and has been linked with positive interpersonal outcomes (e.g., generosity), little research to date has examined ways to make people sustainably more humble. However, at least three activities have been found to provide short-term increases in humility: experiencing awe, affirming self-relevant values (i.e., self-affirmation), and expressing gratitude. In two studies, I examined the efficacy of a multi-activity intervention designed to provide lasting boosts to humility. Study 1 tested the multi-activity intervention in a single-session to evaluate whether three humility activities together are more potent than any single activity. Participants completed either 1 or 3 of the possible humility activities or a set of 3 non-humility control activities. Those participants who completed all 3 activities were further assigned to do the activities in a random order, to assess how sequencing impacted the intervention’s effects. Although the 3-activity intervention was not more humbling than the control activities on aggregate, the hypothesized sequence of Awe-Affirmation-Gratitude did increase humility relative to controls and the other 3-activity sequences. Study 2 expanded the short-term multi-activity intervention into a 3-week online humility-boosting program. Participants (initial N = 1022) completed either 3 weekly humility-boosting activities (awe, self-affirmation, gratitude), 3 non-humility control activities, or no activities (waitlist condition). Relative to no activities, the humility program produced marginal increases in acceptance of humble beliefs, but did not decrease un-humble self-focused beliefs. However, the humility program was not discernably more impactful than the non-humility control activities, although effort towards the activities was associated with greater humility at a 4-week follow-up only for those participants who completed the humility program. The moderating role of effort tentatively supports the notion that repeatedly practicing humbling activities leads to humble beliefs “as a habit.” Also, low initial humility was associated with an increased likelihood of dropping out of the study among humility program and waitlist participants, but not among non-humility control participants. In sum, my findings provide encouraging, albeit preliminary, evidence for the humility benefits of a novel online humility-boosting program.