Humility in context: Insights from eastern and western research

Abstract

Humility is a multifaceted psychological construct that has been widely discussed in East Asian and Western philosophy and the social sciences. However, empirical psychological research, especially outside of Western contexts, remains limited. While humility is often associated with traits such as accurate self-perception, unselfishness, and openness to one's limitations, these features primarily reflect Western interpretations. This review explores how humility has been defined and measured in psychological research, particularly within the Western context, by analyzing existing humility scales and their operationalization of the construct. Then, by drawing on a recent lay theory study conducted in South Korea, we compare culturally grounded understandings of humility and identify domains that are either underrepresented or absent in existing Western models. We further integrate insights from East Asian philosophical traditions, particularly Confucianism, to highlight culturally grounded or underrepresented dimensions of humility, such as propriety and self-lowering. These findings underscore the need for a more culturally expanded and context-sensitive conceptualization of humility and offer directions for future research.