6 The Twin Dimensions of the Virtue of Humility: Low Self-Focus and High Other-Focus Although humility is often equated in people’s minds with low self-regard and tends to activate images of the stoop-shouldered, self-deprecating, weak-willed soul only too willing to yield to the wishes of others, in reality humility is the antithesis of this caricature. —Robert A. Emmons (1998, p. 33) Humility is one of the strangest of the traditional virtues. On the one hand, it is associated with positive traits—being down-to-earth, keeping one’s accomplishments in proper perspective, being less self-occupied, and dis- playing a willingness to help (and forgive) others. On the other hand, it has been associated with traits such as low-mindedness, self-abasement, self-denigration, and even self-loathing. For these and related reasons, philosophers and psychologists have found humility puzzling and problematic. It is one thing to insist that humility requires us to understand our proper place and to focus more on others than we focus on ourselves. It is another thing altogether to insist that we view ourselves as inherently corrupted, vile, and wretched—as some prominent theologians have suggested. Given the more extreme conceptions of humility, it is no wonder that many philosophers have dismissed humility. Nor should we be surprised by how little it has been empirically studied. But before we pass judgment on humility (whether positive or negative), we must first decide what we take it to be (and not to be). Whether we follow St. Thomas Aquinas (1274/1972) and others in defining humility as “self-abasement to the lowest place” (Summa Theologiae [ST], II-II, Q. 161, Art. 1, ad. 2) or instead define it more innocuously as the capacity to keep one’s accomplishments and self-worth in perspective, this initial definition will influence what we conclude about the nature and value of humility. Thomas Nadelhoffer and Jennifer Cole Wright PROPERTY OF THE MIT PRESS FOR PROOFREADING, INDEXING, AND PROMOTIONAL PURPOSES ONLY 9245_006.indd 309 9/26/2016 10:01:01 AM