Loyalty espousers love to help and care for individuals and their community, and like to maintain those connections for long periods of time. Such loyalty is an important driver of their everyday behaviour, because it is seen as a virtue that is core to their character — to do the best you can do for others. These heartfelt connections are even stronger when their loyal support further develops a sense of fairness, justice and equality between people.

This strong sense of connection to people around them also extends to taking care of Mother Nature. Looking after the surrounding environment is taken very personally. Like their commitment to people, this dedication to a greener world is a lifelong commitment.

Loyalty espousers love to see other people happy, particularly if they have contributed to developing such happiness. Other people being happy and experiencing good fortune makes them feel happy also. This is the classic profile of a parent, where the joy of seeing happiness in their offspring gives parents a sense of fulfilment, so it is not too surprising to discover that women over 65 years of age index significantly higher on attribute – the archetypal grandmother.

The Loyalty attribute offers shared ground for two distinct subgroups who have rather different values sets, but where both groups feel devoted to helping people around them.

The first group believes that we are stronger and safer together, so the need to protect and to be protected underpins their sense of loyalty to each other. This sense of being in it together helps to maintain a strong sense of social order. They do not need to know particular individuals well to trigger a sense of loyalty, because a sense of duty or patriotism tends to arise more from unalterable facts such as shared biological ties or place of birth.

On the other hand, while biological ties and place of birth do contribute to the second group’s sense of loyalty, they are not so strong as those connections made through personal choice, such as friends and colleagues who have learned to value and trust each other over time. Here, there is a stronger sense of compassion, rather than duty.

What all Loyalty espousers share is a sense of enduring connection with other people and a willingness, under the right circumstances, to put their concern for others before their own self-advancement.