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Integrity Gradient Scale

How values guide actions, become inconsistent or are used to protect an image and impose control.

Pattern referenceExplanations and examples

Values in everyday actions

Integrity concerns the relationship between stated values and everyday actions: whether honesty, fairness, care or responsibility still guide decisions when they become inconvenient. People can fall short and work to repair the difference. This scale distinguishes that effort from repeated inconsistency, using values to avoid accountability and using moral authority to demand obedience.

Read one part of the pattern at a time

Choose a level to compare its words, actions, and effects.

Level 1 of 4

Value Alignment

The person’s actions reflect their stated values, including how they respond when they fall short.

Someone who values honesty corrects an inaccurate account even when the correction is embarrassing. Someone who values fairness applies an agreement to themselves as well as others. Integrity does not mean never making mistakes or keeping a promise that has become impossible. It includes naming the gap, explaining changed circumstances and taking practical steps to repair harm or revise an agreement honestly.

SOUNDS LIKE

“I gave you the wrong information. I need to correct it.”

“That decision was unfair. I will change it.”

“I cannot keep the original agreement. Let us discuss what needs to happen now.”

LOOKS LIKE
  • Applies stated standards to their own conduct.
  • Acknowledges a gap between a value and an action without hiding the consequences.
  • Makes concrete corrections and follows through on revised agreements.

Insight: Consistency alone is not enough: a person can consistently follow a harmful belief. This reference concerns values such as honesty, fairness and care, alongside respect for other people’s rights and limits.

These forms are not fixed identities or stages everyone passes through. They can overlap or change. Examples explain a pattern; one phrase does not establish motives, remorse or a nervous-system state. This scale is a reference, not a diagnosis, personal score or safety verdict.

A Note for Neurodivergent Folks

Planning, memory and energy can affect whether a person follows through. Difficulty completing a task does not reveal whether their values are real.

Consider whether commitments are realistic, whether support or adjustments are needed, and whether missed agreements and their consequences are addressed. An explanation of difficulty and responsibility for its effects can both matter.

Using this reference

Comparing values with actions

Use the scale to consider a value you want to live by, or a value someone else claims. Look at specific decisions and how contradictions are addressed.

If you recognise your own response

Choose a specific gap between what you say and what you do. Name its effect, make a realistic correction and review agreements you cannot keep. A claim about your intentions does not complete that work.

If you are considering someone else’s response

Compare the stated value with relevant actions and the response when you raise a concern. You can recognise an unresolved contradiction without deciding that every value the person expresses is false.

Related tools

Choose another tool if you want to look at a nearby part of what happened.

Accountability Gradient ScaleGradient ScaleExplore how people respond after causing harm: addressing it, defending themselves, using an apology to demand reassurance, or denying the harm and punishing anyone who raises it.Open toolDoes Their Confidence Make Room for Other People?3-ColumnCompare their responses to other people’s achievements, to criticism and to their own mistakes.Open toolControl–Care Gradient ScaleGradient ScaleExplore how rules, care and authority can support autonomy, become restrictive, apply emotional pressure or enforce obedience.Open tool

Quick answers

Does integrity mean never changing your mind?

No. Revising a belief or agreement can reflect integrity when new information matters. Explain the change, consider who is affected and address existing responsibilities rather than silently abandoning them.

Does inconsistent follow-through prove someone is dishonest?

No. Capacity, competing responsibilities and practical barriers matter. Consider what was agreed, what was possible, how difficulties were communicated and whether the consequences are addressed.

How is performed alignment different from making a mistake?

A mistake is a gap between a value and an action. In performed alignment, claims about values or good character are used to prevent examination or repair of that gap. The distinction concerns the response to the conduct.

Does consistent behaviour always show integrity?

No. Someone can consistently act on a harmful belief. This reference considers the relationship between actions and values such as honesty, fairness and care, including respect for other people’s rights.