Values and Virtues in the Military. Nadine Eggimann Zanetti

in the form of habits: “Your task is to build up a character in your pupils; and character, as I have so often said, consists in an organized set of habits of reaction” (James, 1899, p.108). Furthermore, he stated that “the (…) ‘character’ of an individual means really nothing but the habitual form of his associations. To break up bad associations or wrong ones, to build others in, to guide the associative tendencies into the most fruitful channels, is the educator’s principal task” (p. 57–58). Consequently, character is assumed to be capable of adaptation as a result of repetitive habits.

      There is a broad variety of definitions on character as part of a complex positive psychological concept. Lickona (1991) sees character as doing the right thing despite outside pressure to the contrary. Furthermore, Berkowitz (2002) defines character as an individual set of psychological characteristics that affect the person’s ability to function morally. Pawelski (2003) summarizes a form of global definition of character stating that it is comprised of those characteristics that lead a person to do the right thing or not to do the right thing. Indeed, a ←40 | 41→common aspect of the various theoretical understanding of character is that it emphasizes volition and morality (Saucier & Srivastava, 2015).

      The initial study of morality and character within personality psychology can be seen with Gordon Allport (e.g., Allport & Allport, 1921). Allport (1937, p. 51) assumed that when “personal effort is judged from the standpoint of some code” that is based on social standards it is called character. Accordingly, Allport also (1937, p. 52) stated that “character is personality evaluated.” He sought to exclude ethical judgments from personality research. For Allport, the more evaluative the term is, the less reference to personality exists and the less value for the psychologist is gained. He considered such an ethical perspective on personality not necessary for psychology. Indeed, during the period of Allport’s greatest influence, the use of the term “character” became uncommon in personality psychology. Overall there was a trend to have the terminology of character substituted by personality representing the inclusion of biophysical and psychological characteristics.

      With the emergence of positive psychology at the beginning of the 21st century, the notion of character was taken up again as the inward determinant of a good life (Peterson, 2006). Specifically, Peterson and Seligman (2004) assumed that character is plural, not singular, and construed as a set of positive traits such as virtues and character strengths. Park and Peterson (2009, p. 1) refer to the importance of character with these significant words: “Good character is what we look for in leaders, what we look for in teachers and students, what we look for in colleagues at work, what parents look for in their children, and what friends look for in each other.” They continue by saying that good character “is not the absence of deficits and problems but rather a well-developed family of positive traits.” Peterson (2006) defines character as a family of individual differences, in principle distinct strengths that people possess to varying degrees, shown in thoughts, feelings, and actions. According to Boe (2017), a person can express his or her values through one’s character as a correlate of positive traits such as virtues. This understanding points to the fact that character and values are linked to each other. The VIA classification by Peterson and Seligman (2004) describes good character on three conceptual levels, where virtues as moral character traits constitute the highest level. Accordingly, good character is used primarily in relation to virtues (see section 3.6 on the conceptual difference between values and virtues).

      It is worth mentioning that this new understanding of character within the framework of positive psychology relies on the notion of personality psychology, which considers individual differences to be stable, but also shaped by the individuals’ setting, and therefore subject to change. According to Pawelski (2003), the new approach will lead to important answers regarding the issues of how character might be assessed.

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2.2.1 The VIA classification of strengths

      In the context of establishing positive psychology, Peterson and Seligman (2004) argued that it was necessary to develop a classification of positive traits (virtues). With this primary objective in mind, they conceptualized a “hierarchical classification of positive characteristics” (p. 13) to categorize, define, and measure important character strengths. The project resulted in the VIA classification of strengths, which describes good character⁹ via the following three conceptual levels:

      (a) virtues,

      (b) character strengths, and

      (c) situational themes (from the highest to the lowest level).

      Table 1 provides a list of the virtues and character strengths including their definitions.

       Tab. 1: Classification of the six core virtues and 24 character strengths (Peterson & Seligman, 2004, pp. 29–30)

Virtue I.	Wisdom and knowledge: intellectual strengths that entail the acquisition and use of knowledge
(1)	creativity [synonyms are originality, ingenuity]: thinking of novel and productive ways to do things
(2)	curiosity [interest, novelty-seeking, openness to experience]: taking an interest in all of ongoing experience
(3)	open-mindedness [judgment, critical thinking]: thinking things through and examining them from all sides
(4)	love of learning: mastering new skills, topics, and bodies of knowledge
(5)	perspective [wisdom]: being able to provide wise counsel to others
Virtue II.	Courage: emotional strengths that involve the exercise of will to accomplish goals in the face of opposition, external or internal
(6)	bravery [valor]: not shrinking from threat, challenge, difficulty, or pain
(7)	persistence [perseverance, industriousness]: finishing what one starts
(8)	integrity [authenticity, honesty] : speaking the truth and presenting oneself in a genuine way
(9)	vitality [zest, enthusiasm, vigor, energy]: approaching life with excitement and energy
Virtue III.	Humanity: interpersonal strengths that involve “tending and befriending” others
(10)	love: valuing close relations with others
(11)	kindness [generosity, nurturance, care, compassion, altruistic love, “niceness”]: doing favors and good deeds for others
(12)	social intelligence [emotional intelligence, personal intelligence]: being aware of the motives and feelings of self and others
Virtue IV.	Justice: civic strengths that underlie healthy community life
(13)	citizenship [social responsibility, loyalty, teamwork]: working well as member of a group or team
(14)	fairness: treating all people the same according to notions of fairness and justice
(15)	leadership: organizing group activities and seeing that they happen
Virtue V.	Temperance: strengths that Скачать книгу В начало < 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 > В конец