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Character: A Developmental System
Author(s) -
Nucci Larry
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
child development perspectives
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1750-8606
pISSN - 1750-8592
DOI - 10.1111/cdep.12313
Subject(s) - character (mathematics) , psychology , identity (music) , context (archaeology) , moral character , cognition , control (management) , social psychology , moral behavior , orientation (vector space) , self control , cognitive psychology , moral disengagement , computer science , neuroscience , geometry , mathematics , paleontology , physics , artificial intelligence , acoustics , biology
In this article, I discuss character as a system that includes four components: moral cognition, other‐related social–emotional capacities and skills, self‐regarding capacities for executive control and self‐regulation, and discourse skills for responsive engagement and an orientation for principled moral change. The character system is active, adjusting itself in response to social and emotional experiences and in an effort to keep the components of the system working harmoniously. It is dynamically related to the context, generating decisions and actions that are coherent within but not entirely consistent across contexts. Decisions and actions alter the self‐system, thereby affecting subsequent decisions and actions. The character system is located within a larger self‐system, and it interacts with that self‐system in a relationship that is also self‐maintaining. This two‐way interaction alters both the character system and the self‐system, leading to growth in character and related changes in personal identity and the sense of self. This system view contrasts with traditional definitions of character in terms of virtues.