Virtuous Traits Research Articles

Public perceptions of the brand image of nursing: Cross-cultural differences between the United States and China

BackgroundMeasures of public opinion regarding nursing’s brand image are needed to identify and correct perceptions that are incongruent with the breadth and scope of contemporary nursing practice. Misperceptions of nursing’s influence may serve to minimize or disregard nursing’s unique contributions to addressing the Social Determinants of Health which are foundational for improving the health of global populations. PurposeTo compare public perceptions of the brand image of nursing between China and the US and determine whether sociodemographic variables influenced factors between the two countries. MethodsA cross-sectional online survey was distributed among members of the Chinese and US public. Perceptions of nursing’s brand image were assessed through the original Nursing Brand Image Scale-Public Version in the US (NBIS-P©) and when translated to Chinese (NBIS-P-C©). Descriptive statistics and multi-group confirmatory factor analyses were used to compare perceptions of the brand image of nursing and to examine the influence of demographics. FindingsThe reliability of the Chinese version of the NBIS-P-C© was confirmed by this study. Age and gender did not influence public perceptions of nursing’s brand image in either China or the US. Instead, educational attainment was the significant demographic variable and positively correlated with the public’s perceptions of nursing in both countries (p<.05). Public respondents with lower educational attainment scored both the traditional nursing factor “Caregiver Virtues/Attributes” (eg. Trusted, Caring, Nurturing/Mothering) and the factor “Lack Authority/Identity” (eg. White Cap/Uniform, Subservient, Female) higher, while scoring the factor for “Leadership” (eg. Decision Makers, Influential, Leaders) significantly lower than those with higher educational levels. ImplicationsA disparity exists between nursing’s contemporary contributions to healthcare and the public’s limited understanding of the diverse leadership roles all nurses provide, across a variety of settings, and in global public health initiatives. The virtuous traits of the nurse are perceived most directly and immediately by the public while their roles as autonomous decision makers and leaders are less (or not at all) visible. Enhancing the accuracy and visibility of a strong brand image could advance public perceptions of nurses as experts and leaders in nursing science, thus paving the way for nurses to more effectively direct and influence the health of the public, particularly those with lower educational attainment who represent some of the most vulnerable populations. Targeted interventions that incorporate the educational level of the public offer a foundational opportunity for the nursing profession to correct inaccurate and outdated stereotypes that prevent nurses from achieving their desired brand image as influential leaders. Such campaigns could also be used to inform policy, guide strategic planning, and transform the future direction of the nursing profession.

Compassionate communication: a scoping review

Empirical evidence from compassion literature reports the inherent difficulty in teaching compassion-related qualities and indicates the recent shift towards promoting interventions focusing on enhancing communication skills associated with compassionate care. Given the absence of a strong empirical and theoretical understanding of compassionate communication, the present scoping review identifies and integrates the definitions and theoretical approaches to compassionate communication based on the existing literature. A total of 5,813 records identified through an initial search in four databases (Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed and APA PsycNet) combined with the 49 obtained through manual search, underwent screening based on PRISMA-ScR guidelines. A total of 57 articles that met the eligibility criteria were finalised for narrative synthesis (which included a thematic and content analysis). The review serves as a constructive critique of the contradictions and issues with empirical evidence on verbal and non-verbal compassion and portrays the concept to exist beyond its impact on the alleviation of suffering by describing compassionate communication in light of (1) cognitive aspects, (2) affective aspects, (3) behavioural/state aspects (4) relational aspects, (5) self-compassion, (6) mutuality, (7) individual-specific virtuous traits or values. The necessity for an integrative definition of compassionate communication and a theoretical framework that links the components of compassionate communication with its antecedents and outcomes is highlighted. The review is a valid and reliable source of guidance for future research on theory, education, and interventions on compassionate communication. The findings of the review can be interpreted in light of both contemporary and traditional communication theory, having practical implications for different domains of society (i.e., family, workplace relationships, business, and healthcare).

The Importance of Islamic Regal Leadership in Zakat Delivery to Its Recipients in Perlis

The purpose of this article is to justify that Islamic regal leadership in Perlis plays a very important role in the delivery of zakat to its recipients with a goal to alleviate poverty. This study argues that Islamic regal leadership benefits the recipients in Perlis by adopting effective Islamic governance based on the principle of al-siyāsah al-sharʿiyyah and adab through the reflections of wisdom and justice in Islam derived from the the Holy Quran. Accordingly, this article discusses how His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Perlis, as the ulū al-amr (Islamic leader), adopts Islamic values and virtues while expressing benevolence (i.e., kindness) by personally hand delivering the zakat to its recipients. The primary data collected were from interviews with selected respondents representing interested parties such as policy makers and zakat contributors. About 30 zakat recipients were chosen to take part in a faceto-face interview. The data collected were analysed through qualitative methods using Atlas.ti 8 and triangulated with the literature to show that virtuous traits, beneficence (i.e., being charitable) and righteousness in Islamic regal leadership in Perlis have benefitted the recipients by transitioning them out of poverty through three positive interdependent factors, namely the important existence of Islamic regal leadership traits in His Royal Highness, the fulfilment of the zakat recipients’ needs and the opportunities for the zakat recipients to set up businesses. The findings of this study are useful to those concerned about Islamic regal leadership and to those responsible for zakat delivery to its recipients. This is a pioneer study, presenting new observations and knowledge pertaining to Perlis.

Twitter-generated Moral Panic and Its Effect on Pretrial Incarceration/ Bail: Contextualizing the Tale of ‘Folk Devil’ Aryan Khan

The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, which was enacted with an intent to control drug abuse and prohibit its trade, has blurred the line between the offender and the victim, particularly in cases of addicts. Nonetheless, the focus of this study is the multifarious victimization of the offender: overcriminalization in terms of measures, lengthy pretrial incarceration and increased sensationalism in cases of offenders belonging to high strata of society, thus creating a moral panic. Incident of victimization is juxtaposed with public concern solicited by the reporting of cases. The stigmatization endured and the trauma suffered by the accused owing to the full media glare strike on their innocence and violate their right to life and dignity. Aim and Objective: A criminal justice system is an institutionalized means of rendering justice. One of the virtuous traits of a criminal justice system modelled on the ethos of due process is its attempt to achieve certainty and transparency in its process and the outcomes. However, no institution is infallible as manifested by the misuse of draconian provisions of the NDPS Act 1985. This study first evaluates whether disposal of bail matters in NDPS cases is a classic case of overcriminalization leading to the victimization of the offender; second, it gauges the impact of public reaction depicting ‘moral panic’ of the offender in the disposal of bail matters. Methodology: The study was conducted through a detailed content analysis of the public reaction in the Aryan Khan drug case on the micro-blogging site Twitter with the help of the content analysis tool NVivo. Findings: The outcome of the study manifests positive interrelationship between moral panic and public perception, positive interrelationship between moral panic and status of the person arrested which consequentially affects the period of pretrial incarceration (denial of bail).

STEM/STEAM in Early Childhood Education for Sustainability (ECEfS): A Systematic Review

We sought to explore the intersection between interdisciplinary STEM/STEAM educational approaches and Early Childhood Education for Sustainability (ECEfS). For that, we conducted a systematic review of Web of Science, Scopus, ERIC, and Scielo databases from 2007 to 2022 following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) commandments. The systematic search led to a list of 12 articles, and we analysed them through theoretical orientations, educational perspectives, and pictures of children’s nature. We found that most studies focus on sustainability’s environmental pillar and address the discipline of science more frequently. Additionally, the authors tend to assume a theoretical orientation on the need for connecting children to a sustainable issue and picture the Apollonian child—assuming children are essentially good and emerge with virtuous traits from this contact, such as environmental care. Accordingly, researchers usually propose experiential learning in environments or settings related to sustainability, while there is a lack of teaching STEM/STEAM knowledge and skills on sustainability or engaging children to act for sustainability. We verified that they frequently lose opportunities to explicitly discern STEM/STEAM knowledge areas and their intersections in moments that could benefit children’s learning.

The Objective Study to the Meaning of Humiliation from the Perspective of the Holy Quran

Preserving the self, the highness above humiliation, and preserving its dignity is what our Islamic law called for, and raised its children on it. All matters are in the hands of Allah Almighty, and none of the creation possesses death or life for anyone, neither benefit nor harm, and they do not possess sustenance, so why humiliate the servant. He who humiliates himself must grow up and follow the path of glory and dignity that Allah Almighty wills, and humiliation is only for Allah Almighty in obedience to Him and righteousness in His law, for He is the sole owner of the kingdom. The reasons for happiness are self-esteem, that is to feel that he is dear and respected by himself and in others. On the contrary, a person's feeling of humiliation, ignominy, and insignificance of himself brings him a feeling of unhappiness and misery. We must avoid self-humiliation because there is nothing more important than honor and dignity. Islam is concerned with the subject of pride, and the believer should not humiliate himself. Glory belongs to Allah, His Messenger, and the believers. Man is Allah’s vicegerent on earth and the master of his creatures, and he is the one who prides and honors him. This caliph must feel proud and cherished because he is connected to the highest authority and dearest power. There are many verses and hadiths that condemn humiliation and forbid it. A person is called upon to regain his self-esteem, and defend it, whatever the cost, and he does not possess it in isolation from the value reform, which is the backbone of every positive change. Being able to establish the values of self-esteem makes one refuse to live dearly, and the effect of that virtuous trait will be reflected in the self to become normal. This, in turn, will enhance a person's self-confidence, so that he appreciates his capabilities, takes pride in his achievements, and puts himself in the circle of important accounts that do not accept infringement upon, and self-esteem becomes a red line that cannot be crossed. Therefore, he will receive a strong reaction, as there is no room for complacency in it at all. That is why he who does not enjoy a dear soul has a very weak immunity against attempts to kill the moral conscience and the heart that lead to living like beasts and luminaries that do not know where to put themselves.

Machines of the Mind: Personification in Medieval Literature by Katharine Breen

Reviewed by: Machines of the Mind: Personification in Medieval Literature by Katharine Breen Arielle Moscati Katharine Breen Machines of the Mind: Personification in Medieval Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2021), 368 pp. While Katharine Breen's acknowledgements state that Machines of the Mind begins and ends with Piers Plowman (ca. 1370–90), the book itself so carefully charts the history and modern-day relevance of personification that the reader almost forgets that at the center is Langland's own usage of the allegorical tool. Breen's four-part study charts three schools of personification—the Prudentian, the Neoplatonic, and the Aristotelian—before concluding with a dedicated chapter on Langland. The impetus of this text is the question of how exactly medieval personifications were utilized to educate the reader on large abstract concepts. The examples Breen points to are incredibly complex; they not only allow an intimacy to the otherwise vague concept but also point to the exchange of information, not just from the personification to the reader but from human limits to the personification. No detail is left unnoticed in this meticulous study. In surveying types of personification, Breen also looks toward modern-day relevance. As Breen points out, this concept of education via personification is a very modern and current teaching tactic, bringing to mind Highlight's Goofus and Gallant. In doing so, Breen marks a technological bridge between the two time periods. Machines of the Mind is one of the most thorough and insightful texts on personification available. [End Page 224] Breen begins her book by discussing how the tech industry rediscovered the usefulness of binding up data into a somewhat human shape in the early twentyfirst century. However, their use of the tool is a shallow one that doesn't go beyond marketing. It's a great entry-point, perhaps a good example for undergraduates, in understanding how personification works, although of course the medieval and early modern usage of personification is far more complex. As Breen moves into medieval personification, she starts with Gregory the Great, and here is where the book's eye-catching title is explained: Gregory describes the personifications as machina, an engine of thought. Breen's lengthy introduction both maps early medieval usages of these machines and charts early criticism of personification as a tool. In her words, she wishes to "dust off personification studies, like an unused machine in someone's attic," and bring them back into academic practice (8). Chapters 1 and 2 are both contained under part 1, "Prudential Personification." Chapter 1 focuses on Breen's definition of the category of formative personification allegory. Formative personification allegory treats itself as the product of both a human and the divine. In defining formative personification thusly, Breen places both religious and rhetorical personification in conversation with each other. It is therefore fitting that Breen looks to Roman culture, focusing on Cicero's On the Laws and On the Nature of the Gods. Breen argues that rhetorical and religious personification, while separate phenomena, share the same creation. Both informing their namesake through their actions while being informed themselves, and both working as a tool to bring the listener to the correct moral path. Breen notes that looking into the future, Prudentius's allegories work less as a flat device than as a space for fostering morality in the reader. In chapter 2, "Fight Like a Girl," Breen turns to Prudentius's Pyschomachia. Breen disagrees with critics who have deemed it to be a crude, flat failure. Instead, she believes Prudentius's work is in the same vein as Cicero's. Lying underneath the virtue-named personifications, Breen says, are biblical figures. Attending to gender, Breen notes how Prudentius resculpts Faith to allow for male readers to see themselves in her actions. By doing this, Prudentius allows readers to see virtues as a trait of a person rather than the entirety of a person. This transformation of virtue into virtuous traits allows for a fluidity within the reader to inhabit the virtues as they need them. Chapters 3 and 4 cover Neoplatonic personification. Chapter 3 looks at recent criticism regarding personification, and Breen uses the chapter to lay out her argument that...

From Defensive Altruism to Pathological Altruism

Altruism is often regarded as a virtuous trait and it often is. However, for some people, their altruism can unwittingly become pathological and cause serious behavioral problems in them. What makes their altruism go awry and become pathological? This article attempts to provide a psychoanalytic insight into the nature of the problem. By examining how altruism works as an ego-defensive strategy, it is reasoned that the defensive altruism can make people mistake their underlying self-serving motivation for their true altruistic intention. As a result, such self-deception can make them much less likely to restrain themselves from being carried away by their self-serving motivation. It is possible that if such unconscious self-serving motivation is too strong, it may drive them to perform altruistic act blindly or in irrational ways.

Honesty as a Virtue

AbstractHonesty is widely accepted as a prime example of a moral virtue. And yet, honesty has been surprisingly neglected in the recent drive to account for specific virtuous traits. This paper provides a framework for an increased focus on honesty by proposing success criteria that will need to be met by any plausible account of honesty. It then proposes a motivational account on which honesty centrally involves a deep motivation to avoid deception. It argues that this account satisfies the required success criteria and discusses why (and when) honesty can be accepted as a moral virtue. Finally, it highlights some implications of accepting a motivational account of honesty for future work on encouraging the development of honesty, and on the relationship between different types of virtue.

Roman Faith and Christian Faith: Pistis and Fides in the Early Roman Empire and Early Churches by Teresa Morgan

Reviewed by: Roman Faith and Christian Faith: Pistis and Fides in the Early Roman Empire and Early Churches by Teresa Morgan Timothy Milinovich teresa morgan, Roman Faith and Christian Faith: Pistis and Fides in the Early Roman Empire and Early Churches (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015). Pp. xi + 614. $50. In this tour de force, Morgan steps outside the standard Augustinian treatment of Christian faith as fides quae and fides qua and engages the terms pistis and fides exhaustively across Greek, Roman, and Christian texts and cultural milieus. Chapters 1–4 introduce the terminology and cultural maps in which pistis and fides take part. M. offers in chap. 1 an overview of research on pistis that has taken place in classics, NT, and theological studies. While accepting the propositional aspect that has been the main focus of studies to this point, M. seeks to highlight the relational characteristic of pistis/fides as nonpropositional trust within Greco-Roman culture, along intrahuman and divine–human relationships. In chaps. 2 and 3, M. supports the relational rendering of pistis/fides as trust across a bibliographically rich swath of sources in the Republic and early Principate within domestic, military, political, legal, and international relationships. To close this section, M. presents the relational aspects of trust in Greco-Roman religious texts, which also overlap with political and interpersonal relationships of trust: the gods are to be trusted because there is no other alternative to humanity's understanding of the universe, or to humans' interactions with one another in society. In chaps. 5–10, M. discusses pistis in the LXX and NT texts. Regarding the LXX (chap. 5), M. emphasizes the use of pistis terminology in Genesis, Exodus, Job, Wisdom, and Sirach. Pistis is presented as relational trust and dynamic, able to grow or diminish over time between parties. For this reason, there is as much interest in maintaining the covenant as there is in making one between God and Israel. The law acts as a reification of Israel's trust in God. M. emphasizes that the Jewish and Greco-Roman views of pistis are similar enough that they would be intelligible to members of each culture. In chaps. 6 and 7, M. attends to the use of pistis in Paul's letters, in which she finds that the apostle describes a "wigwam-shaped" divine–human community. Paul does not commend in his audiences a fideistic pistis that is an irrational leap of faith but rather a trust that is justifiably logical based on God's faithfulness and the death and resurrection of Christ. While dikaiosynē and pistis are linked, M. cautions that nomos and pistis should be read as contrasts, not antitheses, in Galatians, Romans, and Philippians. This insightful nuance is paralleled in M.'s reading of Gal 2:20-21 and Rom 3:21-25, in which Jesus is portrayed as the nexus of divine–human relationships in which pistis Iesou is at once Jesus's faithfulness toward humanity and the Father, and the Father's and humanity's trust in Jesus. The ambiguity in Paul's grammar and lexicon around pistis may be strategic to engage effectively both Jewish and gentile audiences. Chapter 8 consists of the Deutero-Pauline and general letters. Except for 2 Thessalonians, M. finds that the Deutero-Pauline letters move away from Paul's sense of pistis based [End Page 343] in the report of the resurrection and present instead a more socially aware sense of trust in line with Roman religious piety. The Synoptic Gospels and Acts (chap. 9) regularly use pistis without an object, encouraging the audience with examples of characters who achieve varying levels of pistis through a life-changing encounter with Christ. The Gospel of John ties pistis language with pre-election and with an ambiguity that is due possibly both to structural layers and pastoral pragmatism. To conclude, in chaps. 11–13 M. discusses the internal and communal aspects of pistis and fides in both non-Christian and Christian witnesses. Although first-century writers did not investigate the interiority of pistis, M. notes that trust/faith is often expressed in emotional terms or holds cognitive and virtuous traits in first-century literature. The trust...

Virtudes y fortalezas de carácter en personas recluidas en un sistema penitenciario

Dentro del campo de estudio de la psicología de la criminalidad, con cierta regularidad se caracteriza a las personas que han cometido algún delito como individuos con rasgos de personalidad negativos y carentes de fortalezas de carácter. Sin embargo, la Psicología Positiva (PP) plantea la noción de que todos los seres humanos poseen, en grados variables, virtudes y fortalezas y que éstas se manifiestan universalmente en la mayoría de las culturas. El objetivo del presente estudio fue determinar y analizar si las personas que han cometido algún delito presentan, por lo tanto, rasgos virtuosos y fortalezas de carácter. El estudio se llevó a cabo en una institución penitenciaria de la ciudad de Hermosillo, Sonora, México. Se aplicó el inventario de virtudes y fortalezas (VIA-S), en su versión del idioma español y reducido a una muestra de 104 internos: 89.4% hombres y 10.6% mujeres. A partir de los hallazgos se concluyó que, así como el resto de las personas, los individuos que han cometido algún acto delictivo poseen rasgos virtuosos y gozan de fortalezas de carácter.

Theory of Virtue Ethics: Do Consumers’ Good Traits Predict Their Socially Responsible Consumption?

Drawing upon the theory of virtue ethics, this study builds a decision tree predictive model to explore the anticipated impact of good traits (i.e., virtuous and personality traits) on socially responsible consumption. Using R statistical software, we generate a classification tree and cross-validate the model on two independent datasets. The results indicate that the virtuous traits of self-efficacy, courage, and self-control, as well as the personality traits of openness and conscientiousness, predict socially responsible purchase and disposal behavior. Remarkably, the largest segment of socially responsible consumers in the study (41 %) scored high in self-efficacy and openness. This result suggests that marketers should focus on these good traits when creating advertisements to encourage sustainable consumption. Our study contributes to enhancing knowledge about the social and psychological aspects of the sustainability movement and provides a new analytical approach to predicting socially responsible consumption.

Virtuous states and virtuous traits: How the empirical evidence regarding the existence of broad traits saves virtue ethics from the situationist critique

A major objection to the study of virtue asserts that the empirical psychological evidence implies traits have little meaningful impact on behavior, as slight changes in situational characteristics appear to lead to large changes in virtuous behavior. We argue in response that the critical evidence is not these effects of situations observed in social psychological experiments, but evidence of stable individual differences obtained from correlations of individual’s behaviors across multiple contexts. The totality of the empirical evidence is shown to support this claim: broad traits are real, prominent, and consequential, and these traits, conceptualized as density distributions of personality states, exhibit remarkable consistency. In short, the evidence in favor of individual differences is empirically solid, and the study of ethics focused on virtue is not threatened by psychological research.

Shaping the Bamboo From the Shoot: Elementary Level Character Education in Malaysia

This article emphasizes the importance of introducing/providing character education during the early years of child development in order to raise morally responsive citizens. Noting the rampant acts of violence and malicious crime at a time marked with deep global turmoil in many societies, the authors argue for an exhaustive study of the recently revised elementary-level character education syllabus in Malaysia. The article provides a historical overview of character education (also referred to as “moral” education) in Malaysia and critically examines whether the adopted Malaysian syllabus identifies and engages in providing character education in meaningful ways. It assesses the balance between developing specific virtuous traits and habits, on one hand, and building moral judgment and reasoning about justice and fairness, on the other. The article provides insights about the Malaysian approach to (moral) character education as valued by its society.

Re-Imagining the Criminal Standard of Proof: Lessons from the ‘Ethics of Belief’

On a standard view, the criminal standard of ‘proof beyond reasonable doubt’ is a statement of probabilities, the pre-set benchmark of evidential support that must be crossed before a contested hypothesis of guilt can be accepted as true. Where to set that benchmark calls into play the calculation of social costs and benefits. This article proposes an agent-centred interpretation, one that involves viewing trial deliberation as a mental activity and the acquisition of an ethical vocabulary with which to express standards of excellence for the conduct of that activity. Our moral exemplar would, in her deliberation on the criminal verdict, exhibit relevant virtuous traits, and be guided by practical wisdom in the contextual operation of those traits. In judging the application of the standard of proof, there is a sense in which we should ultimately be making an ethical judgment of the person who applies it.

The Value of the Virtues

Direct theories of the virtues maintain that an explanation of why some virtuous trait counts as valuable should ultimately appeal to the value of its characteristic motive or aim. In this paper I argue that, if we take the idea of a direct approach to virtue theory seriously, we should favour a view according to which virtue involves knowledge. I raise problems for recent “agent-based” and “end-based” versions of the direct approach, show how my account proves preferable to these, and defend it against a number of objections.

Lack of Character? Situationism Critiqued

Of late philosophers have begun to write about the implications of research in social and personality psychology for the study of ethics. The spirit of this movement is that ethics should be founded on a realistic conception of human nature and that social and personality psychology have important things to say about these matters. Examples of philosophers involved in this movement are, inter alia, and most prominently, Doris, Flanagan, Harman, and Vranas. On the psychologists’ side, Ross and Nisbett are the most prominent examples of those attempting to insure that the findings of psychology find their way into our conception of human nature. We want to sign up for this movement too. But we are afraid that these philosophers and psychologists have drawn wrong conclusions from psychological results. We believe the lesson to be learned is substantially narrower than the movement seems to believe.

The Conflation of Moral and Epistemic Virtue

Abstract: Accounts of virtue suffer a conflation problem when they appear unable to preserve intuitive distinctions between types of virtue. In this essay I argue that a number of influential attempts to preserve the distinction between moral and epistemic virtues fail, on the grounds that they characterize virtuous traits in terms of ‘characteristic motivation’. I claim that this does not distinguish virtuous traits at the level of value‐conferring quality, and I propose that the best alternative is to distinguish them at the level of good produced. It follows from this that a consequentialist account is best placed to avoid a conflation of moral and epistemic virtue.

Affective States and Epistemic Immediacy

This article defends the view that an adequate response to some central epistemological problems requires us to find a role for emotions and other affective states in epistemic evaluation and also to invoke virtuous traits of character in order to explain how these affective evaluations are regulated. The argument is based on the need for some epistemic evaluations to possess a kind of immediacy, if we are not to face a worrying regress. The closing sections support the claim that epistemic evaluation depends upon appropriate character traits though a discussion of what is involved in beingobservant.