Quotes from Christopher Peterson

McCullough and colleagues have worked with a more circumscribed definition of forgiveness. They have defined forgiveness as motivational changes whereby a person becomes less motivated toward revenge and avoidance of a transgressor, and simultaneously more benevolent toward the transgressor.

Indeed, if the good life entails nothing more than the joyless performance of good deeds, then it is not a life that is lived but merely one that is ploddingly enacted. How can we urge good character upon individuals and devise strategies for encouraging character if there is not an experiential payoff?

Vitality directly reflects eudaimonia—the inherent fulfillment produced by virtuecongruent activity—and reminds us that fulfillment is not an abstract judgment but an experienced psychological state. Vitality is how self-actualization feels. Vitality is a way to describe the engagement and absorption of flow.

Clusters of items in the scale point to the following tendencies associated with social responsibility: greater concern for social and moral issues; disapproval of privilege and favor; emphasis on duties and self-discipline; greater conventionality; less rebelliousness; greater sense of trust and confidence in the world; greater poise, assurance, and personal security.

Just as a muscle grows tired from exertion, the capacity for self-regulation becomes depleted after it is used. Also like a muscle, the capacity for self-regulation appears to grow stronger through regular exercise (after it recovers from the initial fatigue).

Being able to conceive moral contexts from multiple sides and being able to more deeply understand each person involved are major achievements in moral development.

Starrett (1996) argued that, because we inhabit a global community, our civic responsibilities transcend the borders of nation-states.

Tice and Baumeister (1997) found that procrastinators not only received lower grades but also got sick more and had more visits to health clinics than nonprocrastinators.

Bravery raises the moral and social conscience of a society.

Putnam argued that the concept of psychological bravery has not been properly recognized in ethics and asserted that the psychological bravery involved in facing fears generated by our own habits is essential to well-being.

In sum, secure attachment at all ages depends on the sensitivity of attachment figures. The results of intervention studies with infants, parents, and couples provide compelling evidence that sensitivity is a skill that can be taught and learned, and that can transform troubled relationships into well-functioning, satisfying ones.

This character strength is a quiet one. Those who are modest let their accomplishments speak for themselves. They do not seek the spotlight. They do not toot their own horns. They acknowledge mistakes and imperfections. They do not take undue credit for their accomplishments, instead regarding themselves as fortunate to be in a position where something good has happened to them.

Balanced and restorative justice is a new approach to juvenile crime that conceives of crime as an act that not only harms people but also violates relationships in a community. Thus, rather than a retributive approach, in which the state punishes an offender, restorative justice practices emphasize healing of the victim, the offender, and the community.

To be humble and modest does not entail self-derogation or self-humiliation.

Higher stage [regarding moral reasoning] parents do not use love withdrawal as a parenting technique and prefer discussion-based parenting (e.g., induction). Higher stage parents are less likely to endorse "conventional" values (e.g., obedience, manners, respect for rules and law) and are more likely to endorse values that promote autonomy and commitment to and respect for others.

The leader exists to help others in an unbiased and unassuming way, nourishing any and all followers ("The wise leader is like water").

Forgiveness is associated with a variety of traits that are of value for personal and societal well-being. Forgiving people appear to be slightly lower in a variety of negative affects, including anger, anxiety, depression, and hostility. Forgivers also tend to endorse socially desirable attitudes and behavior, and self-ratings of the disposition to forgive correlate negatively with clinicians' ratings of hostility and passive-aggressive behavior.

Respondents who say that they want to find purpose and meaning in life also rate public-interest goals high in importance. Self-interest and materialist goals are unrelated to public-interest goals or to the desire to find purpose and meaning in life.

It does appear that involvement in organizations with a diverse membership and in groups that engage in acts of charity or community service boosts social trust.

True self-respect, according to Mencius, is based on the vales of benevolence, dutifulness, conscientiousness, truthfulness, and delight in what is good. Bravery, in Chinese philosophy, is the quality that allows people to pursue those values, hold steadfast to them in times when they are challenged, and remain true to them when faced with conventional social ideals that conflict with full human excellence.

Models of leader attributes that dominated in the early part of the 20th century emphasized leader traits. Several surveys and reviews of this literature identified a number of dispositional qualities that distinguished leaders from nonleaders, including intelligence, originality, dependability, initiative, desire to excel, sociability, adaptability, extroversion, and dominance. However, no single personal quality was strongly and consistently correlated with leadership.

However, research with activists in the Civil Rights and antiwar movements of the 1950s and 1960s and of those who sheltered Holocaust survivors during World War II confirm that compassion, empathy, and social responsibility were core family values that motivated their actions. Once exercised in action, values of social responsibility and service to others may become integral to identity.

Self-regulation is highly valued. Even if we find them a bit tedious, we admire people who stick to an exercise regimen. We certainly value people who do not express every negative emotion they experience, those who are "low maintenance" because they can control their reactions to disappointment and insecurity. We can count on the self-controlled person to keep her promises because she will not be distracted in the course of so doing.

Fairness is not decomposable into other classified strengths, although such characteristics as kindness may lay its foundation and such characteristics as self-regulation may facilitate its implementation.