Positive Psychology, the Classification of Character Strengths and Virtues, and Issues of Measurement – Nancy E. Snow (2019)
Abstract: This essay raises concerns about positive psychology’s classification of character strengths and virtues and issues of measurement. Part I examines the process whereby the classification was compiled. Part II turns to issues of measurement and questions about positive psychologists’ sensitivity to variations in the meanings of the…
Suffering, Virtue, and Character: Why the Science of Virtue Matters – Nancy E. Snow (2020)
Abstract: One of the main arguments that has been given for the importance of virtue is that it is not only important for, but is in fact constitutive of, a life well-lived, necessary for human wellbeing and flourishing. Yet, human life is also profoundly fragile, often filled with,…
Virtue Measurement: Theory and Applications – Nancy E. Snow (2020)
Abstract: Our primary aim in this paper is to sketch the account of virtue that we think most amenable to virtue measurement. Our account integrates Whole Trait Theory (WTT) from psychology with a broadly neo-Aristotelian approach to virtue. Our account is ‘ecumenical’ in that it has appeal for…
“Phronēsis and Whole Trait Theory: An Integration” – Forthcoming, Nancy E. Snow
Description: With Jennifer Cole Wright and Michael T. Warren, in Practical Wisdom. Philosophical and Psychological Perspectives, edited by Mario De Caro and Maria Silvia Vaccarezza.
Contemporary Virtue Ethics – Nancy E. Snow (2020)
Abstract: This Element provides an overview of the central components of recent work in virtue ethics. The first section explores central themes in neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics, while the second turns the discussion to major alternative theoretical perspectives. The third section focuses on two challenges to virtue ethics. The…
Understanding Virtue: Theory and Measurement – Nancy E. Snow (2021)
Abstract: The last thirty years has seen a resurgence of interest in virtue among philosophers, psychologists, and educators. As is often the case with interdisciplinary endeavors, this renewed interest in virtue faces an important challenge—namely, successfully standing up to the requirements imposed by different disciplinary standards. For virtue,…
Validating psychological constructs: Historical, philosophical, and practical dimensions
This book critically examines the historical and philosophical foundations of construct validity theory (CVT), and how these have and continue to inform and constrain the conceptualization of validity and its application in research. CVT has had an immense impact on how researchers in the behavioural sciences conceptualize and…
Love Thy Neighbour: Community Within a Wisdom of Limits
As he has been for many in his scholarly circles, Frank Richardson has been an invaluable resource to me in my recent and nascent explorations of the psychological lives of persons living in and through the communities of which they are a part. I’m deeply indebted to Frank…
Is there a waning appetite for critical methodology in mainstream scientific psychology?
The discipline of psychology is a stranger to neither crisis nor internal critique. Critical debates have concerned everything from its status as a science, its theoretical and philosophical foundations, to general and particular critiques of the methods and methodology which have been sanctioned and privileged within in. Yet,…
Problematic research practices and inertia in scientific psychology: History, sources, and recommended solutions
This volume explores the abiding intellectual inertia in scientific psychology in relation to the discipline’s engagement with problematic beliefs and assumptions underlying mainstream research practices, despite repeated critical analyses which reveal the weaknesses, and in some cases complete inappropriateness, of these methods. Such paradigmatic inertia is especially troublesome…
The emerging science of virtue. – Fowers, B. J., Carroll, J. S., Leonhardt, N. D., & Cokelet, B. (2020)
Abstract: Numerous scholars have claimed that positive ethical traits such as virtues are important in human psychology and behavior. Psychologists have begun to test these claims. The scores of studies on virtue do not yet constitute a mature science of virtue because of unresolved theoretical and methods challenges.…
Social science as an inherently moral endeavor. – Fowers, B. J. (2020).
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to argue that social science is an inherently moral enterprise. There are four reasons to see science as a moral endeavor based on the neo-Aristotelian recognition that morality is centered on human goods (e.g., justice and knowledge), not just right action.…
A daily diary study of lifestyle behaviors, psychological distress, and well-being. – Anderson, A. R., & Fowers, B. J. (2020).
Abstract: Many lifestyle behaviors such as diet, exercise, and sleep are related to physical and mental health. However, very little research has been done on the day-to-day influence of these activities on both psychological distress (PD) and more holistic conceptions of overall well-being. This study seeks to investigate…
An Aristotelian analysis of the structure of human action. – Fowers, B. J. (2015).
Abstract: UnavailableLink: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9781118748213#page=83 Citation: Fowers, B. J. (2015). An Aristotelian analysis of the structure of human action. In J. Martin, J. Sugarman, & K. Slaney (Eds.), The Wiley handbook of theoretical and philosophical psychology: Methods, approaches and new directions for social science, (pp. 70-84). Wiley and Sons.
A goal theoretic framework for screen-time monitoring behavior. – Owenz, M. B., & Fowers, B. J. (2020).
Abstract: Children’s screen time (i.e., time spent using computers, televisions, mobile devices) has rapidly increased with the development of mobile technology, and this increase has become a matter of serious concern for teachers, parents, family life educators, psychologists, and other health professionals. High usage rates (more than 2…
A shared understanding of purposeful caregiving: Reply to Hill, Wynn, and Carpenter (2020) – Lang, S. F., & Fowers, B. J. (2020).
Abstract: Replies to comments made by P. L. Hill, M. J. Wynn, and B. D. Carpenter (see record 2019-81943-006) on the original article by S. F. Lang and B. J. Fowers (see record 2018-24691-001). Hill, Wynn, and Carpenter’s (2020) discussion of Alzheimer’s caregiving being motivated by purposeful engagement…
An exploratory study of friendship characteristics and their relations with hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. – Anderson, A. R., & Fowers, B. J. (2020).
Abstract: Friendships are an important source of happiness, well-being, physical health, and longevity. Researchers have often linked unidimensional friendship quality to life satisfaction and positive affect, which are hedonic forms of well-being. Aristotle presented an expanded view of friendship with three general characteristics: Utility, Pleasure, and Virtue. Following…
An expanded theory of Alzheimer’s caregiving. – Lang, S. F., & Fowers, B. J. (2019).
Abstract: The ancient and cross-culturally prevalent pattern of caregiving suggests that long-term caregiving is species characteristic for humans. If so, then an evolutionary account of the adaptation(s) that underwrite this caregiving is necessary, particularly for the one-sided and long-term nature of Alzheimer’s caregiving. Four standard evolutionary explanations are…
Realistic virtues and how to study them: Introducing the STRIVE-4 model. – Cokelet, B., & Fowers, B. J. (2019).
Abstract: This article argues that ordinary virtue trait attributions presuppose the existence of realistic traits that fall short of, for example, Aristotelian ideals and that debate about the existence of virtue traits should be reoriented in the light of this fact. After clarifying and motivating that basic thesis,…
On properly characterizing moral agency. – Fowers, B. J., Anderson, A. R., & Lang, S. F. (2018)
Abstract: Doris (2015b) develops a theory of moral agency to avoid a skeptical challenge arising from psychology studies indicating that (im)moral behavior is caused by trivial situational factors. His theory is flawed in attending only to situational influences on behavior and neglecting individual differences such as moral identity…
From continence to virtue: Recovering goodness, character unity, and character types for positive psychology. – Fowers, B. J. (2008).
Abstract: Character is central to positive psychology’s efforts to understand and promote human flourishing. Despite the importance of character and ubiquitous references to Aristotle, virtue theory remains underdeveloped in positive psychology. This article elaborates three key aspects of virtue ethics for understanding flourishing: goodness, the unity of character,…
The virtue of multiculturalism: Personal transformation, character, and openness to the other. – Fowers, B. J. & Davidov, B. J. (2006).
Abstract: The social, intellectual, and moral movement known as multiculturalism has been enormously influential in psychology. Its ability to reshape psychology has been due to its ethical force, which derives from the attractiveness of its aims of inclusion, social justice, and mutual respect. The cultivation of cultural competence,…
Why is multiculturalism good? – Fowers, B. J., & Richardson, F. C. (1996).
Abstract: This article explores the moral sources that give multiculturalism the potency to move psychology to reassess itself. The power of the multicultural perspective appears to derive from its ability to show how psychology’s tendency toward monocultural universalism has undermined its aims as a science of human behavior…
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