Published: January 8, 2010
A new leadership training program based on character, developed by Drs. Martin E. Seligman and Christopher Peterson and piloted at West Point, was highlighted in last night’s PBS Special: This Emotional Life. According to PBS, the Seligman-Peterson program will soon be required for all soldiers.
Chris Peterson, the VIA Institute’s Science Director, bases his work on what he calls the “simple notion” that “If you want to develop character, you have to identify your strengths and use them over and over again.” Peterson says, “You can’t cultivate the whole of character, but you certainly can cultivate its components.” [continue reading…]
Benedict Carey suggests its the situation, not moral character, that often guides behavior in this New York Times feature “Stumbling Blocks on the Path of Righteousness ”
Most people are adamant: They would never do it. Ever. Never deliberately inflict pain on another person, just to obtain information. Ever artificially inflate the value of some financial product, just to take advantage of others’ ignorance. Certainly never, ever become a deadbeat and accept a government bailout.
In experiments as in life, the holier-than-thou effect diminishes quickly when people have actually had the experience they are judging: dubious accounting practices will appear less shady to the person who has had to put a good face on a failing company. And the effect is apparently less pronounced in cultures that emphasize interdependence over individual achievement, like China and Spain.
Link to continue reading
Source: New York Times
Published: February 12, 2009
A study by a University of Glasgow psychologist, examining whether personality is related to facial appearance, has found that women’s faces are easier to read than men.
Published today (Thursday 12 February) in the New Scientist magazine, the experiment reveals that women’s faces “give away far more than men”. [continue reading…]
