•  153
    Moral Identity and the Acquisition of Virtue: A Self-regulation View
    with Tobias Krettenauer
    Review of General Psychology 27 (4). 2023.
    The acquisition of virtue can be conceptualized as a self-regulatory process in which deliberate practice results in increasingly higher levels of skillfulness in leading a virtuous life. This conceptualization resonates with philosophical virtue theories as much as it converges with psychological models about skill development, expertise, goal motivation, and self-regulation. Yet, the conceptualization of virtue as skill acquisition poses the crucial question of motivation: What motivates indiv…Read more
  •  61
    Civic Hope and the Perceived Authenticity of Democratic Participation
    with Joseph Maffly-Kipp, Patricia Flanagan, Joshua Hicks, Rebecca Schlegel, and Matthew Vess
    Social Psychological and Personality Science 14 (4): 419-427. 2023.
    In two studies, we tested how the expression of civic hope in narratives and the perceived authenticity of civic/political actions relate to civic/political engagement. In a cross-sectional study of undergraduates (N = 230), the expression of civic hope predicted the perceived authenticity of civic actions (e.g., voting), which in turn predicted the motivation to engage in them. In a longitudinal on-line study that began 8 weeks prior to the 2020 U.S. Presidential election (N = 308 MTurk workers…Read more
  •  39
    The True Self as Essentially Morally Good – An Obstacle to Moral Improvement?
    Journal of Moral Education 51 (2): 261-275. 2022.
    Psychological research has revealed that there is a strong tendency for people to believe that they have a ‘true self’, and to believe that this true self is inherently morally good. This would seemingly be very good news for virtue theorists, since this may help to promote virtue development. While there are some obvious benefits to people having morality intrinsically tied to their sense of self, in this paper I want to suggest instead that there may also be some significant drawbacks, especia…Read more
  •  44
    Genetic Causal Beliefs and Developmental Context: Parents’ Beliefs Predict Psychologically Controlling Approaches to Parenting
    with Tristin Nyman, Grace Rivera, Joseph Maffly-Kipp, Rebecca Brooker, and Matthew Vess
    Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 39 (11): 3487-3505. 2022.
    We examined the association of parents’ genetic causal beliefs and parenting behaviors, hypothesizing a positive association between parents’ genetic causal beliefs and their use of psychological control. Study 1 (N = 394) was a cross-sectional survey and revealed that parents’ genetic essentialism beliefs were positively associated with their self-reported use of harsh psychological control, but only for parents who reported relatively high levels of problem behaviors in their children. Study 2…Read more
  •  54
    Exploring Relations between Beliefs about the Genetic Etiology of Virtue and the Endorsement of Parenting Practices
    with Grace Rivera, Matthew Vess, Rebecca Brooker, and Jenae Nederhiser
    Parenting: Science and Practice 21 (2): 79-107. 2021.
    Objective. We investigated associations between adults’ beliefs about the heritability of virtue and endorsements of the efficacy of specific parenting styles. Design. In Studies 1 (N = 405) and 2 (N = 400), beliefs about both the genetic etiology of virtuous characteristics and parenting were assessed in samples of parents and non-parents. In Study 3 (N = 775), participants were induced to view virtue as determined by genes or as determined by social factors. Heritability beliefs and authoritar…Read more
  •  52
    Positive Psychology and Virtue: Values in Action
    Journal of Positive Psychology 14 (1): 1-5. 2019.
    This paper provides an overview of the issues and themes that were discussed on an interdisciplinary panel which occurred at the American Philosophical Association’s pacific division meeting in April of 2017. The panel focused on the connections between the VIA classification of virtues and character strengths in psychology and virtues and the Aristotelian approach to virtue in philosophy. Three key themes emerged from the papers presented at this panel: 1) the nature of the relationship between…Read more
  •  44
    Genes and Virtue: Exploring how heritability beliefs shape conceptions of virtue and its development
    with Matthew Vess, Rebecca Brooker, and Jenae Nederhiser
    Behavioral Genetics 49 (2): 168-174. 2019.
    In this paper, we provide an overview of our ongoing project in the Genetics and Human Agency Initiative sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation. Our project focuses on the ways that lay beliefs about the heritability of virtue influence reasoning about the nature of virtue, parenting behaviors, and the development of virtue in children. First, we provide philosophical perspectives on the nature of virtue and suggest that viewing virtue as a malleable skill may have important advantages. Next…Read more
  •  103
    Can Feelings of Authenticity Help to Guide Virtuous Behavior?
    with Matthew Vess, Rebecca Schlegel, and Joshua Hicks
    In Nancy Snow (ed.), The Self, Virtue, and Public Life: New Interdisciplinary Research, Routledge. pp. 9-20. 2024.
    Authenticity is often defined as the extent to which people feel that they know and express their true selves. Research in the psychological sciences suggests that people view true selves as more morally good than bad and that this “virtuous” true self may be a central component of authenticity. In fact, there may be reasons to suspect that authenticity serves as a cue that one’s behaviors are virtuous, and feelings of authenticity may help sustain virtuous actions. However, in previous research…Read more
  •  465
    Paul Bloomfield, The Virtues of Happiness: A Theory of the Good Life. Reviewed by Matt Stichter (review)
    Social Theory and Practice 41 (3): 567-574. 2015.
    Paul Bloomfield’s latest book, The Virtues of Happiness, is an excellent discussion of what constitutes living the Good Life. It is a self-admittedly ambitious book, as he seeks to show that people who act immorally necessarily fall short of living well. Instead of arguing that immorality is inherently irrational, he puts it in terms of it being inherently harmful in regards to one’s ability to achieve the Good Life. It’s ambitious because he tries to argue this starting from grounds which th…Read more
  •  33
    Virtue and authenticity in civic life
    with Rebecca J. Schlegel, Joshua A. Hicks, and Matthew Vess
    Journal of Moral Education 52 (1): 83-94. 2023.
    ABSTRACT A robust literature indicates that when people feel that they are expressing and aware of their true selves, they show enhanced psychological health and well-being. This feeling, commonly referred to as authenticity, is therefore a consequential experience. In this paper, we review a program of research focused on the relevance of authenticity for civic engagement. We describe how a virtuous orientation to civic engagement might make civic actions feel more authentic and how the experie…Read more
  •  539
    Why being morally virtuous enhances well-being: A Self-Determination Theory approach
    The Journal of Moral Education 52 (3): 362-378. forthcoming.
    Self-determination theory, like other psychological theories that study eudaimomia, focuses on general processes of growth and self-realization. An aspect that tends to be sidelined in the relevant literature is virtue. We propose that special focus needs to be placed on moral virtue and its development. We review different types of moral motivation and argue that morally virtuous behavior is regulated through integrated regulation. We describe the process of moral integration and how it relates…Read more
  •  32
    Replies to Commentators on The Skillfulness of Virtue (review)
    Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 24 (2): 611-623. 2021.
    First, let me start by thanking all of my commentators for doing a careful reading of my book, providing me with lots of though-provoking responses, and on top of all of that for the significant time commitment in being a part of this symposium. I’m very grateful for all the support! Let me add a further note of thanks to Noell Birondo for taking on the role of editor in bringing all of these wonderful contributions together in this issue of Ethical Theory and Moral Practice.
  •  48
    Virtues as Skills, and The Virtues of Self-Regulation
    Journal of Value Inquiry 55 (2): 355-369. 2021.
    The ‘virtue as skill’ thesis is gaining traction lately both in virtue ethics and virtue epistemology, and a significant part of that is due to Julia Annas’s work in reviving this thesis from the ancient Greeks.2 As Annas has argued, “[t]he intuitive appeal of the ancient skill analogy for virtue rests on the idea that one practical activity – acting well – is like another prominent practical activity, working well.”3 I will be adding to the development of the ‘virtue as skill’ thesis, by ground…Read more
  •  102
    It just feels right: an account of expert intuition
    Synthese 199 (1-2): 1327-1346. 2020.
    One of the hallmarks of virtue is reliably acting well. Such reliable success presupposes that an agent is able to recognize the morally salient features of a situation, and the appropriate response to those features and is motivated to act on this knowledge without internal conflict. Furthermore, it is often claimed that the virtuous person can do this in a spontaneous or intuitive manner. While these claims represent an ideal of what it is to have a virtue, it is less clear how to make good on…Read more
  •  721
    Learning from Failure: Shame and Emotion Regulation in Virtue as Skill
    Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 23 (2): 341-354. 2020.
    On an account of virtue as skill, virtues are acquired in the ways that skills are acquired. In this paper I focus on one implication of that account that is deserving of greater attention, which is that becoming more skillful requires learning from one’s failures, but that turns out to be especially challenging when dealing with moral failures. In skill acquisition, skills are improved by deliberate practice, where you strive to correct past mistakes and learn how to overcome your current limit…Read more
  •  24
    There are many philosophical problems surrounding experts, given the power and status accorded to them in society. We think that what makes someone an expert is having expertise in some skill domain. But what does expertise consist in, and how closely related is expertise to the notion of an expert? In this paper I inquire into the nature of expertise, by drawing on recent psychological research on skill acquisition and expert performance. In addition, I connect this research on expertise to the…Read more
  •  83
    The Skillfulness of Virtue provides a new framework for understanding virtue as a skill, based on psychological research on self-regulation and expertise. Matt Stichter lays the foundations of his argument by bringing together theories of self-regulation and skill acquisition, which he then uses as grounds to discuss virtue development as a process of skill acquisition. This account of virtue as skill has important implications for debates about virtue in both virtue ethics and virtue epistemolo…Read more
  •  36
    Virtues as Skills in Virtue Epistemology
    Journal of Philosophical Research 38 333-348. 2013.
    One approach to understanding moral virtues is to compare them with practical skills, since both involve learning how to act well. This paper inquires whether this approach can be extended to intellectual virtues. The relevance of the analogy between virtues and skills for virtue epistemology can be seen in two prominent discussions of intellectual virtues and skills. Linda Zagzebski has argued that intellectual virtues can be modeled on moral virtues, and that a key component of virtue being un…Read more
  •  371
    Justifying Animal Use in Education
    Environmental Ethics 34 (2): 199-209. 2012.
    Is the use of animals in undergraduate education ethically justifiable? One way to answer this question is to focus on the factors relevant to those who serve on Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees . An analysis of the debate surrounding the practice of dissection at the undergraduate level helps shed light on these issues. Settling that debate hinges on claims about the kind of knowledge gained from dissection and other “hands-on” kinds of experiences, and whether such knowledge is nee…Read more
  •  1434
    Virtues as Skills in Virtue Epistemology
    Journal of Philosophical Research 38 333-348. 2013.
    One approach to understanding moral virtues is to compare them with practical skills, since both involve learning how to act well. This paper inquires whether this approach can be extended to intellectual virtues. The relevance of the analogy between virtues and skills for virtue epistemology can be seen in two prominent discussions of intellectual virtues and skills. Linda Zagzebski has argued that intellectual virtues can be modeled on moral virtues, and that a key component of virtue being un…Read more
  •  805
    Practical Skills and Practical Wisdom in Virtue
    Australasian Journal of Philosophy 94 (3): 435-448. 2016.
    ABSTRACTThis paper challenges a frequent objection to conceptualizing virtues as skills, which is that skills are merely capacities to act well, while virtues additionally require being properly motivated to act well. I discuss several cases that purport to show the supposed motivational difference by drawing our attention to the differing intuitions we have about virtues and skills. However, this putative difference between virtue and skill disappears when we switch our focus in the skill examp…Read more
  •  1782
    Virtues, Skills, and Right Action
    Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 14 (1): 73-86. 2011.
    According to Rosalind Hursthouse’s virtue based account of right action, an act is right if it is what a fully virtuous person would do in that situation. Robert Johnson has criticized the account on the grounds that the actions a non-virtuous person should take are often uncharacteristic of the virtuous person, and thus Hursthouse’s account of right action is too narrow. The non-virtuous need to take steps to improve themselves morally, and the fully virtuous person need not take these steps. S…Read more
  •  526
    Philosophical and Psychological Accounts of Expertise and Experts
    Humana.Mente - Journal of Philosophical Studies 28 105-128. 2015.
    There are many philosophical problems surrounding experts, given the power and status accorded to them in society. We think that what makes someone an expert is having expertise in some skill domain. But what does expertise consist in, and how closely related is expertise to the notion of an expert? Although most of us have acquired several practical skills, few of us have achieved the level of expertise with regard to those skills. So we can be easily misled as to the nature of expertise, s…Read more
  •  473
    Rescuing fair-play as a justification for punishment
    Res Publica 16 (1): 73-81. 2010.
    The debate over whether ‘fair-play’ can serve as a justification for legal punishment has recently resumed with an exchange between Richard Dagger and Antony Duff. According to the fair-play theorist, criminals deserve punishment for breaking the law because in so doing the criminal upsets a fair distribution of benefits and burdens, and punishment rectifies this unfairness. Critics frequently level two charges against this idea. The first is that it often gives the wrong explanation of what mak…Read more
  •  2191
    Ethical Expertise: The Skill Model of Virtue
    Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 10 (2): 183-194. 2007.
    Julia Annas is one of the few modern writers on virtue that has attempted to recover the ancient idea that virtues are similar to skills. In doing so, she is arguing for a particular account of virtue, one in which the intellectual structure of virtue is analogous to the intellectual structure of practical skills. The main benefit of this skill model of virtue is that it can ground a plausible account of the moral epistemology of virtue. This benefit, though, is only available to some accounts o…Read more
  •  3290
    The Structure of Death Penalty Arguments
    Res Publica 20 (2): 129-143. 2014.
    In death penalty debates, advocates on both sides have advanced a staggering number of arguments to defend their positions. Many of those arguments fail to support retaining or abolishing the death penalty, and often this is due to advocates pursuing a line of reasoning where the conclusion, even if correctly established, will not ultimately prove decisive. Many of these issues are also interconnected and shouldn’t be treated separately. The goal of this paper is to provide some clarity about wh…Read more