Moral Identity and the Acquisition of Virtue:A Self-Regulation View

IF 3.6 2区心理学 Q1 PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Review of General Psychology Pub Date : 2023-04-16 DOI:10.1177/10892680231170393

Tobias Krettenauer, Matt Stichter

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

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 individuals to self-improve over time so that they can learn from past experience, correct mistakes, and expand their ethical knowledge to new and unfamiliar circumstances? In this paper, it is argued that the motivation to increase one’s level of skillfulness in leading a virtuous life is supported by a specific identity goal, namely the goal to be a moral person. However, this moral identity goal needs to carry specific goal characteristics in order to effectively provide this motivation. It needs to be sufficiently abstract, internally motivated and promotion- rather than prevention-oriented. Research in developmental psychology suggests that the moral identity of children is rather concrete, externally motivated, and prevention-oriented. With development, higher levels of abstraction, internal motivation, and promotion-orientation gain importance providing an important motivational basis for a self-regulated process of virtue acquisition.

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道德认同与美德的获得：一种自律观

美德的获得可以被定义为一个自我调节的过程，在这个过程中，有意识的练习会导致越来越高的技能水平，从而过上有道德的生活。这一概念与哲学美德理论产生了共鸣，也与关于技能发展、专业知识、目标动机和自我调节的心理学模型相一致。然而，美德作为技能习得的概念提出了动机的关键问题:是什么促使个人随着时间的推移自我提高，以便他们能够从过去的经验中学习，纠正错误，并将他们的道德知识扩展到新的和不熟悉的环境中?本文认为，提高道德生活技能水平的动机是由一个特定的认同目标支持的，即成为一个有道德的人的目标。然而，这种道德认同目标需要带有特定的目标特征，才能有效地提供这种动机。它需要足够抽象、内部激励和促进而不是预防。发展心理学的研究表明，儿童的道德认同是相当具体的、外部激励的、以预防为导向的。随着发展，更高层次的抽象性、内在动机和提升导向变得重要起来，为美德习得的自我调节过程提供了重要的动机基础。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Review of General Psychology PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY-

CiteScore

7.60

自引率

4.80%

发文量

期刊介绍： Review of General Psychology seeks to publish innovative theoretical, conceptual, or methodological articles that cross-cut the traditional subdisciplines of psychology. The journal contains articles that advance theory, evaluate and integrate research literatures, provide a new historical analysis, or discuss new methodological developments in psychology as a whole. Review of General Psychology is especially interested in articles that bridge gaps between subdisciplines in psychology as well as related fields or that focus on topics that transcend traditional subdisciplinary boundaries.