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99-511: The concept of "humanity" goes back to the development of "humane" or " humanist " philosophy during the Renaissance (with predecessors in 13th-century scholasticism that stressed a concept of basic human dignity inspired by Aristotelianism ) and the concept of humanitarianism in the early modern period , resulting in modern notions such as " human rights ". While these theories and concepts of kindness and altruism are found within humanity,

198-532: A library , of which many manuscripts did not survive. Many worked for the Catholic Church and were in holy orders , like Petrarch, while others were lawyers and chancellors of Italian cities, and thus had access to book copying workshops, such as Petrarch's disciple Salutati , the Chancellor of Florence . In Italy, the humanist educational program won rapid acceptance and, by the mid-15th century, many of

297-651: A royal absolutist (and not a republican like the early Italian umanisti ) who was active in civic life, serving as a diplomat for François I and helping to found the Collège des Lecteurs Royaux (later the Collège de France ). Meanwhile, Marguerite de Navarre , the sister of François I, was a poet , novelist , and religious mystic who gathered around her and protected a circle of vernacular poets and writers, including Clément Marot , Pierre de Ronsard , and François Rabelais . Many humanists were churchmen, most notably Pope Pius II, Sixtus IV , and Leo X , and there

396-463: A supernatural being. Renaissance humanism Renaissance humanism is a worldview centered on the nature and importance of humanity that emerged from the study of Classical antiquity . Renaissance humanists sought to create a citizenry able to speak and write with eloquence and clarity, and thus capable of engaging in the civic life of their communities and persuading others to virtuous and prudent actions. Humanism, while set up by

495-494: A "political reform program is central to the humanist movement founded by Petrarch. But it is not a 'republican' project in Baron's sense of republic; it is not an ideological product associated with a particular regime type." Two renowned Renaissance scholars, Eugenio Garin and Paul Oskar Kristeller collaborated with one another throughout their careers. But while the two historians were on good terms, they fundamentally disagreed on

594-894: A detachment from contemporary culture. Manuscripts and inscriptions were in high demand and graphic models were also imitated. This "return to the ancients" was the main component of so-called "pre-humanism", which developed particularly in Tuscany , in the Veneto region, and at the papal court of Avignon , through the activity of figures such as Lovato Lovati and Albertino Mussato in Padua, Landolfo Colonna in Avignon, Ferreto de' Ferreti in Vicenza, Convenevole from Prato in Tuscany and then in Avignon , and many others. By

693-442: A dismal mode of life. On the contrary, he alone shows the most enjoyable life of all and the one most full of true pleasure. This passage exemplifies the way in which the humanists saw pagan classical works , such as the philosophy of Epicurus , as being in harmony with their interpretation of Christianity . Renaissance Neo-Platonists such as Marsilio Ficino (whose translations of Plato's works into Latin were still used into

792-467: A four factor model (Interpersonal Strengths, Vitality, Fortitude, and Cautiousness) explained 60% of the variance. One large, overarching factor explained 50% of the variance. The four factors found by Brdar and Kashdan are similar to the four factors found by Macdonald and colleagues. Once again, Brdar and Kashdan found that the 24 strengths did not fall into the six higher order virtues proposed by Peterson and Seligman. The correlations found between many of

891-444: A group of noted positive psychology scholars. They examined ancient cultures (including their religions, politics, education, and philosophies) for information about how people in the past construed human virtue. The researchers looked for virtues that were present across cultures and time. Six core virtues emerged from their analysis: courage, justice, humanity, temperance, transcendence, and wisdom. Next, Peterson and Seligman proposed

990-535: A lower likelihood of depression, high-self esteem, and less likelihood of divorce. The strength of kindness encompasses things like altruism , generosity , helpfulness and a general desire to help people: a disposition for helping humanity. The following statements are from the Values in Action (VIA) psychological assessment, which aims at measuring people's strengths in kindness: "others are just as important to me", "giving

1089-517: A model of classification. The hierarchical system is modeled after the Linnaean classification of species , which ranges from a specific species to more general and broad categories. The six core values are the broadest category and are, “core characteristics valued by moral philosophers and religious thinkers”. Peterson and Seligman then moved down the hierarchy to identify character strengths, which are “the psychological processes or mechanisms that define

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1188-507: A person's trait level for that strength. Time and energy, however, prohibit administering all of the measures for the 24 strengths in one testing session. To solve this problem, Peterson and Seligman designed a new measure, the VIA-IS, to assess all 24 strengths in relatively brief amount of time. Beginning in the fall of 2000, the researchers pilot tested the VIA-IS with a group of 250 adults. The researchers removed items that correlated poorly with

1287-457: A ploy, not seriously meant by Valla, but designed to refute Stoicism, which he regarded together with epicureanism as equally inferior to Christianity. Valla's defense, or adaptation, of Epicureanism was later taken up in The Epicurean by Erasmus , the "Prince of humanists:" If people who live agreeably are Epicureans , none are more truly Epicurean than the righteous and godly. And if it

1386-419: A relatively new field of inquiry for psychological researchers , character strengths and virtues have been consistently measured in psychometric surveys and have been shown to be positively associated with psychological and subjective wellbeing . Even among those who endorse a spiritual/theistic worldview, these salutary associations appear to be better explained by humanity/civility rather than by faith in

1485-410: A religious concept. As a character strength, love is a mutual feeling between two people characterized by attachment, comfort, and generally positive feelings. It can be broken down into three categories: love between a child and their parents, love for your friends, and romantic love. Having love as a strength is not about the capacity to love, but about being involved in a loving relationship. Love, in

1584-553: A small elite who had access to books and education, was intended as a cultural movement to influence all of society. It was a program to revive the cultural heritage, literary legacy, and moral philosophy of the Greco-Roman civilization . It first began in Italy and then spread across Western Europe in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. During the period, the term humanist ( Italian : umanista ) referred to teachers and students of

1683-720: A translated version of the VIA-IS to a sample in Japan. The researchers administered the VIA-IS to 308 young adults from Japan and 1,099 young adults from the U.S. The scientists translated the VIA-IS into Japanese and then back to English in order to be examined by the original creators of the VIA-IS. They confirmed that the Japanese version of the VIA-IS demonstrated face validity, test-retest reliability and internal consistency before administering it to young adults. The researchers found that top-ranked strengths, in terms of prevalence, for young adults in Japan, were similar to those of young adults in

1782-455: A virtue, despite highly valuing love and kindness, two of the strengths of humanity. Plato and Aristotle considered " courage , justice , temperance" and " generosity , wit , friendliness, truthfulness , magnificence, and greatness of soul", respectively, to be the virtues. Kindness, altruism, and love are all mentioned in the Bible. Proverbs 19:22 states "the desire of a man is his kindness." On

1881-456: A wide range of altruistic behaviors. There are numerous benefits from kindness and altruism on both sides of the action. For some, the motivation to be kind comes from a place of egoistic motivation, and thus the benefit to them is the positive affect state they receive from the action. One study found that being kind develops pro-social skills in children, which positively effects their attachments and relationships. Additionally, volunteerism in

1980-487: Is a 96-question measure of 24 character strengths. On average, an individual will complete the VIA-IS in 10 to 15 minutes. (Previous versions of 240 and 120 questions were criticized for their length.{{ ) Participants are instructed to answer each item on the VIA-IS in terms of “whether the statement describes what you are like”. Participants respond according to a five-point Likert scale ranging from (1=very much unlike me, 5=very much like me). Sample items include “I find

2079-559: Is a subject of much debate. According to one scholar of the movement, Early Italian humanism, which in many respects continued the grammatical and rhetorical traditions of the Middle Ages, not merely provided the old Trivium with a new and more ambitious name ( Studia humanitatis ), but also increased its actual scope, content and significance in the curriculum of the schools and universities and in its own extensive literary production. The studia humanitatis excluded logic, but they added to

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2178-483: Is composed of universally acknowledged strengths. The results of this study have limitations. Respondents to the survey must speak English, as the VIA-IS was not translated into each respondent's native language. This may restrict the extension of these results to non-English speakers. In an earlier study, researchers administered the English-language version of the VIA-IS to individuals in 40 countries. Worldwide,

2277-459: Is done, however, researchers need to ensure that the items on the scale are not culturally biased toward Western concepts. Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification ( CSV ) is a 2004 book by Peterson and Seligman. It attempts to present a measure of humanist ideals of virtue in an empirical, rigorously scientific manner, intended to provide a theoretical framework for practical applications for positive psychology . It

2376-486: Is intended as the positive psychology counterpart to the DSM , classifying positive human strengths rather than deficits and disorders. The 800-page book is organized in three sections. The first lays out the history and reasons for classifying strengths and virtues. The second comprises chapters for each of the 24 character strengths, with bibliographies and suggested research avenues. The third section examines assessment and

2475-477: Is limited. However, there is much literature on the characteristics associated with social intelligence. Zaccaro et al. found social intelligence and perceptiveness to be integral to effective leadership; that is, good leaders are "social experts." Emotional intelligence, too, plays a role in leadership. Another study found that emotional intelligence enables leaders to better understand their followers, thereby enhancing their ability to influence them. Although only

2574-716: Is more important than receiving", and "I care for the ungrateful as well as the grateful". Kindness, as a part of humanity, is deeply rooted in philosophical and religious traditions, each having words for the altruistic love aspect of kindness, such as agape in Greek, chesed in Hebrew, and the Latin word philantropia , the root of the word " philanthropy ." Kindness is promoted through school community service programs and national programs like AmeriCorps. While gender differences in kindness are statistically significant, they are minimal, and

2673-619: Is names that bother us, no one better deserves the name of Epicurean than the revered founder and head of the Christian philosophy Christ , for in Greek epikouros means "helper". He alone, when the law of Nature was all but blotted out by sins, when the law of Moses incited to lists rather than cured them, when Satan ruled in the world unchallenged, brought timely aid to perishing humanity. Completely mistaken, therefore, are those who talk in their foolish fashion about Christ's having been sad and gloomy in character and calling upon us to follow

2772-546: Is so central to Confucian thought that it appears 58 times in the Analects . Similar to the Christian process of seeking God, Confucius teaches seeking Ren to a point of seemingly divine mastery until you are equal to, or better than, your teacher. The Confucian concept of Ren encompasses both love and altruism. Plato and Aristotle both wrote extensively on the subject of virtues, though neither wrote about "humanity" as

2871-448: Is that the researchers examined young adults, rather than the population at-large. According to the researchers, young adults in Japan are more active participants in a more global, Americanized culture than the older generations. This could explain the commonalities found between young adults in Japan and the U.S. Shimai and colleagues demonstrated that the VIA-IS can be successfully and accurately translated into other languages. When this

2970-438: The 13th century and in the first decades of the 14th century , the cultural climate was changing in some European regions. The rediscovery, study, and renewed interest in authors who had been forgotten, and in the classical world that they represented, inspired a flourishing return to linguistic, stylistic and literary models of antiquity. There emerged a consciousness of the need for a cultural renewal, which sometimes also meant

3069-466: The CSV classifies positive human strengths. The CSV helps people recognize and build upon their strengths. This aligns with the overall goal of the positive psychology movement, to make people's lives more fulfilling. People can use the VIA-IS to identify their own positive strengths and learn how to capitalize on them. VIA-IS recognizes 24 character strengths organized under six core virtues: The VIA-IS

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3168-509: The Low Countries , Poland-Lithuania, Hungary and England with the adoption of large-scale printing after 1500, and it became associated with the Reformation . In France, pre-eminent humanist Guillaume Budé (1467–1540) applied the philological methods of Italian humanism to the study of antique coinage and to legal history , composing a detailed commentary on Justinian's Code . Budé was

3267-558: The Protestant denominations . Some humanists, even moderate Catholics such as Erasmus , risked being declared heretics for their perceived criticism of the institutional church. A number of humanists joined the Reformation movement and took over leadership functions, for example, Philipp Melanchthon , Ulrich Zwingli , Martin Luther , Henry VIII , John Calvin , and William Tyndale . With

3366-623: The Renaissance period most humanists were Christians , so their concern was to "purify and renew Christianity ", not to do away with it. Their vision was to return ad fontes ("to the pure sources") to the Gospels , the New Testament and the Church Fathers , bypassing the complexities of medieval Christian theology . Very broadly, the project of the Italian Renaissance humanists of

3465-409: The classics , Renaissance humanists developed a new rhetoric and new learning. Some scholars also argue that humanism articulated new moral and civic perspectives, and values offering guidance in life to all citizens . Renaissance humanism was a response to what came to be depicted by later whig historians as the "narrow pedantry" associated with medieval scholasticism . In the last years of

3564-420: The humanities , known as the studia humanitatis , which included the study of Latin and Ancient Greek literatures, grammar , rhetoric , history , poetry , and moral philosophy . It was not until the 19th century that this began to be called humanism instead of the original humanities , and later by the retronym Renaissance humanism to distinguish it from later humanist developments. During

3663-403: The rationalism of ancient writings as having tremendous impact on Renaissance scholars: Here, one felt no weight of the supernatural pressing on the human mind, demanding homage and allegiance. Humanity—with all its distinct capabilities, talents, worries, problems, possibilities—was the center of interest. It has been said that medieval thinkers philosophised on their knees, but, bolstered by

3762-602: The upper classes had received humanist educations, possibly in addition to traditional scholastic ones. Some of the highest officials of the Catholic Church were humanists with the resources to amass important libraries. Such was Cardinal Basilios Bessarion , a convert to the Catholic Church from Greek Orthodoxy , who was considered for the papacy , and was one of the most learned scholars of his time. There were several 15th-century and early 16th-century humanist Popes one of whom, Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini (Pope Pius II),

3861-420: The validity and reliability of the VIA-IS; the only published statistics are those stated above. The researchers say that they will provide the full statistical results of their analysis of the VIA-IS in a future publication. However, other researchers have published studies that challenge the validity of this six-factor structure. Although researchers have not yet examined the validity and reliability of

3960-456: The 1390s. He considered Petrarch's humanism to be a rhetorical, superficial project, and viewed this new strand to be one that abandoned the feudal and supposedly "otherworldly" (i.e., divine) ideology of the Middle Ages in favour of putting the republican state and its freedom at the forefront of the "civic humanist" project. Already controversial at the time of The Crisis ' publication, the "Baron Thesis" has been met with even more criticism over

4059-404: The 14th century some of the first humanists were great collectors of antique manuscripts , including Petrarch , Giovanni Boccaccio , Coluccio Salutati , and Poggio Bracciolini . Of the four, Petrarch was dubbed the "Father of Humanism," as he was the one who first encouraged the study of pagan civilizations and the teaching of classical virtues as a means of preserving Christianity. He also had

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4158-413: The 19th century) attempted to reconcile Platonism with Christianity, according to the suggestions of early Church Fathers Lactantius and Saint Augustine . In this spirit, Pico della Mirandola attempted to construct a syncretism of religions and philosophies with Christianity, but his work did not win favor with the church authorities, who rejected it because of his views on magic. The historian of

4257-545: The Counter-Reformation initiated by the Council of Trent (1545–1563), positions hardened and a strict Catholic orthodoxy based on scholastic philosophy was imposed. However the education systems developed by Jesuits ran on humanist lines. Hans Baron (1900–1988) was the inventor of the now ubiquitous term "civic humanism." First coined in the 1920s and based largely on his studies of Leonardo Bruni, Baron's "thesis" proposed

4356-467: The Renaissance Sir John Hale cautions against too direct a linkage between Renaissance humanism and modern uses of the term humanism: "Renaissance humanism must be kept free from any hint of either 'humanitarianism' or 'humanism' in its modern sense of rational, non-religious approach to life ... the word 'humanism' will mislead ... if it is seen in opposition to a Christianity its students in

4455-670: The Renaissance humanists as occupying the same kind of "characteristic angst the existentialists attributed to men who had suddenly become conscious of their radical freedom," further weaving philosophy with Renaissance humanism. Hankins summarizes the Kristeller v. Garin debate as: According to Russian historian and Stalinist assassin Iosif Grigulevich two characteristic traits of late Renaissance humanism were "its revolt against abstract, Aristotelian modes of thought and its concern with

4554-520: The U.S. The percentage of people who scored high or low on each character strength were similar between the two countries. The scientists did not find a significant variation in the pattern of gender differences between the United States and Japan. Women in both countries were more likely than men to score highly on the strengths of kindness, love, gratitude, teamwork, and appreciation of beauty, whereas men in both countries were more likely score highly on

4653-631: The United States. Linley and colleagues did not simply compare the rank-order of strengths of the U.S. to other countries. They administered the VIA-IS to 17,056 individuals living in the United Kingdom between 2002 and 2005. Compared to the entire U.K. population, the study's sample was better educated, and was composed of more women and fewer elderly individuals. The researchers found that as people aged, strength scores tended to increase. Using Pearson's correlations, researchers looked for associations between age and strengths. The following strengths showed

4752-479: The VIA character strengths cross-loaded onto multiple factors. Rather, the strengths were best represented by a one and four factor model. A one factor model would mean that the strengths are best accounted for by, “one overarching factor,” such as a global trait of character. A four factor model more closely resembles the "Big Five" model of personality. The character strengths in the four factor model could be organized into

4851-560: The VIA-IS could be used as a way to help people identify their signature strengths. With this knowledge, people could then begin to capitalize and build upon their signature strengths. Positive psychologists argue that the VIA-IS should not be used as a way to identify your ‘lesser strengths’ or weaknesses. Their approach departs from the medical model of traditional psychology, which focuses on fixing deficits. In contrast, positive psychologists emphasize that people should focus and build upon what they are doing well. Many studies have checked

4950-465: The VIA-IS, they are beginning to look at how the 24 character strengths are distributed within the United States and international populations. Researchers found that, within the United States, the most commonly endorsed strengths are kindness, fairness, honesty, gratitude, and judgment. The lesser strengths demonstrated consistency across states and regions as well: prudence, modesty, and self-regulation. The researchers did not find regional differences in

5049-465: The actions of humans in general needs further study to ascertain whether or not we can apply such virtues to humanity in general or whether these ideals are only truly found in smaller numbers. Confucius said that humanity, or " Ren " ( 仁 ), is a "love of people" stating "if you want to make a stand, help others make a stand." That is, the Confucian theory of humanity exemplifies the golden rule. It

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5148-408: The course of the period. And so, the term studia humanitatis took on a variety of meanings over the centuries, being used differently by humanists across the various Italian city-states as one definition got adopted and spread across the country. Still, it has referred consistently to a mode of learning—formal or not—that results in one's moral edification. Under the influence and inspiration of

5247-518: The creation of DSM , as it provided researchers and clinicians with the same set of language from which they could talk about the negative. As a first step in remedying this disparity between tradition and positive psychology, Peterson and Seligman set out to identify, organize, and measure character. They began by defining the notion of character as traits that are possessed by an individual and are stable over time, but can still be impacted by setting and thus are subject to change. They brainstormed with

5346-520: The development of scientific method, though this remains a matter of controversy. Dutch Renaissance and Golden Age Though humanists continued to use their scholarship in the service of the church into the middle of the sixteenth century and beyond, the sharply confrontational religious atmosphere following the Reformation resulted in the Counter-Reformation that sought to silence challenges to Catholic theology , with similar efforts among

5445-600: The diverse customs of the East, and gradually permitted expression in matters of taste and dress. The writings of Dante, and particularly the doctrines of Petrarch and humanists like Machiavelli, emphasized the virtues of intellectual freedom and individual expression. In the essays of Montaigne the individualistic view of life received perhaps the most persuasive and eloquent statement in the history of literature and philosophy. Two noteworthy trends in some Renaissance humanists were Renaissance Neo-Platonism and Hermeticism , which through

5544-548: The efficacy of positive interventions. As one example, consider the thousands of people who participate in life coaching and character education programs every year. Strengths of character are often the outcome of interest, yet these programs do not employ a rigorous outcome measure in order to gauge efficacy. Researchers propose that if these programs used the VIA-IS, then they may discover unanticipated benefits of their interventions and that this would facilitate objective evaluation of its outcome. Peterson and Seligman suggest that

5643-431: The elderly has shown to lead to decreased risk of early death, and to mental health benefits. There is a difference between altruism as a trait and as an act. Social intelligence is the most recently-discerned of the three strengths associated with humanity. The Character Strengths and Virtues (CSV) psychological assessment defines social intelligence as the ability to understand "relationships with other people, including

5742-663: The end, these traits are mixed together to form the character of a person. Peterson and Seligman state that all character strengths must be measurable . Of the 24 strengths, most can be assessed using self-report questionnaires, behavioral observation, peer-report methods, and clinical interviews. Three strengths, however, have yet to be reliably assessed: humility, modesty, and bravery. The researchers acknowledge that some strengths are more difficult to assess than others, therefore methods of assessing these strengths are still in-progress. For each strength, there are typically several measures that could be administered in order to assess

5841-600: The existence of a central strain of humanism, particularly in Florence and Venice, dedicated to republicanism. As argued in his chef-d'œuvre , The Crisis of the Early Italian Renaissance: Civic Humanism and Republican Liberty in an Age of Classicism and Tyranny , the German historian thought that civic humanism originated in around 1402, after the great struggles between Florence and Visconti-led Milan in

5940-400: The factor structure of the CSV , on which the VIA-IS is based. Using a second order factor analysis, Macdonald and colleagues found that the 24 strengths did not fit into the six higher order virtues model proposed in the CSV . None of the clusters of characters strengths that they found resembled the structure of the six virtue clusters of strengths. The researchers noted that many of

6039-432: The following four groups: Niceness, Positivity, Intellect, and Conscientiousness. Peterson and Seligman conducted a factor analysis and found that a five factor model, rather than their six hierarchical virtues model, best organized the strengths. Their study, however, did not include five of the character strengths in the results of their analysis. The researchers most likely did this because their results were plagued by

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6138-403: The following strengths were most associated with positive life satisfaction: hope, zest, gratitude, and love. The researchers called these "strengths of the heart". Strengths associated with knowledge, such as love of learning and curiosity, were least correlated with life satisfaction. Scientists have also performed more in-depth analyses of the VIA-IS when it is applied to populations outside of

6237-471: The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was the studia humanitatis : the study of the humanities , "a curriculum focusing on language skills." This project sought to recover the culture of ancient Greece and Rome through its literature and philosophy and to use this classical revival to imbue the ruling classes with the moral attitudes of said ancients—a project James Hankins calls one of "virtue politics." But what this studia humanitatis actually constituted

6336-455: The main wished to supplement, not contradict, through their patient excavation of the sources of ancient God-inspired wisdom." Historian Steven Kreis expresses a widespread view (derived from the 19th-century Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt ), when he writes that: The period from the fourteenth century to the seventeenth worked in favor of the general emancipation of the individual. The city-states of northern Italy had come into contact with

6435-647: The methods of testing used may not always have construct validity. Kindness is most often measured by using an ad hoc metric, usually not as a trait. The Self-Report Altruism Scale and the Altruism Facet Scale for Agreeableness Measure of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) psychological assessment are often used to ask people how often they engage in altruistic behaviors and to gauge their concern for others. The former, however, only asks about 20 specific altruistic acts, leaving out

6534-702: The mother, is determined by how distressed the infant becomes when the mother is taken out of the experimental setting. There are several models of adult attachment including the Adult Attachment Interviews and Adult Attachment Prototypes . Generally adult attachment models focus on the mental representation of the visible signs of attachment seen in infants. Negative affect states result from lacking love. One study found that children raised in an environment that did not allow children to become attached to their preferred caregivers experienced attachment disorders . Individuals who develop securely attached have

6633-466: The nature of Renaissance humanism. During the period in which they argued over these differing views, there was a broader cultural conversation happening regarding Humanism: one revolving around Jean-Paul Sartre and Martin Heidegger . While this discourse was taking place outside the realm of Renaissance Studies (for more on the evolution of the term "humanism," see Humanism ), this background debate

6732-493: The new studies, they dared to stand up and to rise to full stature. In 1417, for example, Poggio Bracciolini discovered the manuscript of Lucretius , De rerum natura , which had been lost for centuries and which contained an explanation of Epicurean doctrine , though at the time this was not commented on much by Renaissance scholars, who confined themselves to remarks about Lucretius's grammar and syntax . Only in 1564 did French commentator Denys Lambin (1519–72) announce in

6831-431: The ones identified in previous factor-analytic studies which have found very different factor structures than the ones hypothesized theoretically. Therefore, substantial evidence stands against original scale structures, in terms of nature of factors and their structures regarding content of items. McGrath also found that a lot of items that were part of original character strengths inventory (VIA-IS) were no more belonging to

6930-455: The other two hot intelligences, personal and emotional intelligence —personal intelligence being the internal counterpart to social intelligence and emotional intelligence being the capacity to understand emotions. The CSV highlights three social intelligence measurement scales: Factor Based Social Intelligence Tasks, Psychological Mindedness Assessment Procedure, and Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test . Social Intelligence research

7029-480: The preface to the work that "he regarded Lucretius's Epicurean ideas as 'fanciful, absurd, and opposed to Christianity'." Lambin's preface remained standard until the nineteenth century. Epicurus's unacceptable doctrine that pleasure was the highest good "ensured the unpopularity of his philosophy". Lorenzo Valla , however, puts a defense of epicureanism in the mouth of one of the interlocutors of one of his dialogues. Charles Trinkhaus regards Valla's "epicureanism" as

7128-455: The problem of strengths cross-loading on to multiple factors, similar to what occurred in Macdonald and colleagues' study. Clearly, empirical evidence casts doubt on the link proposed by Peterson and Seligman between the 24 strengths and associated 6 higher order virtues. Brdar and Kashdan used more precise statistical tools to build upon the findings of the two earlier studies. They found that

7227-540: The problems of war, poverty, and social injustice." The unashamedly humanistic flavor of classical writings had a tremendous impact on Renaissance scholar. Values in Action Inventory of Strengths The VIA Inventory of Strengths ( VIA-IS ), formerly known as the Values in Action Inventory, is a proprietary psychological assessment measure designed to identify an individual's profile of "character strengths". It

7326-519: The psychological sense, is most often studied in terms of attachment to others. A degree of controversy surrounds defining and researching love in this way, as it takes away the "mystery of love." Because love is mysterious, to an extent, it is most often studied in terms of attachment theory, because it can be studied in the way across ages . In infants, attachment is studied through the Strange Situation Test. Attachment to an individual, usually

7425-460: The rank-order of strengths, with the exception of the South demonstrating slightly higher scores for religiousness. When the rank order of prevalence of character strengths in the U.S. is compared to that of 53 other countries, scientists found the relative pattern of rank ordering did not differ. This finding provides evidence to support Peterson and Seligman's assertion that their classification system

7524-404: The researchers distributed 24 character strengths between six virtue categories. After creating this a priori organization of traits, the researchers performed, “an exploratory factor analysis of scale scores using varimax rotation,” from which five factors emerged. Peterson and Seligman state that they are not as concerned with how the 24 strengths are grouped into virtue clusters because, in

7623-475: The researchers examined Hallmark greeting cards, personal ads, graffiti, bumper stickers, and profiles of Pokémon characters. After identifying dozens of "candidate strengths", the researchers refined their list by subjecting them to a list of ten criteria to help them select the final 24 strengths for the CSV . Approximately half of the strengths included in the CSV meet all ten criteria, and half do not. By looking for similarities between candidate strengths,

7722-412: The rest of the items in the same scale of interest. Peterson and Seligman repeated this process until Cronbach's alpha for all scales exceeded 0.70. The researchers added three reverse-scored items in each of the 24 scales as well. For the current version of the VIA-IS, test-retest correlations for all scales during a four-month period are > 0.70. Peterson and Seligman provide limited data on

7821-512: The revival of Greek literature and science via their greater familiarity with ancient Greek works. They included Gemistus Pletho , George of Trebizond , Theodorus Gaza , and John Argyropoulos . There were important centres of Renaissance humanism in Bologna , Ferrara , Florence , Genoa , Livorno , Mantua , Padua , Pisa , Naples , Rome , Siena , Venice , Vicenza , and Urbino . Italian humanism spread northward to France , Germany ,

7920-411: The same scales after confirmatory factor analyses. His new scales had some overlaps with previous scales, but had many new items from other scales that loaded onto them instead of previous ones. McGrath indicated that the original scale structure needs several modifications and future studies would yield a better structure for a second-generation model of strengths. Caution should be taken in interpreting

8019-511: The social relationships involved in intimacy and trust, persuasion, group membership, and political power." Intelligence has many psychological definitions, from Weschler's intelligence to the various theories of multiple intelligences . The CSV divides intelligence into hot and cold, hot intelligence being those intelligences related to active emotional processes. People with high social intelligence are very self-aware, and are effective organizers and leaders. Additionally, it combines elements of

8118-583: The strengths demonstrates that each strength is not distinct, which contradicts the claims made by the creators of the VIA-IS. Robert E. McGrath modified the inventory by adding four new scales (Positivity, Future-Mindedness, Receptivity, Intellectual Pursuits) and removing four previous scales of Leadership, Zest, Hope, and Gratitude. He suggested five virtues (second-order factors) instead of six hypothesized virtues by Peterson and Seligman. These virtues were: Interpersonal, Emotional, Intellectual, Restraint, and Future Orientation. These factors / virtues resembled

8217-408: The strengths listed in the CSV and VIA-IS are present in the majority of cultures. An important limitation of this study, as with all studies that collect data via the internet, is that the samples tend to be more educated and from higher socioeconomic background because these individuals are more likely to have access and knowledge of the internet. Shimai and colleagues tested the applicability of

8316-447: The strengths of open-mindedness, perspective, creativity, self-regulation, and bravery. The correlations between specific strengths and happiness outcomes were consistent as well. The strengths of zest, curiosity, gratitude, and hope were significantly positively correlated with subjective measures of happiness for both populations. Differences between the young adults in Japan and the U.S. emerged as well. The rank-order of religiousness

8415-467: The strongest correlations: love of learning, curiosity, forgiveness, self-regulation, and fairness. Humor did not follow this pattern, and was negatively correlated with age. In terms of statistically significant gender differences, women demonstrated higher scores for interpersonal strengths (kindness, love, and social intelligence) and appreciation of beauty and gratitude. Men scored significantly higher than women on creativity. For men and women, four of

8514-410: The survey. Feedback is provided for the signature strengths, but not for the lesser strengths. The results rank order the participant's strengths from 1–24, with the top four to seven strengths considered “signature strengths”. As a relatively new field of research, positive psychology lacked a common vocabulary for discussing measurable positive traits before 2004. Traditional psychology benefited from

8613-445: The top five signature strengths were the same: open-mindedness, fairness, curiosity, and love of learning. When the means and standard deviations were broken down by gender and age, they were consistent with those reported by U.S. samples. The rank ordering of the prevalence of strengths was comparable to the patterns found in the U.S. and other international samples. Once again, research supports Peterson and Seligman's assertion that

8712-447: The topic of altruism, emphasis is placed on helping strangers ( Hebrews 13:1 ) and the biblical adage "it is better to give than to receive" ( Acts 20:35 ). Humanity is one of Thomas Aquinas ' " Seven Heavenly Virtues ". Beyond that, humanity was so important in some positivist Christian cultures that it was to be capitalized like God. Love has many different definitions ranging from a set of purely biological and chemical processes to

8811-411: The traditional grammar and rhetoric not only history, Greek , and moral philosophy, but also made poetry, once a sequel of grammar and rhetoric, the most important member of the whole group. However, in investigating this definition in his article "The changing concept of the studia humanitatis in the early Renaissance," Benjamin G. Kohl provides an account of the various meanings the term took on over

8910-409: The validity of self-reporting surveys. In an American Journal of Psychiatry review, C. Robert Cloninger wrote that the book's major accomplishment was to show that virtues could be measured in a "rigorous scientific manner". One of the major goals of positive psychology is to help people “cultivate and sustain the good life”. The VIA-IS provides a practical measure that can be used to evaluate

9009-663: The virtues”. The researchers began identifying individual character strengths by brainstorming with a group of noted positive psychology scholars. Peterson and Seligman then performed an exhaustive literature search for work that directly addresses good character in the domains of, “psychiatry, youth development, philosophy, and psychology”. Some individuals who influenced Peterson's and Seligman's choice of strengths include: Abraham Maslow , Erik Erikson , Ellen Greenberger, Marie Jahoda , Carol Ryff, Michael Cawley, Howard Gardner , and Shalom Schwartz . The researchers also looked for virtue-laden messages in popular culture. For example,

9108-683: The works of figures like Nicholas of Kues , Giordano Bruno , Cornelius Agrippa , Campanella and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola sometimes came close to constituting a new religion itself. Of these two, Hermeticism has had great continuing influence in Western thought, while the former mostly dissipated as an intellectual trend, leading to movements in Western esotericism such as Theosophy and New Age thinking. The "Yates thesis" of Frances Yates holds that before falling out of favour, esoteric Renaissance thought introduced several concepts that were useful for

9207-401: The world a very interesting place”, which gauges curiosity, and “I always let bygone be bygones”, which gauges forgiveness. People can score anywhere from 10 to 50 points for each of the 24 strengths. A higher score on a scale indicates that the participant more strongly identifies with that scale's associated strength. Score reports are delivered to each paying participant at the completion of

9306-552: The years. Even in the 1960s, historians Philip Jones and Peter Herde found Baron's praise of "republican" humanists naive, arguing that republics were far less liberty-driven than Baron had believed, and were practically as undemocratic as monarchies. James Hankins adds that the disparity in political values between the humanists employed by oligarchies and those employed by princes was not particularly notable, as all of Baron's civic ideals were exemplified by humanists serving various types of government. In so arguing, he asserts that

9405-573: Was a prolific author and wrote a treatise on The Education of Boys . These subjects came to be known as the humanities, and the movement which they inspired is shown as humanism. The migration waves of Byzantine Greek scholars and émigrés in the period following the Crusader sacking of Constantinople and the end of the Byzantine Empire in 1453 was a very welcome addition to the Latin texts scholars like Petrarch had found in monastic libraries for

9504-537: Was created by Christopher Peterson and Martin Seligman , researchers in the field of positive psychology , in order to operationalize their handbook Character Strengths and Virtues ( CSV ). The CSV is the positive psychology counterpart to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ( DSM ) used in traditional psychology. Unlike the DSM , which scientifically categorizes human deficits and disorders,

9603-442: Was not irrelevant to Kristeller and Garin's ongoing disagreement. Kristeller—who had at one point studied under Heidegger —also discounted (Renaissance) humanism as philosophy, and Garin's Der italienische Humanismus was published alongside Heidegger's response to Sartre—a move that Rubini describes as an attempt "to stage a pre-emptive confrontation between historical humanism and philosophical neo-humanisms." Garin also conceived of

9702-472: Was often patronage of humanists by senior church figures. Much humanist effort went into improving the understanding and translations of Biblical and early Christian texts, both before and after the Reformation, which was greatly influenced by the work of non-Italian, Northern European figures such as Erasmus , Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples , William Grocyn , and Swedish Catholic Archbishop in exile Olaus Magnus . The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy describes

9801-464: Was the biggest difference between the cultures. For American young adults, religiousness was on average the 14th most prevalent strength. For Japanese young adults, religiousness was, on average, the 19th most prevalent strength. The researchers attributed this finding to the fact that some of the items on the VIA-IS that assess religiousness were based on Western connotations of religiosity (e.g. monotheistic traditions). A notable limitation of this study

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