Whole trait theory: Does it work for virtue?

Abstract

Nearly a century after the first blow landed for the situationist argument, Whole Trait Theory was offered as a new model of traits, one that benefited from the situationists’ points. Whole Trait Theory argued that there are robust, global traits that are highly predictive of how people act, yet that people are highly responsive to situations and frequently change the personalities they exhibit. Empirical evidence in favor of Whole Trait Theory has been accumulating over the past several years – at least in so far as it applies to normal personality traits (traits that are not obviously virtues or character traits). Given that the situationist argument found new life in its incarnation as a criticism of global virtues, it is natural to wonder whether Whole Trait Theory can also fend off situationism for the case of the virtues. In this talk we present Whole Trait Theory, which offers a detailed model of traits that, inter alia, provides an optimistic view on the existence of broad, robust traits. Whole Theory does not conceive of traits as essential, permanent, and unwavering. It considers self-concepts, scripts, schemas, narratives, goals, motives, and other similar constructs as drivers of traits. Moreover, given that personality change does in fact occur, it proposes that individuals may be able to have an influence on how they change. We further propose that Whole Trait Theory may represent an exciting new avenue for interdisciplinary collaboration for studying virtue, as well as a basis for a richly developed psychological theory that could defend its position in favor of virtue ethics.