Lack of Character: Personality and Moral Behavior [Paperback]

John M. Doris (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 7, 2005 | ISBN-10: 0521608902 | ISBN-13: 978-0521608909

This book is a provocative contribution to contemporary ethics and moral psychology, challenging fundamental assumptions about character dating to Aristotle. John Doris draws on an array of social scientific research, especially experimental social psychology, to argue that people often grossly overestimate the behavioral impact of character and grossly underestimate the behaviorial impact of situations. Circumstance, Doris concludes, often has extraordinary influence on what people do, whatever sort of character they may appear to have. He then considers the implications of this observation for a range of issues in ethics, arguing that with more realistic picture effect, cognition, and motivation, moral psychology can support more compelling ethical theories and more humane ethical practices.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Lack of Character is a very important book both for psychologists and philosophers. It presents the best summary available of the psychological literature documenting the typically weak effects of personality on moral behavior and the massive effects that situations can have. The book also presents a powerful case against 'virtue ethics', which assumes that people act morally to the degree that they have certain dispositions." --Richard E. Nisbett, Theodore M. Newcomb Distinguished University Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

"Adopting a new stance towards character in moral psychology as Doris suggests ought to bring a welcome revolution..." Metapshychology

"Lack of Character is a very important book both for psychologists and philosophers. It presents the best summary available of the psychological literature documenting the typically weak effects of personality on behavior and the massive effects that situations can have. The book also presents a powerful case against philosophical 'virtue ethics,' which assumes that people act morally to the degree that they have certain dispositions. Richard E. Nisbett, Theodore M. Newcomb Distinguished University Professor, Dept. of Psychology, Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor

"Doris is a punchy, spirited and bold writer who tackles the important issue of whether we are justified in our belief that there is something called stable moral character that leads to predictable behavior... His arguments do moral psychology proponents an important service by indicating how to integrate moral philosophy with current empirical research... His work should cause quite a stir within virtue ethics circles. At the very least, it should lead to a reexamination of time-worn views about character traits and their manifestations in coherent patterns of actions." Nancy Sherman, Professor of Philosophy, Georgetown Univ.

"...Lack of Character is by far the best thing I know of written on the implications of recent social psychology for philosophical discussions of virtue and character. The book refers to and assesses an extraordinarily large literature in psychology, philosophy, and beyond, and works out in considerable detail one very plausible way of thinking of ethics in the light of the facts of psychology. Gilbert Harman, Stuart Professor of Philosophy, Princeton University

"In addition to presenting his ideas in a clear and jaunty way that allows undergraduates to follow him with little difficulty, Doris has written a book that will interest especially those working on moral theory.... This book is particularly appropriate for collections serving a philosophy major. Recommended." Choice

"This book is a rich and stimulating contribution."
William P. Smith, Philosophical Psychology

Book Description

This book is a provocative contribution to contemporary ethics and moral psychology, challenging fundamental assumptions of character dating to Aristotle. John Doris draws on an array of social scientific research, especially experimental social psychology, to argue that people often grossly overestimate the behavioral impact of character and grossly underestimate the behavioral impact of situations. Circumstance, Doris concludes, often has extraordinary influence on what people do, whatever sort of character they may appear to have. He then considers the implications of this observation for a range of issues in ethics, arguing that with a more realistic picture of affect, cognition, and motivation, moral psychology can support more compelling ethical theoris and more humane ethical practices.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (March 7, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521608902
• ISBN-13: 978-0521608909
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #723,994 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pioneering book, but could have pushed harder, January 8, 2009

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JJ vd Weele "veenspuuter" (Firenze, Italy) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lack of Character: Personality and Moral Behavior (Paperback)

In Lack of character Doris investigates the implications of research into character psychology on moral theorizing, and specifically virtue ethics. The elephant in the virtue-ethical room is that psychological experiments have shown that people do not have something that can remotely be described as a global overarching character. People's decisions to help others in distress may depend on such trivialities of just having found a quarter in the phone box, or being in a hurry for a not-so-important appointment. Milgram has demonstrated that under relatively modest pressure from authority, people are willing to give others lethal shocks. Doris concludes that we cannot say people are good or evil, trustworthy or cheating. We can only be confident that people have `local' traits that predict behavior only in rather specific situations. Doris sets out to investigate the consequences for virtue ethics, the branch of moral theory that is concerned achieving a good life through building a moral character.

It is surprising that we had to wait 57 years after Nazism and some 25 years after Milgram's experiments before someone took the implications of situationism for ethics seriously (with possibly the exception of Hannah Arendt.) Moral theorists have contended themselves too much with conjuring up armchair `oughts' without asking whether their concepts have any empirical content. Thus, Doris should be commended for his choice of topic. Unfortunately the book is not as interesting as it could have been, because Doris shies away from some fundamental questions. Given that virtue ethics is concerned with an ideal of character, and not with our mundane attempts to achieve it, what is the relevance of experimental work for ethics? Doris mentions this issue but never delves deep into it. Another interesting question is how we should make people behave better: can we trust them at all, or should our efforts be focused instead on the design of environments that rule out possibilities for misbehaving? Rather Doris contents himself with some rather modest amendments (or so he says himself) to virtue theory. For example, it can be helpful to be aware of your own character flaws, so that you know to avoid ethically difficult situations.
Another problem with the book is the style. Instead of defending a clear position, Doris is engaged in a never-ending dialogue with imaginary critics in which he continually amends and nuances his statements, and each claim seems temporary.

But maybe I am being too harsh, because Doris' starting point raises more questions than a single book can answer. Testimony to the scope and importance of the argument is that 7 years after the publication of this book, a `naturalistic turn' in ethics is finally taking place.