50 Years of Character Assessment: A Scoping Review of Psychometric Instruments Measuring Character or Virtues

James Aluri () and Margot Kelly-Hedrick ()
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James Aluri: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Margot Kelly-Hedrick: Duke University School of Medicine

Applied Research in Quality of Life, 2023, vol. 18, issue 4, No 25, 2107-2129

Abstract: Abstract The positive psychology movement has reintroduced the concepts of character and virtue to the study of individual differences. Over the past few decades, a variety of instruments have been developed to measure character and virtue. We conducted a scoping review of psychometric instruments intended to measure an individual’s character or virtues published after 1970. Our review found 41 instruments, described across 641 publications. The vast majority of the publications used the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) and the Values In Action (VIA) instruments. The instruments identified in our review are recent (all published after 1993), with increasing numbers of instruments published in each subsequent decade. A variety of other instruments have been developed for particular cultural, occupational, and academic contexts. Reviewed psychometric reliability properties were satisfactory. The literature lacks consensus on the definitions of character and virtue and names many character and virtue traits. Yet, many instruments also share common ground in the meanings of their traits. We use the findings of our scoping review to suggest three projects to advance the field of character and virtue assessment.

Keywords: Positive psychology; Character; Virtue; Scoping review; VIA; TCI (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1007/s11482-023-10179-8

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