The Big Three of Character

Thought psychologists were slow to come to the topic of character, their recent efforts have been expedited in part by the introduction of the VIA Classification of Character Strengths and Virtues (Peterson & Seligman, 2004). This system, comprised of 24 character strengths attempting to provide a comprehensive set of character dimensions, has inspired a number of studies attempting to define a latent structure for the strengths. The most frequently replicated model across different measures of the strengths, populations, and analytic strategies is comprised of three factors that have been or can be called heart/will/mind, caring/self-control/inquisitiveness, or.morality/self-control/reasoning. Subsequent explorations has suggested this model has relevance beyond the context of character strengths to character in general. Summarizing additional research with the character strengths, research on persona perception, empirical research and theory in education, discussions in moral philosophy, and examples from entertainment, the case is made for considering these three dimensions a Big Three of Character, playing a similar role to the Big Five of Personality. Evidence from person perception and popular culture in particular suggest the model is intuitively appreciated even by youth.