What is character? (Gladwell)
July 15th, 2007 | Published in Biology, Life, Morality, Quotes, Religion | 2 Comments
Character, then, isn’t what we think it is or, rather, what we want it to be. It isn’t a stable, easily identifiable set of closely related traits, and it only seems that way because of a glitch in the way our brains are organized. Character is more like a bundle of habits and tendencies and interests, loosely bound together and dependent, at certain times, on circumstance and context. The reason that most of us seem to have a consistent character is that most of us are really good at controlling our environment.
–Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point (2000), p. 163
July 15th, 2007 at 10:14 am (#)
This, of course, is the opposite of what the Bible teaches. From the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks. A good tree bears good fruit, a bad tree bears bad fruit.
July 15th, 2007 at 10:28 am (#)
I’m not so sure it is the opposite of what the Bible teaches. It is true that a good tree bears good fruit, but part of what makes the tree good is a proper environment of sunlight, water, favorable ecosystem, etc. So character seems to be built upon environment in some way. Things like this are never as simple as we think they are.
Anyway, the studies Gladwell cites to back up this conclusion are fascinating — in fact, the main one uses seminary students to prove his point. I would recommend taking a look at it, just because it is so darn interesting and thought-provoking.
Thanks for reading!
Josh