What exactly is “character” in a person and how do you develop it?

6 comments

1. Integrity, honesty, moral and personal responsibility for one’s actions

2. Your character is who you are ethically, morally, and through your values. It’s your personal integrity, honesty, trustworthiness, reliability, and ownership of your own choices and actions. Your character is made up of all of the processes that lead you to be who you are. It’s the intersection of where you exist on all of those spectrums.

   Edited to add: You develop it through your choices and experiences.

3. Character traits are just terms used to describe how a person generally acts in various situations. There are good and bad character traits. Everyone has them, but whether or not they are good or bad depends on who you ask and where you live. In some cultures, what would be considered “good” or “acceptable” might be totally inappropriate in other cultures. So I guess the answer to your question would be: it depends.

4. Think of it as the strength to do the right thing even if no one is watching. That your integrity, loyalty, and inner mental strength to do what’s right, not what’s easy isn’t predicated on society or the gaze and praise of others, but a sense of rightness and morality within yourself. I think you’d develop character through your life experiences, but also through what you’ve been taught. If your family raised to prioritize the things I just mentioned, you’re not living your daily life always conscious of trying to do the right thing per se but tending towards those positive decisions naturally. Now if you weren’t raised to consider any of these things and you were trying to accept and adopt these characteristics consciously you may have to take a step back and think about decisions you make. It could be something as small as being verbally kind to someone who is in a subservient position to you like a secretary or wait staff. Or it could be something bigger like volunteering your time at a soup kitchen to make yourself give your time and effort to better the lives of those who have much less than us. I mean volunteering at a soup kitchen is so common now as to constitute romcom trope for “we know the heroine is a good person because she does this.” But honestly, I know people who do that in their spare time or volunteer in other ways, like at a volunteer women’s clinic to provide free cervical cancer screenings. I think there are plenty of people with inner character who live their Iives full of purpose and good meaning, we just don’t know about it because they don’t advertise it.

5. Not bending to the opinions/wishes of everyone around you. Actually being, saying, doing things based on what *you* want.

6. Someone’s character may be positive, negative, neutral- it’s essentially one’s personality and behaviors.

   To me to develop one’s character would be to move in the more positive direction, build strength and conviction. Things like:

   Doing the right thing for the right reason- even when no one is watching.

   Standing up for your beliefs or those that may need it, even if it may cost you something.

   Never punching down.

   The ability to disagree civilly and remain open to new ideas and being wrong and changing when you’ve seen that you are.

   Self awareness and how your behavior effects those around you. Maintaining an awareness of the needs of those around you. Understanding that your experience in the world is not the same as someone else’s…