The End of Average: How We Succeed in a World That Values Sameness

by Todd Rose

But what about honesty? Loyalty? Kindness? Aren’t these inherent to our character? Or is character, too, a changeable, contextual quality? For a long time, it was believed that people’s character is burned into their nature. If we learn that our neighbor’s son was caught shoplifting candy at the local convenience store, we instinctively presume he is going to steal other things, too. We certainly would not leave him alone in our home. We might even be inclined to believe that he has some defect of moral fiber that will inevitably drive him to not only commit further acts of thievery, but will most likely lead him to behave in other unscrupulous ways, such as cheating at school and lying to adults. This view, as it turns out, is wrong. Character is no different than any human behavior: it is meaningless to talk about it in the absence of context.