부산대학교 도서관

Drawing upon philosophical virtue theory (Kreeft, 1986; MacIntyre, 1984; Meilander, 1984; Pieper, 1966), as well as its growing psychological support (Peterson & Seligman, 2004; Vitz, 1990), we designed a pilot intervention for a small group of adolescents in an academic day-treatment program at a juvenile justice center. J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels were used to facilitate virtuous character development in group discussions and journaling exercises. Self-report ratings of seven virtues were obtained at pretest and posttest with the Youth Virtues Scale, a modified version of Cawley, Martin, and Johnson's (2000) Virtues Scale. Teachers also provided a global rating of virtuous behavior. Engaged students were significantly more likely to report improvements in charity and fidelity than students who did not invest in the program; fortitude and prudence approached significance. Engaged students also showed more teacher-rated changes in virtuous behavior. We discuss the development of the intervention, qualitative findings around ethical issues, study implications, and recommendations for future research.
In his critically acclaimed book After Virtue, Alasdair MacIntyre (1984) proposed that our pluralistic and relativistic culture is producing a generation of "moral stutterers" who are incapable of discerning right [...]