ABOUT KINDNESS AS A CHARACTER TRAIT. AN EXPLORATORY STUDY

Abstract

Kindness is a subject of study that is equally concerned with psychology, religion, philosophy, or pedagogy. Seen through the prism of the significantly different explanations and meanings associated with these sciences, the debate over its innate or acquired character and the research conducted on the benefits of practicing kindness, represent as many points of departure for our scientific approach, which seeks to identify the defining components of kindness, such as are they currently felt by young people in Romania. To achieve this objective, following an exploratory study, there were identified a series of attributes/behaviors of a good person, and organized in the form of a list of qualities, as they were detected after interviewing several 545 young people, students at several faculties of the University of Craiova. The conclusions regarding the possibility of acquiring these qualities through training, our vision regarding the referred subject as well as the openings to future interesting areas of exploration regarding kindness as a character trait, conclude this non-exhaustive material, which, however, aimed to reflect a current reality regarding the researched subject.

Keywords

• kindness
• character trait
• moral value
• humanism