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Compassion Is Not (Always) a Virtue
Compassion is a personality trait that has pros and cons
Compassion is not always a virtue. A virtue is a behavior that shows high moral standards. That’s not exactly what compassion is. The truth is a little more complicated.
Compassion Is a Personality Trait
In the Big 5 Model of Personality, which consists of Traits Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism, Compassion is a sub-dimension of Agreeableness.
Agreeableness consists of sub traits Politeness, willingness to steer clear of anything that might hurt someone else’s feelings, and Compassion, how compelled you feel to address the suffering of others.
People high in Agreeableness are nice: compliant, nurturing, kind, naively trusting, and conciliatory. However, because they tend to avoid conflict, they often conceal their true feelings and defer to the wants and needs of other people.
People low in agreeableness are not so nice: stubborn, dominant, harsh, skeptical, competitive, and, in the extreme, even predatory. However, they tend to be straightforward, even blunt, so you always know where they stand.
