Assessing Intellectual Virtues: The Virtuous Intellectual Character Scale (VICS)

Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to develop a scale that can facilitate a comprehensive assessment of intellectual virtues. To our knowledge, no instrument has been designed to assess virtuous intellectual character as a global construct, and this article aimed to fill this research gap through two studies. The first study aimed to investigate the construct validity and reliability of the scale, while the second study aimed to confirm the factorial structure observed in Study 1 and to analyze the convergent validity of the new scale. Study 1 included 545 college students (mean age = 19.57 years, SD = 1.41) enrolled in 33 undergraduate degree programs at Argentinean universities. Study 2 included 700 college students (mean age = 18.07, SD = 0.95). The EFA carried out in Study 1 identified five dimensions of the VICS (attentiveness, open-mindedness, curiosity, carefulness, and intellectual autonomy), and the CFA carried out in Study 2 validated the five-factor structure. A bifactor model indicated that each group of items was related to a specific virtue while simultaneously being linked to a bifactor or global construct, i.e., “a virtuous intellectual character.” Our results confirm the existence of a global construct while preserving the specificity of each virtue. The results of Study 2 indicated that the VICS total score and its five factors are associated with intellectual humility, deep thinking, bravery, academic engagement, and social and psychological well-being. However, all intellectual virtues were only weakly associated with emotional well-being. Finally, both studies indicated good reliability of the VICS.