Balance

Steven F. Bacon

California State University

Balance is achieved when a person develops harmony within the self, and between the self and others. The pursuit of a balanced life is an important aspect of several character strengths and virtues. For other strengths, a focus on achieving personal excellence is more important than balance. Focus-oriented strengths help people become better in areas where they already excel. The ultimate goal of practicing both kinds of strengths is the same: a satisfying and meaningful life. The path to a meaningful life will be different, however, for people pursuing balance versus focus.

The view of balance presented here has some common roots in ancient religion and philosophy. Buddhism, for example, recommends seeking balance in the middle way between hedonism and asceticism. The Greek golden mean recom- mends a similar path. Both of these are consistent with the modern strength of self-regulation, which is a balance-oriented strength. The balance versus focus dis- tinction considered here is broader, however, than this single strength.

Wisdom is a prototypical balance strength. According to Sternberg, wisdom is a specific type of practical intelligence that is used to solve particular kinds of problems. Wisdom necessarily involves a direction (i.e., for the common good) and a process (i.e., balance). Wise solutions always involve balancing: a) the inter- ests of the self with the interests of others; b) conflicting interests within the self (e.g., do I take the high-paying but boring job or the fulfilling job that doesn’t pay well?); or c) the interests of the self within a larger social context (e.g., one’s school, community, country, or God). Wise solutions also balance responses to best fit the environment (e.g., if I have an unreasonable boss, do I bend to her wishes, try to change her, or look for another job?).

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Balance 95 In contrast, creativity is more representative of a focus-oriented character strength. Creative people put a great deal of time, energy and passion into devel- oping their interests. When pursuing their interests, they are not concerned with balancing other interests. Creative people are autonomous, independent, and sometimes rebellious. They are not particularly interested in accommodating others. When exercising a focus strength like creativity, other interests – within the individual and outside – recede into the background. This is not to say that the creatively-focused people are antisocial – working in opposition to the interests of others – but simply that they are neutral with respect to the needs of others when pursuing their goals. A consequence of indifference toward others may be the strained interpersonal relationships sometimes found in the families of highly creative people. A possible consequence of inadequate attention to the self may be their higher risk for psychological disorder.

Table 1 summarizes some characteristics of balance and focus strengths.

Creativity, leadership, curiosity, judgment, perseverance, social intelligence, love of learning, appreciation of beauty, and leadership are all considered focus strengths because their development involves focusing interest and energy on

Table 1 Contrasting the Balance and Focus Strengths.

Type of strength Feature

Associated strengths

Intrapersonal goal

Interpersonal goal

Predicted outcomes Intrapersonal Interpersonal Career track Occupational

achievement Ultimate goal

Focus Creativity, leadership, judgment, love of learning, persistence, curiosity, social intelligence, appreciation of beauty

Increase personal competence

None, but may choose to apply personal strengths to social ends

Achievement Variable relationships Faster

Higher

Satisfying, meaningful life Balance

Wisdom, fairness, citizenship, gratitude, spirituality, humility, kindness, love, self-regulation

Harmonize personal strengths and weaknesses; harmonize internal tensions

Harmonize self and others’

interests

Integration Good relationships Slower

Variable

Satisfying, meaningful life

96 Balance

becoming more competent but does not involve the balancing of any intraper- sonal or interpersonal interests. Although some individuals may be able to balance other interests (e.g., family life) while focusing, development of the strength itself does not require this. Creative people, for example, often lead very focused, but unbalanced lives. Even leadership and social intelligence, which are inherently social, may not require the balancing of self and others’ interests. Corrupt politicians and tyrants illustrate that that leadership can be wholly self-interested.

The balance strengths, in contrast, necessarily involve balancing competing interpersonal or intrapersonal interests and their development leads to improved competence in these activities. The strengths listed in Table 1 illustrate the range of different interests that can be balanced. Sternberg’s wisdom – probably the broadest of the balance strengths – has already been described. Fairness balances self-interest with the interests of others or the competing interests of two other parties. Citizenship balances self-interest with the community’s interest. Grati- tude balances the joy of receiving a gift with the duty to repay the debt. Self- control balances competing intrapersonal interests, often long-term satisfactions with short-term physical pleasures. And humility balances the recognition of one’s own value with the value of all other things in the world.

The intrapersonal goal of the focus strengths is to increase personal compet- ence, or to become better at what one already does well. If people are creative, they will seek opportunities to further develop and express their creativity. All of their energy may be spent pursuing creative opportunities without regard for how this affects others parts of their lives. Underdeveloped parts of the self may be left that way, since spending time and energy in rehabilitation is effort away from pursuing excellence. In contrast, among the balance strengths that have an intrapersonal goal (not all do), the goal is to harmonize personal strengths and weaknesses or to harmonize internal tensions. For example, wise people will not consistently ignore a personal weakness and may challenge themselves to try new behaviors in appropriate settings. Such a wise but anxious person might take growth-enhancing risks around close supportive friends, but might avoid situa- tions in which displaying anxiety would have high social costs.

Given the different goals and approaches of balancers and focusers we might expect different life outcomes. The single-minded pursuit of a creative idea, of an analytic strategy, or of a leadership goal will often lead to an identifiable achievement. When we think of exemplars of focus, we often associate them with some outstanding achievement, like Einstein’s superior intellect and the theory of relativity, Mozart’s creativity and his grand body of music, or Roosevelt’s leader- ship and his New Deal reforms. The intrapersonal outcome of balance, however, is integration, which is not as easy for others to see. Because integration is less likely to produce a tangible object, we are less likely to notice products and deeds representing exemplary wisdom, gratitude, humility and self-control. Individuals exemplifying extraordinary balance are also less likely to come to mind.

The interpersonal goal for balance strengths that involve interpersonal interests – again, not all of them do – is harmonizing self-interest with others’ interests.

Balance 97 Wisdom, for example, may involve balancing what is good for one’s career with what is good for one’s family. Citizenship may require a person to balance stand- ing in solidarity with neighbors at a town hall meeting with enjoying a relaxing night at home. The likely outcome of striving for harmony with other people is good relationships with spouses, children, friends, colleagues, and communities.

Individuals pursuing focus-oriented strengths may choose to balance their interests with others, but this is not a necessary part of the pursuit. Curious people, for example, may pursue greater knowledge without considering the people around them, and they are not any less curious for doing so. Consequently, the interpersonal outcomes for focusers are likely to be more variable than for balancers.

The career tracks and occupational achievements of successful balancers and focusers are also likely to be different. The balance-oriented individual is likely to have a slower paced career, consistent with the sometimes maligned mommy- or daddy-track. Big career decisions, like whether to relocate or work longer hours for a better job – where better means more opportunities to develop personal strengths – will be less problematic for focusers. The smaller, day-to-day decisions should also favor focusers. Over a number of years, this pattern of decision- making in two equally-talented individuals will lead to faster advancement and greater occupational achievement in the focus-oriented individual.

Although Table 1 highlights how the balance and focus strengths differ from one another, it is important to remember their fundamental similarity: People pursue strengths and virtues because they think doing so will lead to better and more meaningful lives. The focus and balance strengths are simply alternative paths to this ultimate goal.

Like most human characteristics, balancing versus focusing is a matter of degree. Certainly some people will pursue several strengths simultaneously, and well-developed focus and balance strengths may be found in the same person.

Whether people pursue one or several different strengths is perhaps less import- ant than how the pursuit organizes their lives. When strengths are in conflict (e.g., leadership and love), it is not known whether balance or focus prevails.

The balance-focus distinction is a fairly recent development. In addition to the hypotheses already laid out, several fundamental issues await investigation.

First, it is not known whether factor analysis or other data reduction methods will support the balance construct when applied to instruments that measure a variety of strengths, like the VIA Strengths Inventory. Second, rather than relying on current measures of strengths and virtues to indirectly assess focus and balance, new instruments should be developed that directly assess these constructs. Third, investigators should examine people’s tendencies toward focus or balance to see if they are trait-like, that is, whether they are consistent across situations and time and whether they show predictable patterns across the lifespan. Erik Erikson’s developmental model would predict, for example, that balance-oriented virtues might predominate later in life when there is an emphasis on integration. Finally, researchers might begin to look for additional correlates of balance and focus.

98 Bandura, Albert

For example, one path to virtue might be more consistent with life satisfaction than the other, and there might be other variables that moderate the relationship between balance and happiness. Park, Peterson, and Seligman recently looked at the relationship between various character strengths and life satisfaction. Inter- estingly, six of the ten strengths most strongly associated with life satisfaction were balance-oriented (gratitude, love, wisdom, self-regulation, spirituality, and forgiveness), but only two were focus-oriented (curiosity and persistence; the other two strengths were neither balance-oriented nor focus-oriented).

SEE ALSO: Character strengths (VIA) Creativity Harmony

Self-regulation Wisdom