Thought and character

There is probably enough implied in our presentation to show that character is not so much linked up with morality as with reason or intelligence, on the one hand, and instinct on the other. Webb, ⁴¹⁰ in his interesting study on the relation between intelligence and character, has come to the conclusion that there is a volitional ingredient in intelligence, what he calls an ω factor. Now, we are apt to overlook the truth of the converse proposition, viz., that there is an intelligence factor in character, or, to put it more explicitly, other things being equal, the highest type of character will be manifested only in those individuals of the highest type of intelligence, or rather intellect ; for it is doubtful whether the mental alertness conception of intelligence has anything to do with character. But it is not to be gathered that, therefore, a mighty intellect would necessarily give evidence of a high type of character, although from biographical material it would be possible to construct the view that profoundness of mind correlates highly with a well-knit character, and the psychographic results of Heymans and Wiersma tend to show that the predominance of what they call the “ secondary function ” (comprising such qualities as seriousness, persistence, depth, etc.) is an indication of a solid character.