Choose and study role models deliberately

Select a specific person whose character in a specific domain you want to internalize, and study how they act — not just what they say.

Why it works

Aristotle pointed to the phronimos (the practically wise person) as a model; MacIntyre notes that character is first transmitted through exemplars rather than rules. Role models work because the human brain is built for imitative learning — observing virtuous action in context transmits tacit knowledge about what virtue looks like in real situations, which abstract descriptions cannot capture.

How to do it

1. Identify one person whose character in a specific domain you genuinely admire — someone you know or whose life is documented well enough to study.
2. Focus on how they act in hard cases, not easy ones — virtue is most visible under pressure.
3. Ask: what specifically do they do that you would not have done? Name the virtue in that action.
4. In your next similar situation, use them as a reference point: "What would [person] see that I am missing?"

Evidence

Observational learning (Bandura) is well supported as a mechanism for acquiring complex behaviors and dispositions; exemplar-based moral education has a long history in both virtue ethics and developmental psychology. (observational)

Social learning research is largely on behavioral modeling; generalization to virtue as character disposition requires the additional step that Aristotle provides but empirical research has not directly tested.

Sources

• Bandura, A. (1977), Social learning theory, Prentice Hall

Common mistake

Choosing a role model for their outcomes (wealth, fame, success) rather than their character — which imports the wrong target and models the wrong means.