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Seven Deadly Sins

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Synonyms

Capital vices; Cardinal sins; Immoral behaviors; Immoral thoughts; Sins; Vices

Definition

The Seven Deadly Sins is a classification system of transgressions or vices – anger, envy, greed, lust, pride, gluttony, and sloth – that were popularized by the Catholic Church.

Introduction

The seven deadly sins – which are also known as “vices” – are a set of aversive thoughts and behaviors that were popularized by the Catholic Church with the belief that an absence of vice signifies the existence of virtue (Bejczy 2011). The seven vices and their corresponding virtues are anger (vs. patience), envy (vs. kindness), greed (vs. charity), lust (vs. chastity), pride (vs. humility), gluttony (vs. temperance), and sloth (vs. diligence; e.g., Schimmel 1997). These seven vices are ubiquitous, such that they are present in our everyday lives and exist in both popular and academic culture (e.g., Stimers et al. 2011). In addition, they have even been considered a part of what makes one human or...

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Correspondence to Jennifer K. Vrabel .

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Vrabel, J.K. (2018). Seven Deadly Sins. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1263-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1263-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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