The Noel Strengths Academy defines it this way:

• To function with fairness is to have a deep sense of, and commitment to, justice 
• A commitment to treat all people equitably 
• “Disinterested” >> Fairness is careful to not let personal feelings lead to biased decisions  
• Everyone should have the same opportunities 

• Underuse: Emotional Isolation
• Overuse: Emotional Promiscuity

Key Research:

• Rank order of Fairness in populations from:
  • US : 2;
  • European:  1
  • Asia: 1
  • Latin America: 1
  • Sub-Saharan Africa: 1
  • Middle east: 1
• In a study of character strengths and adolescent peer relationships, the strengths deemed most desirable/important in a friend were honesty, humor, kindness, and fairness, and those most connected with higher peer acceptance were perspective, love, kindness, social intelligence, teamwork, leadership, and humor (Wagner, 2018).
• In a study of character strengths and adolescent peer relationships, the strengths deemed most desirable/important in a friend were honesty, humor, kindness, and fairness, and those most connected with higher peer acceptance were perspective, love, kindness, social intelligence, teamwork, leadership, and humor (Wagner, 2018).
• Top 10 (rank order) strengths expressed at work: honesty, judgment, perspective, fairness, perseverance, love of learning, leadership, zest, curiosity, social intelligence.
• After controlling for IQ, strengths of perseverance, fairness, gratitude, honesty, hope, and perspective predicted GPA (Park & Peterson, 2008a).

Tayyab Rashid and Afroze Anjum offer 340 Ways to Use VIA Character Strengths including these four for Fairness:

1. Encourage equal participation of everyone involved in a discussion or activity, especially those who feel left out. Foster a reputation as an iincluder.
2. Self-monitor to see whether you think about or treat people of other ethnicities and cultures stereotypically. When dealing with people from different backgrounds, remind yourself that they are individuals with unique characteristics, opinions, and beliefs.
3. Write a letter to an editor or speak up on an important issue concerning social justice. Write in a manner that is firm, reasonable, and respectful to all concerned. Use language that emphasizes positivity and strengths.
4. Read biographies of famous people who exemplify social justice, such as Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Nelson Mandela. Consider what strengths you share with these figures.

Fair is not the default. In the rush to Artificial General Intelligence and automating all the things, how will we stay in touch with our humanity when making the product design decisions of the future? Josh Lovejoy is a Staff User Experience Designer in the Experimental Design Group at Google, where he works at the intersection of product design, ethics, and artificial intelligence. He believes that human-centered design thinking can change the world for the better; that by seeking to address the unmet needs of people—instead of just technological opportunity—we can build tools that nourish, restore, and augment human capability.

Podcasts to feed your Fairness