Yet what can render competitiveness a positive force is that it provides a theatre for virtuous behaviour.
For Aristotle, having the right amount of the right emotion in the right circumstances is the key to virtuous behaviour.
Morality books, published in increasing quantities from the late 16th century onward, tied virtuous behaviour to concrete rewards in the form of educational success, high office, and sons.
Thus prayer evokes things which are in your memory if you are already a worshipper within the tradition so as to make a chain of associations leading to virtuous behaviour.
Their dietary restrictions commonly cause sufferers to feel proud of their "virtuous" behaviour even if it means that eating becomes so stressful their personal relationships can come under pressure and they become socially isolated.
As more cures are found for cancer, and sensible types give up smoking and bacon, more people will find that a slow decline is the meagre reward for their virtuous behaviour.
Creating the space for a social consensus to be built – through physical or virtual communities of conviction – seems a better aim than trying to 'nudge' individuals into more environmentally virtuous behaviour, all the while ignoring the social nature of belief formation.
On the other hand, there is no way that architecture's star system can prompt virtuous behaviour: it is more likely to trigger petty jealousies and an unhealthy ambition to emulate.
For example, as part of Buddhist teachings, the logic of the karma doctrine under a cosmological view on the power of natural order points out that people should live with morality, demonstrating compassionate, benevolent and virtuous behaviour that will be rewarded and bring good luck (McHale, 2004).
