The 14 types of vices and their characteristics

Normally, vices are associated with addictions, both to substances such as tobacco or alcohol and to specific behaviors, such as sex or playing video games.

The vice usually has an emotional, psychological and cognitive component and, normally, implies affectation at a social, health, relational, work and even economic level.

It should be said that there are very different types of vices, some that do not fall within what could be considered harmful vices. Then we are going to discover the most known types of vices.

• Related article: "What is morality? Discovering the development of ethics in childhood "

What do we understand by vices?

There are many types of vices, since, to begin with, it depends a lot on what we understand by vice. A vice is, generally, some type of defect, lack or bad habit that is usually touching the line that separates the moral and the immoral or the right and the wrong. Considering that morality and correctness are aspects highly dependent on the sociocultural contextIt is understandable that what is seen as a vice in one culture is not in another.

Generally, vices involve a transgression of social norms and, on many occasions, are associated with crime and danger. These behaviors can involve some damage to the person who performs them and, also, can harm their closest environment. For example, the consumption of substances such as marijuana or alcohol imply damage at the individual level, especially at the organic level, but also can arouse aggressive behaviors around you.

In English there is a term more or less similar to the word "vice" in Spanish: vice. This word is used in Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence to refer to minor criminal acts, such as prostitution, gambling, debauchery and obscenity. This idea of ​​vice has a lot to do with a Christian perspective of what behaviors are moral and which are not, especially those that involve the realization of any of the capital sins.

By last, In popular language we speak of vices to those activities that we do too often and with much enthusiasm, although it does not necessarily have to imply any direct damage to our person or our surroundings. For example, we can say that we have a vice for dancing, for eating ice cream, for playing chess, for gardening...

The most common types of vices

Next we are going to see the different types of vices that exist and which are the most representative of each group.

Vices and addictions

On many occasions the word "vice" refers to addictions, both substance and behavioral. These vices involve health damages of varying severity and, being addictions, they are considered psychological problems, with which, regardless of how morally transgressive they are, they must be treated with the clear purpose of ensuring that the person can be cured.

1. Pill and other drug addiction

One of the most serious addictions is addiction to pills and other drugs, legal or not. Among these drugs we can find substances such as bath salts, cocaine, crack, ecstasy and ketamine but, Also, there are legal pills like the broad spectrum of drugs that can be found in the market.

Being a type of vice in which drugs of very varied legality are included, its consumption can be perceived as moral or amoral depending on the pill. For example, addiction to painkillers is not seen as something as transgressive as using heroin could be.

2. Alcoholism

Alcoholism is the addiction to alcohol that involves a series of behavioral and organic changes, seriously damaging the physical and psychological health of the individual. Alcoholic people cannot refrain from consuming their favorite alcoholic beverages and, with each consumption, the damaging effect on their body is accentuated.

This addiction is progressive, since the person will need more and more of the substance to be able to feel the pleasant effects that alcohol offers in the short term. You will feel like you are in control of what you consume and that you only need a little alcohol to “get in the mood”, but you will already begin to manifest cognitive problems.

3. Gambling

Gambling addiction is the name by which gambling addiction is known, such as roulette, blackjack, slot machines and, although it may seem surprising, the lottery. In most cases, these are games that can be found in casinos, places where huge amounts of money are wagered.

People with compulsive gambling think that they are in control of what they bet or that sooner or later the goddess Fortuna is going to give them joy. The problem is that chance is capricious, and the odds of winning always play against you.So they end up losing a lot of money and suffer serious financial problems.

4. Smoking

Smoking is the addiction to tobacco and it is one of the most accepted on a social level, so it is not surprising that it is also the most common vice. Despite the fact that tobacco advertisements are practically banned and youth with messages to consume it, the truth is that, today, there are not few young people who smoke.

Although there has been an attempt to raise awareness about the risks of smoking and the damages it implies, especially to cardiac and respiratory level, increasing the chances of suffering from cancer, the truth is that it seems what youth continues to be attracted to this viceIf you see the electronic cigarette format is gaining popularity.

Either because they see it as an act of rebellion or because they want to be part of the smokers, who are often seen as the coolest, tobacco is the most widespread addiction.

5. Vice for new technologies

The development of new technologies has allowed people to be more connected than ever. These devices allow communication to be quick and easy, bringing people together who may be physically far away.

But not all are advantages, since the Internet, video games and mobile phones have become dangerous addictions among the youth of the 21st century.

Whether it is online games, sending messages by chat, consulting social networks or spending all day in Internet watching videos of kittens, the vice of new technologies is a real and serious fact worry.

People can prioritize staying constantly informed and not missing anything before attending to their academic, work and family obligations.

Also, the Internet is not safe. It has been through this telecommunication that the transmission of “fake news” and comments has been promoted. critical of the appearance or hobbies of people under anonymous profiles, lowering self-esteem and misinforming.

6. Vice at work

Work is necessary to survive, of this there is no doubt. However, not a few people end up developing an addiction for work, prioritizing meeting all work goals before paying attention to your family or your own well-being.

The vice for work has been called both "workaholism" and "karachi" (Japanese for "death from overwork") and can seriously damage the health of the person, since they do not enjoy what happens while they are working: their own lifetime.

7. Vice to sex

Sex addiction, also called sexual dependence, hypersexuality or nymphomania is the behavior of seeking sex caused by an insatiable need for sexual intercourse.

This great need for sex, depending on its severity, can be considered a mere vice slightly harmful to a serious psychological disorder that must be treated. The nympho person can risk their health by not taking the proper prophylactic measures.

8. Vice for sport

Playing sports is healthy, as long as it is done within what is considered advisable and we do not get obsessed. Sport is considered a vice when you exercise so much time a day that obligations are put aside.

The person does so much physical activity that, far from gaining muscle mass or becoming healthier, he begins to wear down his joints and suffer damage to bones, such as the knees or feet.

This obsession can reach the point that the person follows an extremely strict diet, preventing him from going out. with friends for a beer or dinner because you don't want to eat anything outside of what you have forced yourself to eat.

• You may be interested in: "The 14 most important types of addictions"

Vices of the will

Within legal language, we would speak of vices of will to a non-voluntary action carried out in a criminal context. They are certain conditions that prevent the person who committed a crime from being judged as if he would have been fully conscious or free to do what he did, though not without receiving some kind of penalty.

1. Ignorance or error

We understand by ignorance or error as vices of will the fact that a person committed an action but did not know what consequences it would entail. Yes, he will be judged, but not being fully aware of what he was doing, the penalty will be different.

2. Idol

The fraud refers to the simulation, dissimulation or deception on the part of any of the parties involved in the carrying out of a crime. The person did not take an action voluntarily, but was deceived.

3. Violence or intimidation

Actions carried out under threats of violence or intimidation imply fear in the person of suffering some type of punishment or dishonor, and action on the victim resulting from the intimidating action of his aggressor.

Vice and virtue

The vices in virtue are those behaviors that are seen as negative or immoral on a social level, regardless of whether they involve any real harm to the person who performs them or around them.

They may or may not be crimes depending on the legal code of each country, but what there is no doubt is that they imply some transgression of the social norms of that culture.

A virtue, for example, is a personality trait considered desirable in the framework of society, such as altruistic or kind. Those considered sins would also be within this definition, seen as those traits personal or conducts that distance us from the desires of religion, or that prevent us from being guaranteed salvation.

In the case of Christianity, the theological virtues are three: hope, faith and charity. The sins are pride, greed, lust, anger, gluttony, envy and laziness. Other virtues would be responsibility, generosity, honesty and punctuality, which although they do not have why their transgression be sins if, in the context of each culture, they can be seen as behaviors vicious.

Language vices

As strange as it may seem, the word vice is also used to refer to linguistic phenomena that contradict grammatical norms or hinder understanding between speakers, both written and oral. Some of these language vices are as follows.

1. Pleonasm

A pleonasm is the use of words redundantly in the same sentence, as would be the following case: "today I will go to Juan's house to deliver Juan's scooter to Juan because Juan gave it to me yesterday and he still hadn't returned it to Juan."

This same information could be transmitted with a less redundant phrase: "today I will go to Juan's house to give him the scooter that he gave me yesterday and had not returned him yet"

2. Apocope

The apocope is the elision of some letters of a word to gain speed or loudness. It can be presented in a dialectical way, although that, in theory, would not be a vice of the language itself but rather a sample of intralinguistic diversity.

We would speak of a case of apocope that is grammatically incorrect to, for example say "primer" instead of "primer" when the noun is feminine. For example: "this is the first time I do it" instead of saying "this is the first time I do it"

3. Queísmo and dequeísmo

Queísmo and Dequeísmo are two very widespread vices of language. Both phenomena consist the subtraction (queísmo) or unnecessary addition (dequeísmo) of the grammatical particle “de” in certain types of sentences.

For example, a case of dequeism would be "I am glad that athlete has retired" instead of "I am glad that athlete has retired." On the other hand, we would speak of Dequeism in the following sentence "He told me to come to his house." instead of saying "he told me to come to his house."

Bibliographic references:

• Foot, Philippa (2003). Virtues and Vices: And Other Essays in Moral Philosophy. USA: Oxford University Press.
• Lewis, C. S. (2005). Virtue and Vice: A Dictionary of the Good Life. USA: HarperOne.
• Hess, Kären M.; Orthmann, Christine Hess (2008). Introduction to Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. ISBN 978-0-495-39090-9.