 Exploiting this observation, “character skeptics” contend that if moral conduct varies so sharply, often for the worse, with minor perturbations in circumstance, ostensibly good character provides very limited assurance of good conduct. In addition to this claim in descriptive psychology, concerning the fragility of moral character, some character skeptics also forward a thesis in normative ethics, to the effect that character merits less attention in ethical thought than it traditionally  gets.[11] 