Character Strengths: What Are They and Why Are They a Big Deal?
When I was teaching, something called Schools of Character were a big deal and still are in some states. Schools applied for distinction hoping to meet the rigorous standards articulated in www.Character.org’s 11 Principles Framework for Schools.
“Schools that effectively emphasize character development bring together all stakeholders to consider and agree on specific character strengths that will serve as the school’s core values. This combination of values expresses our common humanity, transcending religious and cultural differences. Ideally, a balance of moral, performance, intellectual, and civic character strengths, these values represent a school’s highest priorities and belief systems. A school committed to character development uses a common language to teach, model, and integrate their core values into all aspects of school life. “
This is a great example of how systems implement a case for character development. But how do we as individuals work toward something like this? The Values in Action (VIA) Institute on Character provides us with an abundance of insight into the matter. VIA bases its work on ‘The science of strengths. The practice of wellbeing.’ Based in Cincinnati, Ohio, the non-profit VIA is dedicated to bringing the science of character strengths to the world. They have created and validated surveys of character, supporting researchers and developing practical strengths-based tools for individuals and professionals. As such, their surveys are available free of charge worldwide in many languages.
“Research shows that knowing and using your character strengths can help you:
- increase happiness and wellbeing,
- find meaning and purpose,
- boost relationships,
- manage stress and health, and
- Accomplish goals!”
(Personality Test, Personality Assessment: VIA Survey | VIA Institute (viacharacter.org)
A Bit More about the Strengths, Themselves
Social scientists discovered a common language of 24 character strengths that everyone possesses during the early 2000s. They show up in different combinations at varying levels. Therefore, there are likely even more possible profiles than there are people on the planet. Even more fascinating is that everyone has a truly unique profile!
Each character strength falls into one of 6 broad virtue categories, which are universal across cultures, nations, and belief systems. As a result, it is seen as a holistic conceptual schema. Let’s dig deeper into these categories and learn which strengths fall where:
- (Emotional) Courage: bravery, honesty, perseverance, zest
- (Social) Humanity: kindness, love, social intelligence
- (Social) Justice: fairness, leadership, teamwork
- (Protective) Temperance: forgiveness, humility, prudence, self-regulation
- (Spiritual) Transcendence: appreciation of beaty & excellence, gratitude, hope, humor, spirituality
- (Cognitive) Wisdom: creativity, curiosity, judgment, love of learning, perspective
I have given and taken many personality tests in my life. I liked this one but needed to read more to find out how and why it was different…better than the others. I mean really, how do you choose which virtues and strengths to include? Why do you choose to call it one thing and not another, like why hope instead of optimism? Well, there is a science-based reason for that too.
In their book, Character Strengths and Virtues, Christopher Peterson and Martin Seligman explain that the character strengths and virtues classified in VIA’s system were based on a 3-year project they led involving 55 distinguished social scientists. The work represents the most significant effort in history to review, assemble, research, and classify positive strengths/traits in human beings. Tracing back to the time of Aristotle and Plato, the major world religions, and other great thinkers and philosophers during the past 2,500 years, we now have a common language for understanding and discussing these core human capacities. Each strength is thoroughly reviewed by a stringent list of 12 characteristics which can be found inside the pages of the book. The book remains essential to the field, as well as education, management, consulting, psychology, coaching, and others.
I now know why/how this set of 24-character strengths differentiates itself from the others. I was introduced to it while working for a nonprofit youth-serving agency and then again during my positive psychology coaching training. I have taken it several times and find it intriguing to observe shifts as some strengths move up in dominance while others scoot down. I use it frequently with clients as well.
If you want to learn more about each of the six virtue categories and/or more about the individual strengths, look for my other character strength blogs and future blogs about how to make optimal use of your signature strengths!