Character Strengths • Researchers reminded themselves of the stance of positive
What is the good of a person? psychology: that human goodness and excellence are as
• Despite the importance of good character, scholars largely authentic as distress and disease;
neglected this topic throughout most of the 20th century; • It also became an empirical question whether or which
• Good character is not the absence of deficits and problems strengths of character are culturally bound.
but rather a well-developed family of positive traits.
3. To wed the emerging classification to an a priori theory of good
How can we help youth to realize their full potential? character, drawn from philosophy or psychology
The Values in Action Institute: a project started by the representative of • Not to adopt any given theory as explicit framework because none of
the Mayerson Foundation; these could be fully evaluated in light of hard evidence;
• Positive psychology is an ideal perspective, as opposed to • The project was labeled a classification as opposed to
the prevention of what is most problematic; taxonomy;
• The most critical tools for positive psychologists are a • Classification: descriptive (demarcating and describing a
vocabulary for speaking about the good life and assessment domain)
strategies for investigating its components. • Taxonomy: based on a deep theory (explains relationship
• Without comparable concepts and measures, it was among instances)
impossible to generalize across programs ingredients that to
identify active could be deliberately embodied in further 4. How detailed the entries in the classification to be?
interventions. • Six entries on core virtues, but these are abstract given the
measurement goals of the researchers;
Values in Action (VIA) Institute • People spontaneously talked about the components of good
• •Was created by the Mayerson Foundation in 2000 to provide the character in more-specific terms (curiosity, fairness, etc);
conceptual and empirical means of describing positive youth • The "natural concepts" used to describe good character are
development; strengths of character and not core virtues.
• The focus is on good character in light of on- going societal
concerns with the topic; Identification of Character Strengths
• •What does "good character" mean, and how can it be measured? Character Strengths
• Entries were created by reviewing literatures that addressed good
Applicability of the Project characters with the goal of identifying candidate strengths;
• Positive youth development; • Psychiatry, youth development, character education, religion,
• Guide program design and evaluation not only in youth philosophy and psychology.
development field but in any arena in which optimal development • Character strengths mentioned in a array of cultural products.
is a goal; • Is ubiquitous
• Is fulfilling
Reasons why "character" as a topic was not favoured: • Is morally valued
1. Growing sophistication about how personal values could • Does not diminish others
unintentionally pervade “objective" research and theory; • Is trait-like
2. Gordon Allport banished the term character" from academic
discourse concerning personality, arguing that character was a What about Talents?
philosophical matter than a psychological one;
• Many talents and abilities seem more innate, more
immutable, and less voluntary than strengths and virtues;
Basie Issues in Studying Good
1. How to approach good character • Character strengths differ from talents and abilities because
they fall into moral domain.
• Is it defined by what someone does not do or is there a more
active meaning?
Distinctions between character strengths and other dimensions of
• Does character exist in degrees, or is it something that one virtuosity:
happens to have or not? 1. Performance represented by the melding of a talent with
• Is character a singular characteristic of an individual, or is it character strength, yet it is the latter that we value morally;
composed of multiple aspects? 2. Talents seem valued more for their tangible consequences
• Good character is a family of positive dispositions; than character strength; Talents and abilities can be
• Character Strength - these are components which convey squandered, but strengths and virtues cannot.
the plurality of good character;
• When exercised, not only prevent undesirable life outcomes Assessment of Character Strengths
but are important in their own right as markers and indeed • Literature reviews by expert social scientists of what was
causes healthy life-long development. known about each of the 24 strengths included in the
• Character Strength: classification;
• In principle, they are distinct from one another; • Each expert also summarized previous efforts to assess each
• They are trait-like in the sense of being individual differences strength as individual difference.
with a modicum of stability and generality;
Major conclusions:
2.Because good character are morally esteemed the domain may • •In most cases, there exist reliable and valid ways of measuring
be value-laden that the project was doomed from the start. each strength as an
• individual difference;
What is the good of a person? psychology: that human goodness and excellence are as
• Despite the importance of good character, scholars largely authentic as distress and disease;
neglected this topic throughout most of the 20th century; • It also became an empirical question whether or which
• Good character is not the absence of deficits and problems strengths of character are culturally bound.
but rather a well-developed family of positive traits.
3. To wed the emerging classification to an a priori theory of good
How can we help youth to realize their full potential? character, drawn from philosophy or psychology
The Values in Action Institute: a project started by the representative of • Not to adopt any given theory as explicit framework because none of
the Mayerson Foundation; these could be fully evaluated in light of hard evidence;
• Positive psychology is an ideal perspective, as opposed to • The project was labeled a classification as opposed to
the prevention of what is most problematic; taxonomy;
• The most critical tools for positive psychologists are a • Classification: descriptive (demarcating and describing a
vocabulary for speaking about the good life and assessment domain)
strategies for investigating its components. • Taxonomy: based on a deep theory (explains relationship
• Without comparable concepts and measures, it was among instances)
impossible to generalize across programs ingredients that to
identify active could be deliberately embodied in further 4. How detailed the entries in the classification to be?
interventions. • Six entries on core virtues, but these are abstract given the
measurement goals of the researchers;
Values in Action (VIA) Institute • People spontaneously talked about the components of good
• •Was created by the Mayerson Foundation in 2000 to provide the character in more-specific terms (curiosity, fairness, etc);
conceptual and empirical means of describing positive youth • The "natural concepts" used to describe good character are
development; strengths of character and not core virtues.
• The focus is on good character in light of on- going societal
concerns with the topic; Identification of Character Strengths
• •What does "good character" mean, and how can it be measured? Character Strengths
• Entries were created by reviewing literatures that addressed good
Applicability of the Project characters with the goal of identifying candidate strengths;
• Positive youth development; • Psychiatry, youth development, character education, religion,
• Guide program design and evaluation not only in youth philosophy and psychology.
development field but in any arena in which optimal development • Character strengths mentioned in a array of cultural products.
is a goal; • Is ubiquitous
• Is fulfilling
Reasons why "character" as a topic was not favoured: • Is morally valued
1. Growing sophistication about how personal values could • Does not diminish others
unintentionally pervade “objective" research and theory; • Is trait-like
2. Gordon Allport banished the term character" from academic
discourse concerning personality, arguing that character was a What about Talents?
philosophical matter than a psychological one;
• Many talents and abilities seem more innate, more
immutable, and less voluntary than strengths and virtues;
Basie Issues in Studying Good
1. How to approach good character • Character strengths differ from talents and abilities because
they fall into moral domain.
• Is it defined by what someone does not do or is there a more
active meaning?
Distinctions between character strengths and other dimensions of
• Does character exist in degrees, or is it something that one virtuosity:
happens to have or not? 1. Performance represented by the melding of a talent with
• Is character a singular characteristic of an individual, or is it character strength, yet it is the latter that we value morally;
composed of multiple aspects? 2. Talents seem valued more for their tangible consequences
• Good character is a family of positive dispositions; than character strength; Talents and abilities can be
• Character Strength - these are components which convey squandered, but strengths and virtues cannot.
the plurality of good character;
• When exercised, not only prevent undesirable life outcomes Assessment of Character Strengths
but are important in their own right as markers and indeed • Literature reviews by expert social scientists of what was
causes healthy life-long development. known about each of the 24 strengths included in the
• Character Strength: classification;
• In principle, they are distinct from one another; • Each expert also summarized previous efforts to assess each
• They are trait-like in the sense of being individual differences strength as individual difference.
with a modicum of stability and generality;
Major conclusions:
2.Because good character are morally esteemed the domain may • •In most cases, there exist reliable and valid ways of measuring
be value-laden that the project was doomed from the start. each strength as an
• individual difference;
