Positive Psychology: Resilience Skills

Transcript from Leveraging Character Strengths and Strengthening Relationships Module in Karen
Reivich’s Resilience Skills – Foundations of Positive Psychology.
https://www.coursera.org/lecture/positive-psychology-resilience/4-1-background-and-definition-of-
signature-strengths-hFOQ7

All right. So in our last module we talked about managing anxiety and increasing positive emotions and
how having more positive emotion is going to help you to manage your stress and increase your
creativity and build really important resources. Now in module four, we're going to talk about two of my
favorite topics in resilience and positive psychology.

So, the first is character strengths. We want you to be able to identify who you are at your best from a
character perspective, so that you can use the best parts of yourself to overcome challenges, to create
more positive emotion, to have stronger relationships and we're also going to talk in this module about
how to strengthen relationships with the people you love, with the people you lead so that you're
having greater intimacy, greater trust, a sense of belonging. That's all good in and of itself and we know
that strong relationships are at the foundation of resilience. So, let's get started. We're going to start off
by talking about character strengths.

Now, I asked you to complete the values in action survey. I'm hoping you did that. If you didn't, you
might want to stop now, take that survey because we're going to use that survey a lot in this next bit of
conversation. If you did take it, have it handy because I want you to refer to it as I'm talking. So, values in
action survey. Now this survey was developed by two of my mentors. Dr. Chris Peterson and Dr. Marty
Seligman and what they wanted to do was to have a list of the best of humankind. The character traits
that describe humans at their very best and as you know from the survey you took, there are 24
character strengths, character traits, listed on that survey.

Now it probably occurred to you why 24? I mean certainly there are more than 24 character strengths in
human beings but what Chris and Marty wanted to do was not just develop a survey of character
strengths of Americans in the year 2002, they wanted to create a list an overview of the character
strengths that are valued across time and across place. Character strengths that are valued everywhere
on this planet. So, how do you do that? I mean if you think about it that's not an easy question to
answer. How do you know what character strengths are valued cross time cross place?

Well, what Chris and Marty, and their graduate students did is they read the religious texts of all of the
major religions to understand what are the character strengths that are showing up in the religious
texts. They read children's books, so think about that for a second. Why would you want to read
children's books if you're trying to understand character strengths? Well, because children's books are
filled with messages about character strengths that are valued. So, the little engine that could, right?
What does that teach? That teaches optimism and perseverance, those are character strengths. The
Giving Tree, that's a book that probably many of you have read to your kids. What does that teach? That
teaches kindness, kindness as a character strength. Charlotte's Web teaches love. They didn't just read
children's books though, they also listened to the song lyrics and figured out what character strengths
are being imparted through the lyrics of songs. Didn't stop there, they read the creeds of civic
organizations, they read world literature, philosophy, psychiatry, youth development, psychology. I
mean they studied character from as many different perspectives as possible and then asked the
question, which of these character traits are showing up across time and across place?

So, when they did that, the 24 that are on your survey are the 24 that they believe are valued
everywhere not just today but historically as well. Now what they did was they clumped these 24
character strengths under six virtue categories. So, by virtues I mean justice, temperance,
transcendence, the ability to rise above. Wisdom and knowledge is a virtue, courage is a virtue,
humanity, connection to others, is a virtue and Chris and Marty looked at these 24 character strengths
and suggested, for example, that if you wanted to live a life of temperance where you modulate and
where you temper against excess, that forgiveness and mercy is a character strength that can be used to
not have an excess of anger in your life. Modesty and humility can be used that character strength,
modesty and humility can be used to make sure there's not an excess of arrogance in your life. Caution
and prudence can be used to modulate yourself. Self-control and self regulation can be used to not have
an excess of Dunkin Donuts in your life.

So, they talked about each of these character strengths as a pathway to living a life of one of these
virtues. I think that question, how do you live a life that if you view value whatever that value is through
the best of who you are? Through marshaling and leveraging your top character strengths and that's a
question that we're going to be wrestling with as we go through this material. How do you create the life
you want to live, have greater resilience, greater meaning, stronger relationships by using deliberately
the best of who you are?

Okay, so the values in action survey assesses each of these 24 character strengths. When you took the
survey, you got a score report that told you the rank order of these 24 character strengths. So, the ones
at the top. Are what we're going to call signature character strengths. So, I want to explore with you
what we mean by a signature character strength. Signature, sign of your nature.

So do me a favor. Grab a pen, write your name. Okay. So, first of all, my guess is you picked up the pen
with your dominant hand and writing your name was incredibly easy. You didn't have to think about it, it
wasn't effortful, it didn't require a lot of attention, it just flew, it just came out of you easily, you wrote
your name very easily, and it probably was effective too, probably looks good. The signature character
strengths are like writing with your dominant hand. They are the aspects of your character that are most
comfortable in you, most dominant in you, it doesn't require a lot of thought or energy to tap into those
aspects of your character, they are your dominant character strengths.

So do me a favor. Look at the, I don't know no magic number, look at the top three, four, five, six on
your character strength profile and just ask yourself the question, are those character strengths
dominant in me? Are they comfortable in me? Do they just flow from me? My guess is if you're like the
followers of other people that we've worked with and used this survey that they most of you are saying,
"Yeah, that's me, that's a great analysis of my dominant character strengths." Okay, good.

But here's a thing, I don't want you to identify your top character strengths, the sign of your nature
simply through a survey, just because of the ones at the top. I want you to think a little bit more deeply
about how do you know whether a character strength is truly dominant in you? So, Chris Peterson, and
Marty, and others thought about like what makes a signature character strength a signature character
strength?

So, think about this, look at the ones at the top and ask yourself the question, when you're operating
from that piece of your character, do you feel true to yourself? Do you feel authentic? So, for those of
you for whom bravery is a signature character strength. When you're standing up and speaking the hard
truth even in a setting where people are not agreeing with you, when you're marshaling that bravery,
you feel authentic, you feel like you're in your own skin, you feel like you're being true to yourself. That
is an indicator that it's a signature character strength.

Here's another way, look at the ones at the top again and ask yourself when you're operating from those
strengths, do you feel energized? Does it create energy in you? Do you feel like you're skiing down the
mountain? Like you've got gravity going in your direction rather than feeling exhausted or depleted
when you're tapping into that part of your character?

So, let's say judgment and critical thinking is one of your dominant signature character strengths and
you're at work and you've got to look at a problem from multiple perspectives or you've got to make a
really tough choice and you're analyzing it and thinking about it over and over again. For those of you for
whom judgment of critical thinking is a signature strength that brings energy, it's a good day when you
get to tap into that aspect of your character. For those for whom that's not a dominant strength that
might be a little bit more tiring, a little bit more depleting. So, energizing rather than exhausting, it's a
sign and it's a dominant strength. Then the last way to know is it truly a signature character strength, is
it the dominant part of your character, is that if it is the motivation to use that part of yourself comes
from within.

So, many of you I'm guessing have gratitude as one of your dominant signature character strengths. So,
if that's the case, you don't need me to tell you to hunt the good stuff or to design a gratitude exercise.
You don't need me to cajole you or remind you to look at the world through the lens of what am I
receiving? If gratitude is a dominant strength, it just comes out of you, you're motivated to tap into that
part of your character. So, again, look at the ones at the top and ask yourself, do I feel true to myself
when I'm using that part of my character? Am I energized when I use that part of my character? Do I feel
motivated from within when I use that part of my character? My guess is many of you right now are
saying, "Yes, yes, yes" to the ones at the top of your profile. Now, you know that that truly is a signature
character strength of yours.

Now, let's also unpack this a little bit more, 24 character strengths in your profile like everyone's ranked
order from number one to down to number 24. Do you think all 24 character strengths will be signature
character strengths in one person? So let me say that a different way. Is it likely that one human being is
equally comfortable, is equally authentic, is equally energized, is equally motivated with each of these
24? Probably not. So, zest and prudence as an example, if you're motivated to be zesty, not sure that's
the word. If you're motivated by zest and you feel authentic when you're feeling a sense of zest, it's
probably not the case that you feel equally motivated, equally yourself when you're being cautious and
prudent, they pull in opposite directions. So, the goal of what we're talking about today is not that each
one of us should be trying to have all 24 be equally strong, it's probably impossible anyway. The goal of
what we're talking about is to ask the question, which of these are most dominant and how can I
leverage them fully to create the life I want to live, to have more resilience and so forth?
So, once at the top signature, hard to have all 24 equally dominant, what are the ones at the bottom? So
look at the bottom of your list. Some of you are seeing self-control and self-regulation down there, some
of you are probably seeing forgiveness lower down on that list. What are the ones at the bottom of the
list? Well, do me a favor. Grab the pen again and now hold the pen in your non-dominant hand and
write your name. How was that? So, were you able to write your name? Absolutely. I'm sure each of you
was able to write your name but what happened? Well, it took a lot more concentration, it took a lot
more effort, it didn't feel as comfortable and it probably didn't even look as good. So, think about the
character strengths lower down on your list as your non-dominant hand, they're just not as dominant in
you and that's okay. That doesn't mean that you can't develop them, it doesn't mean that you can't use
them or access those aspects of your character. It does mean, however, that those aspects of your
character are not as dominant, not as comfortable as the ones that are your signature character
strengths. So, we all have signature character strengths and we all have character strengths that are less
dominant.
Classification of Character Strengths and Virtues – Reham Al Taher,
MSc
Article from https://positivepsychology.com/classification-character-strengths-virtues/

Character Strengths and Virtues is a groundbreaking handbook compiling the work of researchers to
create a classification system for widely valued positive traits.

This handbook also intends to provide an empirical theoretical framework that will assist positive
psychology practitioners in developing practical applications for the field.

There are 6 classes of virtues that are made up of 24 character strengths:

1. Wisdom and Knowledge

2. Courage

3. Humanity

4. Justice

5. Temperance

6. Transcendence

Researchers approached the measurement of “good character” based on the strengths of authenticity,
persistence, kindness, gratitude, hope, humor, and more.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Strengths Exercises for free.
These detailed, science-based exercises will help you or your clients realize your unique potential and
create a life that feels energized and authentic.

This Article Contains:

 What Makes Us Strong and Virtuous?

  The CSV Handbook’s List

 Positive Psychology & Character Strengths and Virtues

 What Strengths do Women Score Higher?

 What Strengths do Men Score Higher?

 What Can We Learn From Both

 Development of Character Strengths in Children

 Character Strengths and Well-Being in Adolescence

 Conclusion

 Videos on Character Strengths

What Makes Us Strong and Virtuous?

Cultures around the world have valued the study of human strength and virtue. Psychologists have a
particular interest in it as they work to encourage individuals to develop these traits. While all cultures
value human virtues, different cultures express or act on virtues in different ways based on differing
societal values and norms.

Martin Seligman and his colleagues studied all major religions and philosophical traditions and found
that the same six virtues (i.e. courage, humanity, justice, etc.) were shared in virtually all cultures across
three millennia.

Since these virtues are considered too abstract to be studied scientifically, positive psychology
practitioners focused their attention on the strengths of character created by virtues, and created tools
for their measurement.

The main assessment instruments they used to measure those strengths were:

 Structured interviews

 Questionnaires

 Informant Reports

 Behavioral Experiments

 Observations

The main criteria for characters strengths that they came up with are that each trait should:

 Be stable across time and situations

 Be valued in its own right, even in the absence of other benefits

 Be recognized and valued in almost every culture, be considered non-controversial and

independent of politics.

 Cultures provide role models that possess the trait so other people can recognize its worth.
  Parents aim to instil the trait or value in their children.

The CSV Handbook’s List

The Handbook delves into each of these six traits. We’ve summarized key points here.

1. Virtue of Wisdom and Knowledge

The more curious and creative we allow ourselves to become, the more we gain perspective and
wisdom and will, in turn, love what we are learning. This is developing the virtue of wisdom and
knowledge.

Strengths that accompany this virtue involve acquiring and using knowledge:

 Creativity (e.g. Albert Einstein’s creativity led him to acquire knowledge and wisdom about the
universe)

 Curiosity

 Open-mindedness

 Love of Learning

 Perspective and Wisdom (Fun fact: many studies have found that adults’ self-ratings of
perspective and wisdom do not depend on age, which contrasts the popular idea that our
wisdom increases with age).

2. Virtue of Courage

The braver and more persistent we become, the more our integrity will increase because we will reach a
state of feeling vital, and this results in being more courageous in character.

Strengths that accompany this virtue involve accomplishing goals in the face of things that oppose it:

 Bravery

 Persistence

 Integrity

 Vitality

3. Virtue of Humanity

There is a reason why Oprah Winfrey is seen as a symbol of virtue for humanitarians: on every show, she
approaches her guests with respect, appreciation, and interest (social intelligence), she practices
kindness through her charity work, and she shows her love to her friends and family.
Strengths that accompany this virtue include caring and befriending others:

 Love

 Kindness

 Social intelligence

4. Virtue of Justice

Mahatma Gandhi was the leader of the Indian independence movement in British-ruled India. He led
India to independence and helped created movements for civil rights and freedom by being an active
citizen in nonviolent disobedience. His work has been applied worldwide for its universality.

Strengths that accompany this virtue include those that build a healthy and stable community:

 Being an active citizen who is socially responsible, loyal, and a team member.

 Fairness

 Leadership

5. Virtue of Temperance

Being forgiving, merciful, humble, prudent, and in control of our behaviors and instincts prevents us
from being arrogant, selfish, or any other trait that is excessive or unbalanced.

Strengths that are included in this virtue are those that protect against excess:

 Forgiveness and mercy

 Humility and modesty

 Prudence

 Self-Regulation and Self-control

6. Virtue of Transcendence

The Dalai Lama is a transcendent being who speaks openly why he never loses hope in humanity’s
potential. He also appreciates nature in its perfection and lives according to what he believes is his
intended purpose.

Strengths that accompany this virtue include those that forge connections to the larger universe and
provide meaning:

 Appreciation of beauty and excellence

 Gratitude
  Hope

 Humor and playfulness

 Spirituality, or a sense of purpose

Positive Psychology & Character Strengths and Virtues

Positive psychology practitioners can count on practical applications to help individuals and
organizations identify their strengths and use them to increase and maintain their levels of well-being.

They also emphasize that these character strengths exist on a continuum; positive traits are regarded as
individual differences that exist in degrees rather than all-or-nothing categories.

In fact, the handbook has an internal subtitle entitled “A Manual of the Sanities” because it is intended
to do for psychological well-being what the DSM does for psychological disorders: to add systematic
knowledge and ways to master new skills and topics.

Research shows that these human strengths can act as buffers against mental illness. For instance, being
optimistic prevents one’s chances of becoming depressed. The absence of particular strengths may be
an indication of psychopathology. Positive psychology therapists, counselors, coaches, and other
psychological professions use these new methods and techniques to help build people’s strength and
broaden their lives.

It should be noted that many researchers are advocating grouping these 24 traits into just four classes of
strength (Intellectual, Social, Temperance, and Transcendence) or even three classes (excluding
transcendence), as evidence has shown that these classes do an adequate job of capturing all 24 original
traits.

Others caution that people occasionally use these traits to excess, which can become a liability to the
person. For example, some people may use humor as a defense mechanism in order to avoid dealing
with a tragedy or coma.

What Strengths Do Women Score Higher?

There’s an interest in identifying dominant character strengths in genders and how it is developed.

As Martin Seligman and his colleagues studied all major religions and philosophical traditions to find
universal virtues, much of the research on gender and character strengths have been cross-cultural also.

In a study by Brdar, Anic, & Rijavec on gender differences and character strengths, women scored
highest on the strengths of honesty, kindness, love, gratitude, and fairness.

Life satisfaction for women was predicted by zest, gratitude, hope, appreciation of beauty/excellence,
and love for other women. A recent study by Mann showed that women tend to score higher on
gratitude than men. Alex Linley and colleagues reported in a UK study that women not only scored
higher in interpersonal strengths, such as love and kindness, but on social intelligence, too.
In a cross-cultural study in Spain by Ovejero and Cardenal, they found that femininity was positively
correlated with love, social intelligence, appreciation of beauty, love of learning, forgiveness, spirituality,
and creativity. The more masculine a man was, the more he correlated negatively with these character
strengths.

What Strengths Do Men Score Higher?

Brdar, Anic & Rijavac reported that men score highest on honesty, hope, humor, gratitude, and curiosity.

Their life satisfaction was predicted by creativity, perspective, fairness, and humor. Alex Linley and
colleagues study showed that men scored higher than females on creativity.

Miljković and Rijavec’s study found sex differences in a sample of college students. Men not only scored
higher in creativity, but also leadership, self-control, and zest. These findings are congruent with gender
stereotypes, as the study by Ovejero and Cardenal in Spain showed that men did not equate typical
masculine strengths with love, forgiveness, love of learning, and so on.

In a Croatian sample, Brdar and colleagues found that men viewed cognitive strengths as a greater
predictor for life satisfaction. Men saw strengths such as teamwork, kindness, perspective, and courage
to be a stronger connection to life satisfaction than other strengths. There is an important limitation to
this sample population, as most of the participants were women.

What Can We Learn From Both?

While there are differences in character strengths between men and women, there are many that they
share. Both genders saw gratitude, hope, and zest as being related to higher life satisfaction, as well as
the tendency to live in accordance with the strengths that are valued in their particular culture.

Studies confirm that there is a duality between genders, but only when both genders identify strongly
with gender stereotypes. It makes one wonder if men and women are inherently born with certain
strengths, or if the cultural influence of certain traits prioritizes different traits based on gender norms.

Learn more about strengths and weaknesses tests here.

Development of Character Strengths in Children

Peterson and Seligman’s, Character Strengths in Action handbook (2004) theorized that it is not
common for some young children to demonstrate gratitude, open-mindedness, authenticity, and
forgiveness.

Children and Strengths. Image by Cheryl Holt on Pixaby.

Park and Peterson’s study (2006) confirmed this theoretical speculation, concluding that these
sophisticated character strengths usually require a degree of cognitive maturation that develops during
adolescence. So although gratitude is associated with happiness in adolescents and adulthood, this is
not the case in young children.

Park and Peterson’s study found that the association of gratitude with happiness starts at age seven.

“Gratitude is seen as a human strength that enhances one’s personal and relational well-being and is
beneficial for society as a whole.”

Simmel

Although most young children are not yet cognitively mature enough for sophisticated character
strengths, there are many fundamental character strengths that are developed at a very early stage.

The strengths of love, zest, and hope are associated with happiness starting at a very young age. The
strengths of love and hope are dependent on the infant and caregiver relationship. A secure attachment
to the caregiver at infancy is more likely to result in psychological and social well adjustment throughout
their lives.

The nurturing of a child plays a significant role in their development, and role modeling is an important
way of teaching a child certain character strengths as they imitate behavior and can then embrace the
strength as one of their own.

Most young children don’t have the cognitive maturity to display gratitude but have the ability to display
love and hope. Therefore, gratitude must not be expected from a young child but must be taught.

Positive education programs have been developed to help children and adolescents focus on character
strengths. There are certain character strengths in adolescents that have a clearer impact on
psychological well-being. These strengths must be fostered to ensure life long fulfillment and
satisfaction.

“Character strengths are influenced by family, community, societal, and other contextual factors. At
least in theory, character strengths are malleable; they can be taught and acquired through practice.”

Gillham, et al.

Character Strengths and Well-Being in Adolescents

The majority of the research today on character strengths focuses on adults, despite the known
importance of childhood and adolescence on character development.

Research into character strengths shows which promote positive development and prevent
psychopathology.

Dahlsgaard, Park, and Peterson discovered that adolescents with higher levels of zest, hope, and
leadership displayed lower levels of anxiety and depression in comparison to their peers with lower
levels of these strengths. Other research findings suggested that adolescent character strengths
contribute to well-being (Gillham, et al, 2011).
The research suggests that transcendence (eg. gratitude, meaning, and hope) predicts life satisfaction,
demonstrating the importance of adolescents developing positive relationships, creating dreams, and
finding a sense of purpose.

VIA Character Strengths Youth Survey

Parents, educators, and researchers have requested the VIA: institute on character strengths to develop
a VIA survey that is especially aimed at youths. Take the VIA psychometric data – youth survey if you
are between the ages of 10-17.

Conclusion

The measurement of character strengths and the different traits that go into making them have many
applications, from life satisfaction to happiness and other well-being predictors. These measurement
tools have been used to study how these strengths have been developed across genders and age
groups.

What strengths do you possess? What implications can you see this research having in our world today?
Can you see how it may apply to your own life?

Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.