by Lesley Lyle | March, 2023 | Lesley Lyle, Strengths
Whilst most people are acutely aware of their weaknesses, few can accurately name their strengths but we all have them! The VIA Institute On Character offers a free online survey that will help you discover your greatest strengths to unlock your potential. It will only take about 10 minutes to complete. To date, more than 25 million people worldwide have participated. What counts as a VIA strength? The VIA Classification of Character Strengths identifies 24 universal character strengths, organised into six different categories. Each strength is one that is found in all cultures and societies. Everyone has their own unique combination of strengths that make up their character. List of VIA strengths CATEGORY STRENGTHS Wisdom and Knowledge Creativity, Curiosity, Open-mindedness, Love of learning, Perspective Courage Bravery, Perseverance, Honesty, Zest Humanity Love, Kindness, Social intelligence Justice Teamwork, Fairness, Leadership Temperance Forgiveness, Humility, Prudence, Self-regulation Transcendence Appreciation of beauty and excellence, Gratitude, Hope, Humor, Spirituality What are your VIA signature strengths? Your top five strengths are considered to be your ‘signature’ strengths, those that define who you are and how you show up in the world. Another way of saying it is, your signature strengths describe your authentic, best self. Why knowing your VIA strengths matters Realising and utilising one’s character strengths helps one manage challenges better and more easily attain one’s goals. Research shows that people who regularly use their strengths are happier in their work and relationships and enjoy better mental and physical health. Using VIA strengths to help others If you are a professional coach, teacher, manager, therapist, consultant, trainer, healthcare worker or...
by Sarah Cramoysan | November, 2022 | Sarah Cramoysan, Strengths
Character Strengths An important topic in the field of positive psychology is the study of strengths. The basic idea is that we are all different and have different strengths – thoughts, feelings or behaviours that come naturally to us and give us energy and a sense of satisfaction when we use them. For example, one person may be a great organiser, another might have a talent for creativity, or a great capacity for kindness to others. These strengths are often seen as virtues – desirable behaviours that benefit society. We all have a large number of different things that we can do, but we will have a few ‘top’ strengths that go some way to defining who we are, what we are best at, and linking to what motivates and engages us. In 2004 Peterson and Seligman published “The Classification of Character Strengths and Virtues” – a book in which they explained their research and expounded the idea that there were 6 categories of virtues that were shared across multiple societies, philosophies and religions over time; wisdom, courage, humanity, transcendence, justice and moderation. Within these categories sit a total of 24 character strengths which are regarded as universally desirable. For example, love, kindness and social intelligence sit under the category of humanity, the strengths of creativity, curiosity, judgement, love of learning and perspective sit under the virtue of wisdom. As part of the research, they developed a survey for people to take to find out which of these strengths were their top strengths, or signature strengths. If you are interested to discover your top strengths, you can take the...
by Sarah Monk | May, 2021 | Sarah Monk, Strengths
The value of strengths A focus on strengths is an integral part of Positive Psychology. Research shows us that those who regularly use their strengths have greater wellbeing in terms of health, happiness, relationships and even performance. Strengths use is associated with greater authenticity and the ability to cope with adversity. Perspective is one of the 24 strengths identified by the Values in Action (VIA) classification of character strengths and virtues (https://www.viacharacter.org/). These 24 strengths are grouped under 6 virtues (wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance and transcendence). They are derived from analysis of a wide variety of religious, philosophical and cultural texts and reflect positive personality traits that are universally recognised, distinct, valued across culture and time and promote positive outcomes for individuals, others and society. Everyone is purported to show all 24 strengths to a greater or lesser degree. While there has been an emphasis on signature strengths, which are your top rated 5-7 strengths, there is a recent move towards emphasising the importance of all our strengths according to context and how they interact with one another (Niemiec & Pearce 2021). Here, I aim to explain the nature of perspective and look at how developing it may be helpful, explore potential over and underuse of this strength and think about why it might be especially useful in situations of adversity. What is perspective? Perspective is a component of the wisdom virtue, along with creativity, curiosity, judgement and love of learning. It is the ability to see the bigger picture in a situation. The flexibility to see both the wood and the trees, coupled with the knowledge...
by Bryony Shaw | October, 2020 | Bryony Shaw, Strengths
How do we know when we are using our strengths? It is when we are feeling energised when a task is easy and enjoyable to complete. It is when time passes quickly when we look up and think where did those two hours go. It is when we have a feeling of satisfaction in the task itself, not just in the end product. Research on strengths repeatedly shows that using our strengths is good for our well-being. We experience more positive emotions like joy, serenity and inspiration. Barbara Fredrickson’s Broaden and Build Theory of Positive Emotions explains how this can improve our resilience as these positive emotions have a buffering effect, protecting us at times of stress, enabling us to deal with the stressful situation in a more controlled way. Overplaying Our Strengths This buffering effect is wonderful and much needed, however, there can be a dark side to using our strengths. This is when we use them too much when we do not have balance in our life. Here’s an example, take the strength of loyalty. This is a quality that many of us value, we want our friends to be loyal, employers want their employees to be loyal, we want our partners to be loyal. It all sounds good until that loyalty is overplayed, it can have a detrimental effect on the person whose strength it is. Remaining loyal to a partner who does not value and undermines you can have a dreadful effect on well-being. It can lower our confidence, create poor self-image and eventually disable us. Similarly, remaining loyal to an employer who has poor...
by Sarah Monk | June, 2020 | Sarah Monk, Strengths
A core strength The appreciation of beauty and excellence is described by the VIA Institute on Character (viacharacter.org) as one of the 24 universal core character strengths. In this blog I want to describe what that means and how developing this strength might help you. People who are high in this strength naturally notice beauty and excellence around them in all aspects of life. This can include anything from a beautifully crafted cabinet corner, the wonder of a sunset, to admiration of an athletic performance, scientific discovery or a literary gem. Three types of beauty Typically three types of responses are seen within the strength of appreciation of beauty: Physical beauty in art, nature or any other sphere of life. This is probably what most people think of in relation to this strength. Perceiving this kind of beauty engenders an experience of awe and wonder in the person experiencing it. Observing excellence in the skills and talents of others; be it a gold medal performance, a perfectly baked cake or an elegantly solved equation, leads to admiration. This can inspire people to pursue their own goals. In the arts there is often an overlap between these first two categories. Moral beauty is perhaps often overlooked in considering this strength. It refers to noticing virtuous goodness in others which can produce feelings of elevation and inspire people to try and be better themselves. For example, who hasn’t been moved, in the UK, by the 100th birthday walk of Captain Tom Moore, who raised over £30 million for the NHS during the Covid-19 pandemic? How can this promote well-being? Promoting key...
by Sarah Monk | January, 2020 | Sarah Monk, Strengths
A cornerstone of Positive Psychology A focus on strengths rather than weaknesses is a fundamental aspect of Positive Psychology. Research supports the idea that regularly using our strengths is good for both well-being and performance because capitalising on our natural abilities allows us to shine and feel good about ourselves as opposed to wading through the treacle of imposed expectations. Given that many people are unaware of their strengths, psychologists and coaches have often relied on an “identify and use” approach to developing strengths. It seems to me that there is a need to find a more nuanced, complex way of progressing this field and I hope to discuss a little of that here. A complex question Alex Linley and colleagues at CAPP (Center for Applied Positive Psychology) are at the forefront of such developments. One of the difficulties is that Positive Psychology prides itself on being based on scientific research. However, researching complex interactions between different strengths constellations, in varying contexts, for widely varying individuals, across the lifespan, is a huge task and is in its infancy. My MAPP colleague Sue Roberts in her blog on this site (The very subtle art of cooking up your strengths, 24 Sept 2018) gives an excellent insight from her own experience of the level of complexity involved in considering the dynamic ways strengths interact in the real world. So where do we start? Defining strengths and what we know There are a number of different ways of defining strengths but most approaches contain the ideas that: ● Strengths are based on an innate natural capacity, there is likely to be a...
