This presentation was designed as a tool for an adult learning course on Positive Psychology and increasing your levels of happiness at the University of Guelph-Humber.
2. What are Character Strengths?
• Character Strengths are the good attributes that
are a part of your personality.
• They can impact how you think, feel, and
behave.
• They reflect who you are at your core. The “real”
you.
www.viacharacter.org/
3. There are 6 virtues that are valued in
almost every culture and are attainable.
These 6 core virtues are:
1. Wisdom & Knowledge
2. Courage
3. Love & Humanity
4. Justice
5. Temperance
6. Spirituality & Transcendence
Every individual possesses all 24 character strengths
in different degrees, giving each person a unique
character profile:
4. Pick 5 character strengths that best describe
you. Which strengths do you use the most
often? Do those actions make you feel
energized?
(Seligman, Ernst, Gillham, Reivich, & Linkins, 2009).
www.viacharacter.org/
5. Importance
Knowing your character
strengths is important
because when applied
correctly, they can have a
significant positive impact
in your life. They can help
with:
• Managing and
overcoming obstacles
• Improve relationships
• Better health and well
being
www.viacharacter.org/
6. Benefits to Exercising Character
Strengths
• “Research is continuing to
accumulate each year around
the benefits of character
strengths use. In general,
character strengths seem to
assist in reducing the
likelihood of distress and
dysfunction while encouraging
tangible outcomes like:
• Greater happiness
• Acceptance of oneself”
www.viacharacter.org/
7. What is Positive Psychology?
• Positive psychology defined by
Martin Sligman:
• The science behind what makes
life worth living, what is going
right in your life. How to have a
better sense of well being.
▫ Positive experiences
▫ Positive character strengths
▫ Positive institutions
▫ Positive social relationships
▫ Positive
accomplishment/achievement
www.viacharacter.org/
8. Martin Seligman
• "Use your signature strengths
and virtues in the service of
something much larger than you
are." (Martin Seligman, 2002)
• “Father” of Positive Psychology
(1998)
• Used scientific method to
explore why people are happy
• Seligman found that the most
satisfied and happy people were
those who discovered and used
their unique combination of
signature strengths
• Seligman’s conclusion is that
happiness has 3 dimensions: the
Pleasant Life, the Good Life, and
the Meaningful Life
Seligman believed that using your
strengths and virtues against
misfortune and psychological
disorders may be the key to building
resilience (Seligman, 2002).
9. Seligman’s Theory
• The Pleasant Life
▫ We learn to savor and appreciate basic pleasures
such as: companionship, the natural environment,
and our bodily needs
• The Good Life
▫ Achieved through discovering our unique virtues
and strengths
▫ Employing our strengths to creatively enhance our
lives
• The Meaningful Life
▫ Final stage, in which we find a deep sense of
fulfillment by using our unique strengths for a
purpose greater than ourselves
Seligman’s theory reconciles two conflicting views
of happiness:
• THE INDIVIDUALISTIC APPROACH (taking care
of ourselves and nurturing our own strengths)
• THE ALTRUISTIC APPROACH (emphasizes
sacrifice for a greater purpose).
10. Barbara L. Fredrickson
• Broaden and Build Theory:
▫ Positive emotions like love, joy
and gratitude can promote new
and creative ideas that help us
thrive.
▫ Positive emotions help people
build their personal wellbeing
(physical, intellectual, and
social)
▫ Negative emotions (anxiety,
fear, frustration, anger) serve
the opposite function and can
limit our ability to new ideas or
build on relationships
▫ (“Barbara Fredrickson”, 2016”).
“Just as water lilies retract when
sunlight fades, so do our minds
when positivity fades” (Fredrickson
2009, p. 55).
11. The Big 10 Emotions
How to be happier and have stronger relationships
• Love, Joy, Gratitude, Serenity, Interest, Hope, Pride,
Amusement, Inspiration, Awe
▫ Disclosing to people that you care about cultivating positive emotions in
experiences with them is directly linked to maintaining strong
relationships.
▫ Volunteerism often creates just as much positive emotion for the
volunteer than the person receiving the support.
▫ When providing care to others you are likely to develop micro-moments
of love.
▫ (“Barbara Fredrickson”, 2016”).
12. Ted Talk
What are your character
strengths? Is it social
intelligence or perhaps
humor? How do you use
your strengths to help
yourself and others?
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=DMWck0mKGWc
A Universal Language that
Describes What’s Best in Us
| Ryan Niemiec |
TEDxXavierUniversity
13. Activity
Take the Free Character Strengths Test:
https://www.viacharacter.org/www/Character-Strengths-Survey
Discover your best qualities in 15 minutes with a scientific survey of
character strengths. Simply make an account, take the test, and you
will discover what your unique strengths are!
14. References
• Barbara Fredrickson. (2017, October 10). Retrieved November 10, 2017, from
http://www.pursuit-of-happiness.org/history-of-happiness/barb-fredrickson/
• Character Strengths. (n.d.). Retrieved October 24, 2017, from https://www.viacharacter.org/
• Fredrickson, B. L. (2009). Positivity. New York, NY: Crown.
• Martin Seligman. (2017, October 05). Retrieved October 25, 2017, from http://www.pursuit-of-
happiness.org/history-of-happiness/martin-seligman-psychology/
• Seligman, M. E. P., Ernst, R. M., Gillham, J., Reivich, K., & Linkins, M. (2009). Positive
education: Positive psychology and classroom interventions. Oxford Review of Education,
35 (3), 293-311.
