4 Strengths

Strengths: Ingredients for Flourishing

“Character strengths are the psychological air that we breathe.”

Ryan Niemiec, Education Director, VIA Institute

Character strengths are the “psychological ingredients” that compose our personalities and our identities, and make us who we are. Research has shown that people who have the opportunity to use and leverage their top strengths daily experience more positive emotions and higher life satisfaction, and suffer less stress and depression. Don’t we all want and deserve to increase our well-being? Leveraging our top character strengths is a scientifically based path to flourishing, and helps us become our best, most authentic selves, individually and collectively.

The Values in Action (VIA) Survey of Character Strengths is a 240-item face-valid self-report questionnaire intended for use with adults. The measure uses 5-point Likert-style items to measure the degree to which respondents endorse items reflecting the 24 strengths of character that comprise the VIA Classification. The survey takes about 25 minutes to complete, although there is no time limit.

You are encouraged to take the VIA Survey now and learn more about your character strengths as they will be referenced later.

The Science of Character Video

Not only is this video high energy and fun to watch, but it covers the scientific research behind the Character Strengths and Virtues Classification. You’ll also get an introduction to some of the other concepts that we are going to explore later, including growth mindset and grit.

The classification of character strengths and virtues is one of the foundational accomplishments of the field of Positive Psychology. A team of 55 social scientists examined the traditions and teachings found in religion, philosophy and psychology to classify the most commonly endorsed and morally valued components of human character. The resulting 24 Character Strengths are considered to be universally valued and offer us a common language to describe what is best in humans.

TED Talk: Dr. Ryan Niemic

Dr. Niemic is the Education Director of the VIA Institute and is considered one of the world’s foremost authorities on the positive impact of character strengths use. Dr. Niemic has written or contributed to ten books on character strengths, including Positive Psychology at the Movies: Using Films to Build Character Strengths and Well-Being. Dr. Niemic describes how we can use our unique set of Signature Strengths to help ourselves and others.