chapter 8 pos psych

Why is character important?

• Our unique combination of character strengths shows up in virtually every area of life.

• Character strengths can have real influences on our lives, including in the domains of:

  • Work

  • Politics

  • Relationships

Historical Perspectives

• Ancient Greek philosopher, Aristotle (384–322 BCE).

  Possibly the earliest example of a “virtue theory.”

  Wrote that people with “good character” do the right thing, at the right time, in the right way.

  Broke character down into a collection of virtues, including things like courage, friendliness, justice, and patience.

  Each virtue represented the “golden mean” between two extremes that he believed to be unhealthy.

• Other historical taxonomies of virtues also exist, including the cardinal virtues and theological virtues first developed in medieval Christianity.

Modern Approaches to Character

• different researchers have defined character in different ways

• all agree that character can be broken down into subcomponents

  talents

  strengths

  virtues

  values

Clifton’s StrengthsFinder Perspective

• pioneered by Donald Clifton

• talents: “naturally recurring patterns of thought, feeling, behavior that can be productively applied”

• largely innate rather than acquired but everyone has them

• hundreds of talents which are organized into 34 themes

• online assessment instrument called StrengthsFinder

StrengthsFinder Theme: analytical

• search for reasons and causes

• have the ability to think about all the factors that might affect a situation

StrengthsFinder Theme: developer

• recognize and cultivate the potential in others

• spot the signs of each small improvement and derive satisfaction from these improvements

StrengthsFinder Theme: learner

• have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve

• the process of learning rather than the outcome excites them

StrengthsFinder Theme: self-assurance

• feel confident in their ability to manage their own lives

• possess an inner compass that gives them confidence that their decisions are right

StrengthsFinder Theme: woo

• love the challenge of meeting new people and winning them over

• derive satisfaction from breaking the ice and making a connection with another person

Building on Talents according to clifton

• to succeed in life, we must build on our natural talents with knowledge and skill

• Strength: In Clifton’s StrengthsFinder approach, a combination of talent with knowledge and skill.

• Talents come naturally, but strengths require effort.

• For instance, some people have a natural talent for putting thoughts into words. Nonetheless, the ability to teach is considered a strength, because it also requires subject-matter knowledge and pedagogical skill

The Values in Action (VIA) System

• peterson and seligman don’t consider talents part of character b/c talents lack a moral dimension

• VIA breaks down character into 6 virtues and 24 strengths

• virtues: core characteristics valued by philosophers and religious leaders across time and world cultures

• strengths: the psychological “ingredients or pathways” that allow people to live according to virtues

wisdom and knowledge

• Creativity [originality, ingenuity]: Thinking of novel and productive ways to conceptualize and do things; includes artistic achievement but is not limited to it

• Curiosity [interest, novelty-seeking, openness to experience]": Taking an interest in ongoing experience for its own sake; finding subjects and topics fascinating; exploring and discovering; like ambiguity; can be specific curiosity or general

• Judgment [critical thinking]:Thinking things through and examining them from all sides; not jumping to conclusions; being able to change one's mind in light of evidence; weighing all evidence fairly

• Love of Learning: Mastering new skills, topics, and bodies of knowledge, whether on one's own or formally; obviously related to the strength of curiosity but goes beyond it to describe the tendency to add systematically to what one knows

• Perspective [wisdom]: Being able to provide wise counsel to others; having ways of looking at the world that make sense to oneself and to other people

courage

• Bravery [valor]: Not shrinking from threat, challenge, difficulty, or pain; speaking up for what is right even if there is opposition; acting on convictions even if unpopular; includes physical bravery but is not limited to it

• Perseverance [persistence, industriousness]: Finishing what one starts; persisting in a course of action in spite of obstacles; “getting it out the door”; taking pleasure in completing tasks

• Honesty [authenticity, integrity]: Speaking the truth but more broadly presenting oneself in a genuine way and acting in a sincere way; being without pretense; taking responsibility for one's feelings and actions

• Zest [vitality, enthusiasm, vigor, energy]: Approaching life with excitement and energy; not doing things halfway or halfheartedly; living life as an adventure; feeling alive and activated

Humanity

• Love: Valuing close relations with others, in particular those in which sharing and caring are reciprocated; being close to people

• Kindness [generosity, nurturance, care, compassion, altruistic love, "niceness"]: Doing favors and good deeds for others; helping them; taking care of them

• Social Intelligence [emotional intelligence, personal intelligence]: Being aware of the motives and feelings of other people and oneself; knowing what to do to fit into different social situations; knowing what makes other people tick

Justice

• Teamwork [citizenship, social responsibility, loyalty]: Working well as a member of a group or team; being loyal to the group; doing one's share

• Fairness: Treating all people the same according to notions of fairness and justice; not letting personal feelings bias decisions about others; giving everyone a fair chance.

• Leadership: Encouraging a group of which one is a member to get things done, and at the same time maintaining good relations within the group; organizing group activities and seeing that they happen.

Temperance

• Forgiveness: Forgiving those who have done wrong; accepting the shortcomings of others; giving people a second chance; not being vengeful

• Humility: Letting one's accomplishments speak for themselves; not regarding oneself as more special than one is

• prudence: being careful about one’s choices; not saying or doing things that might later be regretted

• self-regulation: regulating what one feels and does; being disciplined; controlling one’s appetites and emotions

Transcendence

• transcendence: emotional strengths that reach outside and beyond you to connect you to something larger and more permanent: to other people, the future, evolution, the divine or the universe

• appreciation of beauty and excellence: noticing and appreciating beauty, excellence, and/or skilled performance in various domains of life, from nature to art to mathematics to science to everyday experience

• gratitude: being aware of and thankful for the good things that happen; taking time to express thanks

• Hope [optimism, future-mindedness, future orientation]: Expecting the best in the future and working to achieve it; believing that a good future is something that can be brought about

• Humor [playfulness]: Liking to laugh and tease; bringing smiles to other people; seeing the light side; making (not necessarily telling) jokes

• Spirituality [faith, purpose]: Having coherent beliefs about the higher purpose and meaning of the universe; knowing where one fits within the larger scheme; having beliefs about the meaning of life that shape conduct and provide comfort

Classifications of Illness and Strengths according to Karl Menninger

• 1893-1990

• 1919 he and his father founded Menninger Clinic

• Provided a “total environment” where people stayed and were treated with kindness in a family atmosphere with medical doctors

• Also patients had to exercise!

• Instrumental in founding the Winter Veterans Administration Hospital in Topeka KS (one of the largest psychiatric training centers in the world)

• Challenged labeling of pathology

• Diagnosis focused on:

  - life process vs. states or conditions

• Power of hope, faith, & love

Classifications of Illness and Strengths according to linley & harrington and seligman

• “strength” defined as capacity for feeling, thinking and behaving in a way that allows optimal functioning in the prusuit of varied outcomes

• strengths can be acquired with time, effort and determination

Criteria for Strengths

• A strength is a trait

• A psychological characteristic seen across different situations and over time (e.g., Kindness)

• A strength is valued in its own right

• Strengths are ubiquitous (valued in almost every culture in the world)

Values in Action Classification of Strengths

• Developed by Peterson & Seligman (2004)

• Antithesis of the DSM

• Provides a common language for strength

Values: General Background

• values: motivate people to use their talents and strengths

• a belief regarding what kinds of goals are preferable to others

Milton Rokeach’s Theory of Values

• one of the first psychologists to create a taxonomy of values

• terminal values: peace, equality, happiness and true friendship; represent outcomes that people strive to actualize in the world

• instrumental values: politeness, honesty, logic, and responsibility; represent preferred modes of behavior

Shalom Schwartz’s “Theory of Basic Human Values”

• consists of 10 values organized into 4 higher-order categories:

  • openness to change

  • conservation

  • self-enhancement

  • self-transcendence

• circumplex diagram: values across from one another on this circular diagram are hypothesized to conflict

openness to change

• self-direction: independence in thought and behavior; creativity, curiosity, and freedom

• stimulation: excitement, novelty and challenge

self-enhancement

• hedonism: pleasure or sensuos gratification by satisfying personal needs

• achievement: personal success by demonstrating competence according to social standards

• power: social status, authority or control over people and resources

conservation

• security: safety, harmony and stability

• conformity: restraint of actions and impulses that may violate social norms and/or cause upset or harm

• tradition: respect for and acceptance of the customs and ideas of one’s culture or religion

self-transcendence

• benevolence: devotion to preserving and enhancing the welfare of people in one’s “ingroup”

• universalism: understanding, appreciation, tolerance and protection of the welfare of all people (even those not in one’s ingroup) and for nature

The Advantages of Good Character

• studies show links between character and well-being

• park et al.

  • goals: 1) to test which strengths are most associated with life satisfaction, 2) to test whether character strengths, if taken to extremes, are associated with lower life satisfaction

  • 5299 adults completed the VIA-IS and satisfaction with life scale online

  • results: some strengths were more robustly related to life satisfaction than others

  • no evidence that its dangerous to have high levels of character strengths; in fact, participants with high levels of a wide variety of strengths were more satisfied with their lives than those with lower levels

culture and character

• some have suggested that there are now “2 Americas”—red states and blue states—which are at odds due to different core virtues and values

• outside the US, similar regional conflicts in virtues and values also seem to hold true

• culture clearly matters: people living in different states and parts of the world behave differently, varying in customs and political opinions

Culture and Character in study Park, Peterson, and Seligman (2006)

• Online survey comparing the basic virtues and character strengths of people in all 50 U.S. states and in 53 other countries.

• 117,676 adults completed the VIA-IS online.

• Results: The results contradict the conventional wisdom that U.S. regions differ dramatically in their core values. Across states, the most commonly endorsed character strengths were kindness, fairness, honesty, gratitude, and good judgment.

• Also found significant overlap between the U.S. and nations as far-flung as Azerbaijan, Brazil, China, and Zimbabwe, among others.

• Important caveat: These findings concern averages, not individuals. That is, states and nations on average overlap in terms of the aspects of character that people value. But, this doesn’t mean everyone within those societies shares exactly the same virtues or strengths.