Character Strengths

Check out our character strengths word clouds on the blog....

Promoting character strengths in the classroom: A How-to Guide

Compiled by Lucy Hone for the 100% Project.

1. Why is identifying and promoting character strengths within the classroom a worthwhile exercise?

For centuries, building good character in young people has been a goal of education and parenting – character is important not only for individuals, but also for society at large. Despite this, character’s part in education has been largely neglected for much of the 20th century. But, the rise in mental health issues affecting today’s youth, and an understanding of the need to equip them with the tools and strategies to overcome adversities in the fast paced world of the 21st century, has prompted a renewed interest in character development. This, combined with a refocus of scientific attention on character from the academic discipline of positive psychology, has seen schools’ seek effective ways to deliver character education. “Character strengths not only act as broad protective factors, preventing or mitigating psychopathology and problems, but also enable conditions that promote thriving and flourishing” (Nansoon Park, 2015, p.77).

Other reasons:

• We are hard wired to notice what goes wrong so we have to make a habit of noticing our strengths
• Those people who focus on strengths manage their stress better, having greater wellbeing, workplace happiness, are more engaged, have higher self-acceptance, and productivity, and are more physically healthy
• People who used four or more of their strengths regularly were more likely to be passionate about their jobs and describe them as a ‘calling’ in life

1. Why are we using the VIA’s Classification of character strengths?

Opting to use this particular framework was not a decision we took lightly. We chose the VIA 24 strengths because they provide us with an evidence-based framework for developing character within our schools. Out of the various strengths/values classifications we considered, only the VIA has undergone substantial scientific investigation, plus much of those studies have been conducted in schools. This is an important distinction for me: as an academic researcher, I want to know not just that these programmes work, but that they have been shown to work on the population I’m using them for, namely students in their school environment.

The VIA strengths classification was the work of 55 leading scientists from all over the world who were determined to come up with a working/practical research-based framework to enable the rigorous study of character strengths. Lead by Chris Peterson, who worked on this project for three years, this group discovered that 24 strengths in particular are found across cultures, nations, religions, and beliefs. He and his team at Uni of Michigan have been working on identifying what character strengths are, how they are developed, and how to cultivate them effectively for over a decade now. Their research has been supported by over two and a half million people from every country of the world who have now taken the VIA survey, and dozens of scholarly articles testing the framework and various ways to develop character. The VIA has proved to be psychometrically valid – meaning analysis has shown it really does measure what it claims to measure, and it does so accurately.

• Here are some of the key research findings using the VIA in education:
• Eighth grade students participating in an intervention program involving five, 1-hour character strengths classroom activities had significant benefits to well-being compared to those in a comparison group (Oppenheimer et al., 2014)
• Examined a 6-session, character strengths program for 9-12 year-olds in a classroom setting compared with non-randomized controls. After 3 months, the strengths group scored significantly higher on class cohesion and relatedness need satisfaction and lower on class friction, in addition to higher positive emotion, classroom engagement, and strengths use (Quinlan, Swain, Cameron, & Vella-Brodrick, 2014).
• Character strengths of the mind (e.g., self-regulation, perseverance, love of learning) were predictive of school success (Weber & Ruch, 2012b)
• A study of 319 adolescent students between the ages of 12-14 were divided into two groups in which 2/3 received character strengths-builder activities and strengths challenges within the school curriculum (called Strengths Gym), and 1/3 did not; those who participated in strengths experienced increased in life satisfaction compared to the controls (Proctor et al., 2011).
• Go to https://www.viacharacter.org/www/Research/VIA-Character-Strengths-in-Positive-Education-and-Children-Youth for the full list of currently published studies using the VIA to investigate character strengths in education settings.

The most commonly endorsed character strengths reported using the VIA are (in descending order):

• Kindness
• Fairness
• Honesty
• Gratitude
• Judgment/open-mindedness

The least endorsed strengths are:

• Prudence
• Modesty
• Self regulation

The most prevalent strengths in very young children are:

• Love
• Kindness
• Creativity
• Curiosity
• Humour

Source: Park, Peterson and Seligman, 2006

Research investigating the effect of particular strengths has also revealed some interesting findings:

• Middle school students’ academic achievement is significantly influenced by the following character strengths, above and beyond intelligence:

• Perseverance
• Fairness
• Love
• Gratitude
• Honesty
• Hope
• Perspective

In other words, the presence of these strengths is more predictive of academic success than intelligence.  

• Some particular strengths have been shown to be protective against the negative effects of stress and trauma:

• Hope
• Kindness
• Social intelligence
• Self control
• Perspective

• Others are consistently related to life satisfaction:

• Gratitude
• Hope
• Zest
• Curiosity
• Love (defined as the ability to sustain reciprocated close relationships with other people)

• But all 24 are important and exist to varying degrees, within each of us. Greater awareness and use of character strengths is associated with:
• Improved school performance
• Engaged learning
• Increased happiness
• Greater odds of having higher levels of wellbeing
• Stronger relationships
• Improved physical health
• Greater goal achievement