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CheckPoint
Human Virtues and Character Strengths
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Examine one human virtue and the associated character strengths that are important to you, as listed in Ch. 10 of Positive Psychology.
Select someone who you know or is a public figure who you feel encompasses at least one of these virtues.
Discuss why this virtue is important to you. How does the person you selected encompass this virtue and the associated character strengths?
Post a 200- to 300-word response.
Think of someone you hold in high regard and look up to as a model for yourself and others.
Perhaps a friend, relative, or a person from history or contemporary society comes to
mind. Think about this individual’s personal qualities and how you might describe the
basis of your admiration to another person. Make a mental list of 4 or 5 qualities that make this
person deserving of your respect. Now compare your list to the positive traits discussed in
Chapter 9. How many of them overlap? Did your list include extraversion, cheerfulness, selfesteem,
or optimism? What traits on your list are not in Chapter 9? Did you include any of the
following qualities: integrity, courage, honesty, kindness, religious conviction, wisdom, fairness,
or modesty? The point here, affirmed by how we think about people we respect, is that a
description of positive human traits would be incomplete without including personal qualities
CHAPTER OUTLINE
Developing a Classification of Human Virtues
Measuring Strengths of Character
Wisdom as a Foundational Strength and Virtue
What is Wisdom?
Theories of Wisdom
Balance Theory
Wisdom as Expert Knowledge in the Conduct of Life
Wisdom in Action: The SOC Model of Effective Life Management
Focus on Theory: Wisdom or Self-control as Master Virtues?
Transcendence: Religion and Spirituality
The Search for Meaning
Religion and Spirituality: The Diversity of Views
Defining Religion and Spirituality
Religion/Spirituality and Well-Being
Religious Orientation
Intrinsic and Extrinsic Religious Orientation
Quest Religious Orientation
Attachment Theory and Relationship to God
Styles of Religious Coping
“Explaining Religion versus Explaining Religion Away”
Religion and Virtue
Forgiveness
Gratitude
Focus on Research: Increasing Well-Being by Counting Your Blessings
10
Virtue and Strengths
of Character
207
ISBN 1-256-51557-4
Positive Psychology, by Steve R. Baumgardner and Marie K. Crothers. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc.
208 Chapter 10 • Virtue and Strengths of Character
judged as positive because they are “good” in
moral and ethical terms. Clearly, we may admire
people who are outgoing, upbeat, and positive
about the future. But just as clearly, and perhaps at a
deeper level, we also admire individuals who show
strengths of character that reflect virtuous qualities like
integrity, kindness, and compassion. In short, virtue
and character strengths belong on a list of positive
human traits.
The traits reviewed in Chapter 9 were evaluated
as positive because of their benefits to individual
well-being—specifically health, happiness, and
emotional well-being. Virtuous behavior may also
increase our life satisfaction and make life more
meaningful and healthy. However, virtue is also considered
a positive trait independent of any benefit or
“pay-off” to the individual. Virtue is positively
regarded in its own right because of its connection to
religious and secular mores and its value to society.
A consideration of virtue and character strengths provides
an additional way to think about the meaning
of “positive.” In this chapter, we will first review a
recent attempt to provide a comprehensive classification
of character strengths and virtues. Then, we will
focus on two foundational virtues (wisdom and
religion) in more detail by examining how they contribute
to well-being and a life well-lived.
DEVELOPING A CLASSIFICATION
OF HUMAN VIRTUES
For a considerable time in psychology’s history,
virtue was not considered an appropriate construct
for scientific investigation. The study of virtue was
thought to be too easily tainted and biased by the
moral beliefs of researchers and the prevailing cultural
mores of the day (Tjeltveit, 2003). Many psychologists
believed that science should provide only
objective facts about how people act. Questions
about how people should conduct themselves—that
is, whether their actions were good, bad, moral, or
immoral—were left for philosophers and theologians
to decide. However, a renewed interest in
character strengths has begun to emerge as more
psychologists have come to realize that a complete
account of human behavior needs to include the
moral dimension of people’s lives (Fowers &
Tjeltveit, 2003). Recent events from the Enron scandal
to the influence-peddling of lobbyist Jack
Abramoff have reinforced the importance of ethical
behavior. People’s anger and outrage at these sorts
of improprieties stem primarily from moral considerations.
In short, people lead moral lives in the sense
of evaluating themselves and others according to
moral criteria.
Describing the features of a life well-lived is a
central theme of positive psychology. Because the
meaning of a good person and a good life are intimately
connected to virtue, positive psychology has
given virtue particular prominence. This is most
apparent in a recent collaborative research project
(the Values in Action Project, Peterson & Seligman,
2004) that had the lofty goal of developing a classification
of character strengths and virtues that would
parallel the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual
of Mental Disorders (DSM), developed by the
American Psychiatric Association (2000). The DSM
provides a classification of mental disorders and an
extensive “language” for describing human psychological
weaknesses and pathologies. Authors of the
Values in Action Project (VIA) hoped to create a
comprehensive classification system similar to the
DSM, but one that was focused on human strengths
rather than weaknesses. They also hoped to provide
a language describing positive human qualities that
defined a healthy person living a good life. Put
another way, the DSM describes aspects of life
“below zero” (with “zero” representing the threshold
dividing mental health from emotional illness). One
goal of the VIA was to describe life “above zero”
(i.e., to identify the traits that define emotional
health and strength). This goal is consistent with
positive psychology’s emphasis on restoring balance
to the field, in place of psychology’s historic focus
on problematic human behaviors.
Developing a classification of character
strengths is a daunting task. Virtue and character
are obviously complex topics. What, exactly, is a
human virtue or character strength? Do people have
a common understanding of traits that qualify as
virtuous? Getting answers to these questions was
one of the major purposes of the VIA. The VIA,
coordinated by Christopher Peterson and Martin
Seligman (2004), brought together a group of
researchers who sought to describe those strengths
of character that were most prominent across history
and culture. Is there a common set of human
qualities universally regarded as positive virtues? A
list of possible “candidates” was generated by examining
virtues and strengths described in a variety of
philosophic, religious, and cultural traditions. This
list included virtues described in major religions
ISBN 1-256-51557-4
Positive Psychology, by Steve R. Baumgardner and Marie K. Crothers. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 10 • Virtue and Strengths of Character 209
and philosophies (e.g., Confucianism, Buddhism,
Hinduism, Judeo-Christianity, and ancient Greek
philosophy), the works of famous historical figures
(e.g., Benjamin Franklin), and in popular culture
(e.g., Boy and Girl Scout Guides, Hallmark greeting
cards, popular songs, Saturday Evening Post covers
by Normal Rockwell).
From a long list of candidates, 24 character
strengths were selected and organized around 6
virtues. The 6 virtues—wisdom, courage, humanity,
justice, temperance, and transcendence—were
selected because they appear to be universal
across history and across societies. They represent
moral virtues as defined by most religions and ethical
philosophies. Peterson and Seligman regard
these virtues as core defining features of good
character. Each virtue is defined by a set of character
strengths that represent the ingredients, expressions,
and potential means of developing the
virtue. For example, temperance as a virtue refers
to people’s strength in avoiding excesses. The
ingredients and expressions of temperance would
include self-control, gratitude toward others,
humility, prudent decision-making, and the ability
to forgive the transgressions of self and others.
Developing this virtue would involve efforts to
exert more self-control, become more humble and
less self-aggrandizing, and more grateful and forgiving
in relationships with others.
Character strengths were selected by applying
a set of criteria to the list of strengths identified in
the first phase of the project. A sample of the set of
criteria used is shown in Table 10.1. To be included
in the final classification, a character strength had to
meet all or nearly all of these criteria.
Half of the strengths selected met the entire set
of criteria. The other half did not. As Seligman and
Peterson note, disagreements can arise about the
inclusion of one or another of the strengths, the placement
of a given strength under a particular virtue, and
whether some other important strength was omitted.
However, taken in total, this classification system
“hangs together” as a reasonably coherent first effort
at describing what may be universally regarded as
human strengths and virtues. The final classification of
strengths and virtues is described in Table 10.2. For a
complete description of the selection criteria, previous
classification models, and literature reviews detailing
what is known about each…
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