Play to Your Character Strengths

What Are Character Strengths And Why Are They Important?

If I were to ask you to tell me what the strongest facets of your character are, what would you say? Perhaps you would tell me that your humor is a strong part of your character, or maybe you would say that it is your sense of leadership. All humans possess character strengths that make us who we are. Character strengths is a term that refers to a universal and multidimensional set of personality traits that a person may or may not have (Peterson & Seligman, 2004; Niemiec, 2014). The VIA Institute on Character classifies 24 primary character traits that may be expressed by individuals to varying degrees in varying contexts. It is important to understand the utilization of character strengths in order to comprehend how to improve one’s overall well-being, management of suffering, and much more (Niemiec, 2014). 

You may be thinking, “Aren’t my character strengths simply my values, virtues, and what I stand for?” Well, yes…and no. Character is a broad term that encompasses one’s values and virtues as well as their actions and behaviors. Aristotle (tran. Citation 2000) contended that happiness is not simply a result of having virtue but of acting on virtue. In other words, you can think of character as “values in action” (Niemiec, 2014). Character strengths expand beyond our skills, talents, resources, and values; rather, they are what make us who we are and what we give to others through our actions (Niemiec, 2014). 

The most prominent character strengths that an individual possesses are called signature strengths. Signature strengths are the strongest and most energizing character strengths in one’s unique character profile (Seligman et al., 2005). Researchers Schutte and Malouff (2018) elucidate in their work that when participants used their signature strengths in a new way every day, it led to heightened life flourishing, life satisfaction, promotion of other character strengths, and lower rates of depression. Signature strengths can be leveraged in meaningful ways especially in the context of other module topics on this website, such as Purpose, Contribution, and Engaged Living.

What Does The Research Say About Character Strengths?

Character strengths are considered to be one of the foundations of positive psychology and have often been used in a broad range of professions and disciplines to help those advance in their work and lives (Character Strengths, Character Virtues Handbook | VIA Institute, n.d.). In a similar vein, positive psychology readily offers a pathway for researchers to examine character strengths within their work (Niemiec, 2014). Fortunately, there is a large body of literature and research that supports the positive effects of practicing and using character strengths. For instance, previous studies have revealed that when focusing on character strengths over deficits, it is associated with better clinical depression outcomes, greater personal growth outcomes, and higher rates of intrinsic motivation (Cheavens et al., 2012; Meyers et al., 2015; Hiemstra and Van Yperen, 2015). Additional research findings suggest that character strengths predict resilience over other resiliency-related factors such as positive affect, social support, self-esteem, self-efficacy, optimism, and life satisfaction (Martínez-Martí & Ruch, 2016). This research is simply a small glimpse of all of the amazing benefits that character strengths can have on one’s life.

How Can I Determine What My Character Strengths Are And How Do I Optimize Them?

At this point, you may be wondering what your character and signature strengths are and how to optimize their use. The act of determining one’s own character strengths is called self-nomination. The first step you may take to become aware of your character strengths is to simply ask yourself the following questions: 

• What do I think are my highest or best character strengths?

• What character strengths do I have that come without effort?

• Are these character strengths important to who I am? 

• Is it easy to use these character strengths among any context or situation? 

Next, you may want to explore the idea of how and when you most use your character strengths. If so, you could ask yourself these questions: 

• When have I used this strength at my best? 

• When do I use this strength in my day-to-day life? 

• What kind of benefits does this strength bring to me and others? 

• What do my character strengths say about me as a person? 

As stated previously, identifying your signature strengths and trying to use them in a new way every day can benefit one’s overall well-being and life satisfaction (Schutte and Malouff, 2018). For instance, if one of your signature character strengths is curiosity and you like to exercise daily, you may want to try to incorporate a new exercise at the gym every day into your routine. Another example would be to begin setting goals and working on smaller projects that you may have been putting off, then working your way up to completing larger projects, if you would like to strengthen perseverance in your character. When working with character strengths, the key to fostering improvement is to continue practicing the strengths that you possess, think about them, speak about them, and try to spot them in others (Niemiec, 2014). 

When interacting with others, you may pick up on specific character strengths that they possess. This is called strength spotting. Character strength spotting gives one the opportunity to identify with others, which validates the qualities that make them feel special (Bring Out the Best in Yourself and Others With Strengths-Spotting | VIA Institute, 2019). With strength spotting, it’s important to first name the strength you notice, then explain your observation, and lastly, show and feel appreciation for the observed character strength (Bring Out the Best in Yourself and Others With Strengths-Spotting | VIA Institute, 2019). Similarly, while interacting with others, one can become more aware of their own character strengths by listening to an outsider's perspective or feedback about you. When others make comments about you or lend you a compliment, try to understand what part of your character their comment or compliment aligns with. Try to think about how you have developed that character trait and how you would like to practice using it in the future. 

Another tactic that you may use to improve and develop your character strengths is to monitor yourself daily. In doing so, try to reflect on the behaviors that you displayed on that day and identify what character strengths you were using along with your actions. You may also think about a time in your day when you were feeling your best. Try to reflect on that moment and understand what character strengths you were using then. Lastly, we encourage you to take the free 10-minute VIA online character strengths survey (https://www.viacharacter.org/). This survey will reveal a rank-order list of your character strengths that are fundamental to your personality. 

Trying to figure out what your strongest character strengths are and what strengths you may feel the need to nourish or develop may seem arduous; however, with time, consistent practice, and present awareness, you will likely see positive change in your well-being, happiness, and many other aspects of your life. Thankfully, there is an abundance of techniques and resources to help you find, strengthen, and develop your character strengths. This article has provided you with several of those resources and techniques to help assist you along your character strength journey, and we encourage you to utilize these resources in order to take the necessary steps that will help you strengthen your character and ultimately lead to greater life flourishing.

Contributors: Eve Barton and Jared Warren

References

Bring Out The Best In Yourself and Others with Strengths-Spotting | VIA Institute. (2019). https://www.viacharacter.org/topics/articles/bring-out-the-best-in-yourself-and-others-with-strengths-spotting#:~:text=Character%20strengths%20are%20social.,can%20happen%20at%20any%20time!

Character Strengths, Character Virtues Handbook | VIA Institute. (n.d.-b). https://www.viacharacter.org/character-strengths-and-virtues

Aristotle. (2000). Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics. In Cambridge University Press eBooks. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511802058

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Martínez-Martí, M. L., & Ruch, W. (2016). Character strengths predict resilience over and above positive affect, self-efficacy, optimism, social support, self-esteem, and life satisfaction. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 12(2), 110–119. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2016.1163403

Meyers, M. C., Van Woerkom, M., De Reuver, R., Bakk, Z., & Oberski, D. L. (2015). Enhancing psychological capital and personal growth initiative: Working on strengths or deficiencies. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 62(1), 50–62. https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000050

Niemiec, R. M. (2014). Mindfulness and Character Strengths: A Practical Guide to Flourishing. https://doi.org/10.1027/00376-000

Niemiec, R. M., & Pearce, R. (2021). The practice of character strengths: unifying definitions, principles, and exploration of what’s soaring, emerging, and ripe with potential in science and in practice. Frontiers in Psychology, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.590220

Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: a handbook and classification. Choice Reviews Online, 42(01), 42–0624. https://doi.org/10.5860/choice.42-0624

Schutte, N. S., & Malouff, J. M. (2018). The Impact of Signature Character Strengths Interventions: A Meta-analysis. Journal of Happiness Studies, 20(4), 1179–1196. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-018-9990-2

Seligman, M. E. P., Steen, T. A., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive Psychology Progress: Empirical Validation of Interventions. American Psychologist, 60(5), 410–421. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066x.60.5.410