in the Palace of the Vatican.Take the "Values in Action Inventory of Strengths" survey to identify your character strengths.

The classic question psychology experts get asked at parties when they reveal their profession is: "Are you analysing me?" A good answer for any psychology expert who wants to be invited to more parties is: "Yes, and I find you to be a wonderful human being!"

This helps underline the fact that stereotypically psychology experts are obsessed with deficits and disorders. Just look at the title of the clinical psychology experts" and psychiatry experts" bible, the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders", also known as "the DSM". Doesn"t sound that warm and cuddly, does it?

To help counter this prevailing tendency towards the negative, psychologists Christopher Peterson and Martin Seligman wanted to create an anti-DSM, a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Positive strengths and virtues. Surely it would be useful, they thought, if people could use a questionnaire to identify their strengths as human beings?

Inventory of strengthsWhat they came up with was the "Values in Action Inventory of Strengths" (VIA-IS) which, in a moment, I"ll suggest you take. But first a bit of background so that you can understand what it means.

To create the VIA, Peterson and Seligman (2005) came up with 6 virtues and 24 strengths. The core virtues are those identified by philosophers, religious thinkers and others as being central to a "good character" - these are the six main headings in the list below. The 24 character strengths, meanwhile, are those characteristics of individuals that contribute towards these virtues. These are listed under the virtue to which they contribute.

Posted by: Jerry    Source

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