4: Strengths of Character are Important Assets

In positive psychology (PP), character strengths are understood to be the positive traits or capacities an individual has that brings them personal fulfilment without lessening others (Niemiec, ‘Character strengths interventions: A field guide for practitioners’, 2017). They have been subject to different explanatory accounts, for example, they have been referred to as the psychological ingredients required for virtues such as wisdom and temperance, also as the building blocks for flourishing, the elements of personality that are universally valued and the inner determinants of a satisfying life (Park & Peterson, 2009; Peterson et al., 2005; Seligman, 2011). Taking the various descriptions, the VIA Institute on Character, which was founded by renowned positive psychologists, Christopher Peterson and Martin Seligman (Niemiec & Pearce, 2021) summarised this to ‘A common language of personality traits that reflect our personal identity; produce positive outcomes for ourselves and others; and contribute to the collective good’. (Niemiec, ‘Character strengths interventions: A field guide for practitioners’, 2017, p. 2).