{jumi [affiliate] [CSV-image]} Peterson and Seligman led a 3-year study involving 55 distinguished social scientists, that analyzed thinking from Plato to the present day, and from cultures and traditions world wide, for themes of "character" that consistently emerge. It is said to be the greatest effort of its kind in human history, of great value to educators, managers, consultants, coaches, psychologists and researchers. Although character is commonly viewed as a unidimensional axis ranging from "good character" to "bad character", the result of this comprehensive study is different. The study distills 24 character strengths. Character is seen as multidimensional, and an individual has greater or lesser strengths along each of the 24 dimensions. With an approach that is descriptive rather than prescriptive, the goal is classification and description of character strengths rather than prescription of strengths one "should" have.
In {jumi [affiliate] [CSV-text] ['']} the set of 24 strengths is grouped into six broad virtues:
- wisdom (cognitive strengths)
- courage (emotional strengths)
- humanity (social and relationship strengths)
- justice (community strengths)
- temperance (protective strengths)
- transcendence (spiritual and meaningfulness strengths)
With minor adjustment, this set of 24
- forms the basis for the VIA Survey of character strengths, which has been taken by millions of people
- is something of a standard in the field of Positive Psychology
- is adopted as a foundation for Flourishment by ZZense.com for a similar reason
For each strength, {jumi [affiliate] [CSV-text] ['']} details its
- meaning
- explanation
- measurement
- causes
- correlates
- consequences
- development across the life span
- deliberate cultivation strategies