Action Inventory Of Strengths Research Articles

Integrating Teacher Behaviors with Character Strengths and Virtues for Faculty Development

We describe a model for new and senior faculty members, integrating a behavioral approach to enhancing teaching skills with research from the field of positive psychology on virtues and character strengths. The Teacher Behaviors Checklist (Keeley, Smith, & Buskist, 2006) identifies target behaviors amenable to modification, derived from qualitative descriptors associated with teaching exemplars. The Values in Action Inventory of Strengths (Peterson, Park, & Seligman, 2005) is a self-assessment instrument that yields priority rankings on 24 character strengths and 6 trait-like virtues identified from multidisciplinary and multicultural literature. Used together, the feedback from both instruments offers well-researched stimuli for faculty to be more reflective and deliberate about their teaching and learning strategies.

Character strengths and type: Exploration of covariation

Objective:To explore covariation between character strengths and psychological types as per the MBTI®.Design:Using a survey design, the study collected data on the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths and the MBTI®.Method:98 adult volunteers participated in this exploratory study of potential links between psychological type as determined by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® and signature strengths as identified by the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths.Results:The results show significant covariations between nine signature strengths and single type dimensions namely, creativity (intuition), open-mindedness (thinking), love of learning (introversion), integrity (sensing and thinking), persistence (judging), vitality (extraversion), love (extraversion and feeling), fairness (sensing), and gratitude (extraversion). Love, integrity, and gratitude also covary with multiple paired type combinations. Curiosity covaries only with a single paired type combination (introverted intuition).Conclusion:There is meaningful covariation between psychological type and character strengths. The discussion addresses the applicability of the results to coaching psychology.

Character strengths in the United Kingdom: The VIA Inventory of Strengths

The development of a classification of strengths, the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths, has done much to advance research into strengths of character. Using an Internet sample of 17,056 UK respondents, we present data on the character strengths of a large UK sample. Women typically scored higher on strengths than did men. However, four of the top five “signature strengths” of the UK men and women overall were the same (open-mindedness, fairness, curiosity, and love of learning). Strengths typically showed small but significant positive associations with age, with the strongest associations with age between curiosity and love of learning (strengths of wisdom and knowledge), fairness (a strength of justice), and forgiveness and self-regulation (strengths of temperance). The discussion addresses potential limitations and suggests pertinent directions for future research.

Convergence of Character Strengths in American and Japanese Young Adults

We investigated cultural influences on the distribution of character strengths, gender differences in character strengths, and the relationship of happiness to character strengths. Young adults from the United States (n=1099) and Japan (n=308) completed the English or Japanese versions of the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths. American and Japanese showed similar distributions of the 24 strengths measured: Higher strengths included love, humor and kindness, and lesser strengths included prudence, self-regulation, and modesty. Gender differences across cultures were also similar: Females were more likely than males to report strengths of love and kindness, whereas males were more likely to report bravery and creativity. In both samples, associations with happiness were found for zest, hope, curiosity and gratitude. The present study is a first step in an international study of character strengths, and we discuss the ubiquity and variation of character across culture.

Recovery and Positive Psychology: Parallel Themes and Potential Synergies

The positive psychology movement studies the sources of human strength and the foundations of the "good life." Like the recovery movement, it focuses on personal fulfillment and well-being more than on mental illness. These movements have followed separate but parallel tracks. Positive psychology has traveled an academic and empirical path and the recovery movement has followed a grassroots advocacy model. The authors describe the successful use of the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths in a Department of Veterans Affairs psychiatric rehabilitation program. They argue for the integration of positive psychology and the recovery movement: positive psychology provides a potentially useful framework for further defining and fostering the goals of recovery, and the recovery movement can expand the hitherto limited application of positive psychology.

日本版生き方の原則調査票（ＶＩＡ‐ＩＳ： Ｖａｌｕｅｓ ｉｎ Ａｃｔｉｏｎ Ｉｎｖｅｎｔｏｒｙ ｏｆ Ｓｔｒｅｎｇｔｈｓ）作成の試み

Purpose of this study was to develop the Japanese version of the Values In Action Inventory of Strengths (VIA-IS). Japanese VIA-IS was back-translated, and their items were checked by the developers of the original VIA-IS. Participants in our standardization study were 778 undergraduate students who answered a battery of self-report questionnaires. The battery consisted of the Japanese versions of VIA-IS, Subjective Happiness Scale, General Health Questionnaire, and NEO Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI). It was found that VIA-IS has high internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Happier people showed higher overall scores on VIA-IS and on almost all subscales both in men and women. Scores on VIA-IS were higher in the healthier group than in the unhealthy group, especially on the subscales of depression and impediment of social activities. Subscales of NEO-FFI were related to subscales of VIA-IS in a consistent way. High nomination groups showed significantly higher scores on eight subscales of VIA-IS than low nomination groups.

Strengths of Character and Well-Being

Abstract We investigated the relationship between various character strengths and life satisfaction among 5,299 adults from three Internet samples using the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths. Consistently and robustly associated with life satisfaction were hope, zest, gratitude, love, and curiosity. Only weakly associated with life satisfaction, in contrast, were modesty and the intellectual strengths of appreciation of beauty, creativity, judgment, and love of learning. In general, the relationship between character strengths and life satisfaction was monotonic, indicating that excess on any one character strength does not diminish life satisfaction.