Lecture 6 Virtues & Character Strengths PDF

Lecture 6 Virtues & Character Strengths What are the strengths that humans possibly have? What is wisdom? How to achieve it? A. VÍA Character Strengths and Virtues B. Strengths and Well-being C. Wisdom VÍA Character Strengths and Virtues Diagnostic and Statistical Manual Of Mental Disorders (DSM) ●...

Lecture 6 Virtues & Character Strengths What are the strengths that humans possibly have? What is wisdom? How to achieve it? A. VÍA Character Strengths and Virtues B. Strengths and Well-being C. Wisdom VÍA Character Strengths and Virtues Diagnostic and Statistical Manual Of Mental Disorders (DSM) ● Pathology focused Peterson & Seligman (2004) ● Aim to develop an Antithesis(對立) of the DSM and ● Provides a common language for strengths or“a manual of the sanities” (Easterbrook, 2001, p. 23) Developing a classification of strengths is complex. 24 character strengths were selected and organized around 6 virtues. "Values in Action Inventory" VIA 6 Virtues Virtues are the core defining features of good character valued by moral philosophers and religious thinkers. (1) Wisdom (智慧) (2) Courage (勇氣) (3) Temperance (克制) (4) Humanity (仁愛) (5) Justice (公義) (6) Transcendence (靈性及超然) They are selected because they appear to be universal across history and across societies. They represent moral virtues as defined by most religions and ethical philosophies. Each virtue is defined by a set of character strengths. 24 Character Strengths Character strengths are the ingredients, expressions, and potential means of developing the virtue. ● For example, the virtue of wisdom can be achieved through such strengths as creativity, curiosity, love of learning, open-mindedness Wisdom ● Entails cognitive strengths that involve the acquisition of knowledge and the use of reason to enhance well-being. Defining Strengths Of Wisdom 1. Creativity 2. Curiosity 3. Judgment 4. Love of Learning 5. Perspective Creativity (創意): Originality; adaptive; ingenuity (足智多謀) ● Originality ○ Able to produce ideas or behaviors that are recognizably original. ■ i.e. novel, surprising, or unusual ● The behaviors or ideas must also be adaptive. ○ Bizarre hallucinations and delusions is not improving Life ● Ingenuity(足智多謀): able to generate creative solutions to the various problems they encounter at both home and work. Curiosity(好奇心):Interest,novelty-seeking ● Interest: represent one's intrinsic desire for experience and knowledge ○ When we are interested in something,we initiate and sustain goal-directed behaviors. ● Novelty-seeking: seeking of new or higher stimulation ○ Engages in novel fantasies, feelings, ideas, and values ○ one may be willing to endure high levels of risk (e.g., pain and injuries when rock climbing, rejection when meeting new people) Open-mindedness (思想開明): appreciate different ideas ● Opposite → myside bias: the pervasive tendency to think in ways that favor one’s current views ● Critical Thinking: looks at the problem from all angles ● Thinking things through rationally: examines all of the available evidence, can change his or her mind in light of new evidence, and finally reaches a balanced judgement. Love of Learning (熱愛學習): Mastering new skills & topics ● Cognitively Engaged: engage new information and skills in general or particular content ● Feels positive in the process of learning ○ it helps people to persist in the face of setbacks, challenges, and negative feedback ● May or may not result in immediate achievement or benefit, yet over time a person may develop a deeper or wider knowledge of contents Perspective (智慧): Wisdom; providing wise counsel; taking the big picture view ● Distinct from intelligence ● Self-knowledge ● Able to see larger patterns of meaning or relationship ● Able to see the heart of problems Courage Entails emotional strengths that involve the exercise of will to accomplish goals in the face of opposition and adversity. ● Examples ○ confronting and accepting one’s own death ○ dealing with a debilitating illness or disease Defining Strengths Of Courage 1. Bravery 2. Perseverance 3. Integrity 4. Vitality Bravery (勇敢): Valor (勇猛); not shrinking from fear; speaking up for what’s right ● to voluntarily act, perhaps fearfully, ○ where the relevant risks are reasonably appraised ○ in an effort to obtain or preserve some perceived good ■ A murderer that takes risk to accomplish crime is rarely considered brave Perseverance(堅持): finishing what one starts ● voluntary continuation of goal-directed action in spite of obstacles, difficulties, or discouragement. ● Not attitude or belief (vs. action) Integrity(誠實):truthfulness ● comes from the Latin integritas, meaning wholeness, untouched, and entire. ● A person with integrity is true to themselves, accurately representing—privately and publicly—their internal states, intentions, and commitments. ○ factual truthfulness ○ Emotional genuineness ○ Interpersonal sincerity Vitality (熱情與幹勁):subjective experience of energy and aliveness ● experiences of volition (意志) and effectance (效能) Temperance Entails strengths of self that control excesses and restrain impulses that may harm the self and others. ● Exercise willpower(意志) in the face of temptations ○ e.g. eating, drinking, smoking, expression of anger, hatred, or arrogance toward others. ● ongoing awareness and self-discipline that affirms the “look before you leap” dictum of everyday wisdom Defining Strengths Of Temperance 1. Forgiveness 2. Humility 3. Prudence 4. Self-regulation Forgiveness(原諒): accepting others shortcoming; giving people a second chance ■ a suite of prosocial changes that occur within an individual who has been offended or damaged by a relationship partner ■ When people forgive, their basic motivations or action tendencies regarding the transgressor become more positive(e.g., benevolent, kind, generous) and less negative (e.g., vengeful, avoidant). Humility(謙虛): Modesty an accurate sense of one's abilities and achievements (not underestimated) ● letting one's accomplishments speak for themselves ● the ability to acknowledge one's mistakes and imperfections ● openness to new ideas, contradictory information, and advice Prudence (慎重): cautious, not taking undue risks ● Has a farsighted (有遠見的) and deliberative (深思熟慮的) concern for the consequences of their actions and decisions ● could resist impulses and other choices that satisfy shorter term goals at the expense of longer term ones Self-regulation (自控):Self-control; disciplined, managing impulses and emotions ● a person exerts control over his or her own impulses so as to pursue goals and live up to standards ○ Most acts of self-regulation involve stopping the self from having a response, such as when a dieter refrains from eating a tempting but fattening food ○ Some instances of self-regulation that entail initiating a response ■ A sleepy man drags himself out of bed on a cold morning. Humanity Entails Interpersonal strengths that involve tending and befriending others ● ● Focused on other’s need rather than one’s own needs and interests Capacity For Sympathy, empathy, compassion, and love in our relationships with others. ○ A person with humanity is willing to help others in need, to be kind, to be generous, and to respect the feelings and values of others. Defining Strengths of humanity 1. Love 2. Kindness 3. Social Intelligence Love (愛心): valuing close relations with others ● Three Prototypical Forms Of Love 1. love those who are our primary sources of protection, affection, and care a. E.g. a child’s love for a parent 2. love those who depend on us to make them feel safe and cared for a. E.g. a parent’s love for a child 3. love that involves passionate desire for sexual, physical, and emotional closeness with an individual whom we consider special and who makes us feel special a. E.g. romantic love Kindness(慈祥):Generosity; nurturance; care;altruism ● Assertion (明確肯定) That Others Are Worthy Of Attention And affirmation ○ for no utilitarian reasons but for their own sake ○ in contrast with solipsism (唯我論), in which the self relates to others only insofar as they contribute to his or her agenda and are therefore considered useful. Social intelligence (社交能力): Aware of the motives and feelings of self and others ● Emotional Intelligence: ○ identify emotional content in faces and voices ○ accurately assess emotions and feelings ○ understand and manage emotion ● use social information to get others to cooperate ● identify social dominance and sociopolitical relationships among individuals and groups Justice Entails Civic Strengths That Underlie Healthy Community life ● A person with justice is fair minded and even handed rather than being biased by self-interest. ● How people should act in a community Defining Strengths Of Justice 1. Citizenship 2. Fairness 3. Leadership Citizenship (公民感): social responsibility ● a feeling of identification with and sense of obligation to a common good that includes the self but that stretches beyond one’s own self-interest. ● sense of responsibility for the community thus is active in the civic affairs of their communities ● want to make the world a better place for future generations Fairness (平等): not letting feelings bias decision about others ● A fair person believes that ○ Everyone deserves respect. ○ Everyone Should Get Her Fairshare. ○ It’s wrong to use people. ○ It’s wrong to cheat anyone as I don’t want to be cheated as well. Leadership: Encouraging a group to get things done ■ a personal quality that foster an orientation toward influencing and helping others, directing and motivating their actions toward collective success. ■ One would aspire to dominant roles in relationships and social situations. ■ They comfortably manage their own activities and the activities of others in an integrated system Transcendence (靈性及超然) Entails strengths of spirit that forge connections to the larger universe and provide meaning ■ a broader view of the world and the universe ■ put things in perspective and keeps us from worrying about or striving for things that don’t really matter ○ e.g. religion and spirituality Defining Strengths Transcendence 1. Appreciation of beauty and excellence 2. Gratitude 3. Hope 4. Humor 5. Spirituality Appreciation Of Beauty And Excellence (欣賞美事): Awe; wonder; elevation ■ The ability to find, recognize, and take pleasure in the existence of goodness in the physical and social worlds. ■ Frequently Feels Awe and related emotions ○ admiration, wonder, and elevation) ■ A person low on this strength goes about daily life as if wearing blinders to that which is beautiful and moving. Gratitude (感恩): Thankful for the good; feeling blessed ● A sense of thankfulness and joy in response to receiving a gift, whether the gift be a tangible benefit from a specific other or a moment of peaceful bliss evoked by natural beauty ● Some example thinking of a grateful person○ I could not have gotten where I am today without the help of many people. ○ It seems like I can even find reasons to feel thankful for bad things that happen. Hope (盼望):optimism; future orientation ● Expecting that desired event and outcomes will occur in the future ● Acting in ways believed to make them more likely Humor (幽默): Playfulness; bringing smiles to others ■ The playful recognition, enjoyment, and/or creation of incongruity (不協調的東西) ■ a composed and cheerful view on adversity that allows one to see its light side and thereby sustain a good mood ■ the ability to make others smile or laugh in ways believed to make them more likely Spirituality (靈性): Religiousness; faith; purpose; meaning ● Beliefs and practices that are grounded in the conviction that there is a transcendent (nonphysical) dimension of life. ○ These beliefs are persuasive, pervasive, and stable. ● They inform the kinds of attributions that people make, the meanings they construct, and the ways they conduct relationships. Classification of virtues & character strengths Defining Strengths Wisdom and Knowledge – cognitive strengths that entail the acquisition and use of knowledge. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Creativity – thinking of novel and productive ways to do things Curiosity – taking an interest in all ongoing experience Judgment – thinking things through and from all sides Love of learning – mastering new skills, topics, and bodies of knowledge Perspective – being able to provide wise counsel of others Courage – emotional strengths that involve exercise of will in the face of opposition, external or internal. 6. 7. 8. 9. Bravery – not shrinking from threat, challenge, difficulty, or pain Perseverance – finishing what one starts despite obstacles along the way Honesty – speaking the truth and presenting yourself in a genuine way Zest – approaching life with excitement and energy Humanity – interpersonal strengths that involve “tending and befriending” others. 10. Love – valuing close relations with others 11. Kindness – doing favors and good deeds for others 12. Social intelligence – being aware of motives and feelings of self and others Justice – civic strengths that underlie healthy community life. 13. Teamwork – working well as member of a group or team 14. Fairness – treating all people the same according to notions of fairness and justice 15. Leadership – organizing group activities and seeing that they happen Temperance – strengths that protect against excess. 16. Forgiveness – forgiving those who have done wrong 17. Humanity – letting one’s accomplishments speak of themselves 18. Prudence – being careful about one’s choices, not saying or doing things that might be later regretted 19. Self-regulation – regulating what one feels and does Transcendence – strengths that forge connections to the larger universe and providing meaning. 20. Appreciation of beauty and excellence – noticing and appreciating beauty, excellence, and/or skilled performance in all domains of life 21. Gratitude – being aware of and thankful for good things that happen 22. Hope – expecting the best and working to achieve it 23. Humor – liking to laugh and tease; bringing smiles to other people 24. Spirituality – having coherent beliefs about the higher purposes and meaning of life Psychometric properties of the VIA classification system ■ Demonstrated satisfactory reliability and some aspects of validity ○ Items generated and reviewed by a group of 8 psychologists (face validity) ○ Good Internal Consistency And Test-retest reliability ○ Self-ratings validated against ratings by informed observers (interrater reliability) Strengths and well-being Peterson & Seligman (2004) correlated the 24 strengths to life Satisfaction and found that five among all have the strongest relationship with well-being. ● Character strengths related to relationships and positive emotions were more strongly related to measures of life satisfaction than were intellectual-cognitive strengths. Linking VIA to Well-being Outcomes Bachik et al. (2021) conducted a further analysis to find out the relationship between the character strengths and a more comprehensive measures of well-being among college students. ● Life Satisfaction ○ Zest, Hope, Gratitude, and Love (4 strongest correlation) ● Happiness ○ Zest, Curiosity, Hope, and Humor (4 strongest correlation) ● Resilience ○ Only Curiosity is related to resiliency. ● OverallGPA ○ Only Perseverance is related to overall GPA. ● Physical And Mental Health ○ None Of The Strengths Have Significant Relationship ● Depression, anxiety, eating problems, alcohol consumption, drug use, and risky behaviors. ○ None Of The Strengths Have Significant Relationship What is wisdom? How to achieve it? Wisdom is the ability to balance your needs and happiness with those of others (Sternberg, 1998). Wisdom is generally understood to mean a philosophic understanding of what matters in life and the practical knowledge of how to conduct a life that matters (Baltes & Freund, 2003; Peterson and Seligman, 2004; Robinson, 1990). Theories of Wisdom Sternberg’s Balance Theory ● Wise people are skillful in balancing three interests and three possible courses of action in arriving at solutions to life problems. ● The Three Interests ○ One’s own interests and needs (intrapersonal) ○ The interests and needs of important others like a spouse, friend, or employer (interpersonal) ○ Those related to community, country, environment, or religion (extrapersonal). ● Balancing the needs requires consideration of three courses of action concerning how much individuals need to ○ change themselves (adaptation) ○ change their environment, including others ○ select a new environment altogether Sternberg’s Balance Theory: Example Scenario Suppose you have graduated from your bachelor’s degree for few years. You Have established a career path/ got married Situation: one of your parents was diagnosed with lung cancer How to wisely deal with this situation? You must find ways to balance the interests and those of your family and your parents. ​ Some questions you may consider to balance the three interest ■ How much should you have to sacrifice? ■ How much should your own family have to sacrifice? ■ How much should your parents have to sacrifice? ​ How can you balance all the interests? ■ Whose environment and life must change the most? yours? your family’s? ■ Should you adjust your life to meet your parents needs and move closer to ■ Should your parents move in with you? ■ Should you try to place them in an assisted living facility? Wisdom does not lead to a perfect balance of interests and actions According to Sternberg, wisdom means applying tacit knowledge to find the best possible solution that balances both multiple interests and possible actions involving adaptation and change. Baltes and colleagues’ Berlin Wisdom Model Wisdom Is Defined As Expert Knowledge Concerning The fundamental pragmatics of life, i.e. knowledge and judgement about the essence of the human condition and the ways and means of planning, managing, and understanding a good life. Wisdom Is Assessed By 5 Criteria: 1. Factual Knowledge a. Knowing The“whats”of the human condition and human nature i. e.g. difference among people, social relationships, society, social norms, etc. 2. Procedural Knowledge. a. Knowing the “hows”. i. Strategies and approaches for solving life’s problems, achieving goals, dealing with conflict, etc. 3. Lifespan Contextualism a. Knowing the“whats”of different live settings social environments i. e.g. work, education, family, leisure, and friends b. how these roles and settings change over time, both for individuals and for society. 4. Relativism of values a. Awareness of Individual and cultural differences In values and life priorities. b. Relativism means consideration and sensitivity to value differences among people from different backgrounds. 5. Awareness and management of uncertainty a. Recognizing the limits of knowledge. The future cannot be fully known ahead of time. b. An understanding of how to cope effectively with the uncertainty of knowledge about the world. Wisdom is measured by presenting research participants with challenging, hypothetical life situations and dilemmas, and asking them to describe aloud what should be done in response to each dilemma (困境). Examples of life dilemma: “A 15-year-old girl wants to get married right away. What should one/she consider and do?” Low Wisdom-Related Score ● No, no way, marrying at age 15 would be utterly(完全地) wrong. One has to tell the girl that marriage is not possible. (After further probing) It would be irresponsible to support such an idea. No, this is just a crazy idea. High Wisdom-Related Score ● On average, marriage for 15-year old girls is not a good thing ● There are situations where the average case does not fit ○ Instance, special life circumstances/ a terminal illness, another culture or historical period/ value system different from ours ○ Does wisdom increase with age? ■ Increase during adolescence and young adulthood ■ Remain relatively stable until age 75 then begins to decline ■ So, getting older does not enhance wisdom! Are wise people happier? ■ Higher wisdom scores were associated with less frequent experiencing of negative affects and pleasure- oriented positive affects.