Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification
One book, placed in its field — what Christopher Peterson and Martin Seligman's book gets right, where it goes further than the rest, and what the rest of the field adds.
Mike West, Editor · Counselor Guide · careleader.guide/guides/profile-character_strengths_and_virtues_a_handbook
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Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification
One book, placed in its field — what Christopher Peterson and Martin Seligman's book gets right, where it goes further than the rest, and what the rest of the field adds.
Mike West, Editor · Counselor Guide · careleader.guide/guides/profile-character_strengths_and_virtues_a_handbook
The problem
Desirable life erodes when it is left to instinct instead of method.
You were taught the moves piecemeal, never the whole model.
Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification · Mike West, Editor · Counselor Guide
The model
- 01Enabling Conditions
- 02Creativity
- 03Curiosity
- 04Open-Mindedness
- 05Love of Learning
- 06Perspective
- 07Bravery
- 08Persistence
Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification · Mike West, Editor · Counselor Guide
Step 1 of 5 · Enabling Conditions
Enabling conditions are causal antecedents, not background noise — they shape which strengths a person can develop and express.
Misconception
Character strengths are dispositional traits that reside inside a person and develop regardless of circumstances.
Reality
Strengths are jointly produced by person and setting; the same individual displays courage or curiosity in one environment and not another, so changing conditions is often more efficient than changing people.
Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification · Mike West, Editor · Counselor Guide
Step 2 of 5 · Creativity
The novelty-plus-usefulness test disqualifies both the derivative and the merely strange.
Misconception
Creativity is an innate artistic gift some people have and others lack.
Reality
Creativity is a cognitive strength expressed across domains — engineering, parenting, business — and it requires both originality and adaptive value; a novel idea that solves nothing is not creative in this sense.
Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification · Mike West, Editor · Counselor Guide
Step 3 of 5 · Curiosity
Curiosity is sustained by open questions, so preserve ambiguity rather than rushing to resolve it.
Misconception
Curiosity is just wanting answers, so it is satisfied and used up once information is obtained.
Reality
Curiosity is a stance toward novelty and complexity that seeks to prolong engagement, not resolve it; it feeds on open-ended exploration, and closing questions too quickly starves it.
Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification · Mike West, Editor · Counselor Guide
Step 4 of 5 · Open-Mindedness
The test of open-mindedness is whether you ever revise a belief you wanted to keep.
Misconception
Open-mindedness means treating all viewpoints as equally valid and withholding judgment.
Reality
Open-mindedness is the willingness to weigh evidence fairly and then commit to the better-supported conclusion — it demands judgment, not its suspension, and its hallmark is changing your mind, not refusing to make one.
Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification · Mike West, Editor · Counselor Guide
Step 5 of 5 · Love of Learning
Love of learning is defined by staying through difficulty, not by initial enthusiasm.
Misconception
Love of learning is the same as curiosity — both just mean enjoying new information.
Reality
Curiosity opens a topic; love of learning stays with it through the unglamorous, frustrating middle of acquiring real mastery, tolerating the negative feelings that curiosity alone would flee.
Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification · Mike West, Editor · Counselor Guide
A framework to use
VIA Classification of Strengths and Virtues
This framework is part of the full guide. See the guide →
Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification · Mike West, Editor · Counselor Guide
The cheat sheet
- Enabling ConditionsEnabling conditions are causal antecedents, not background noise — they shape which strengths a person can develop and express.
- CreativityThe novelty-plus-usefulness test disqualifies both the derivative and the merely strange.
- CuriosityCuriosity is sustained by open questions, so preserve ambiguity rather than rushing to resolve it.
- Open-MindednessThe test of open-mindedness is whether you ever revise a belief you wanted to keep.
- Love of LearningLove of learning is defined by staying through difficulty, not by initial enthusiasm.
- PerspectivePerspective is validated by others' benefit, not by the holder's private certainty.
- BraveryFear is a requirement for bravery, not evidence of its absence.
- PersistencePersistence is virtuous only toward goals still worth reaching.
Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification · Mike West, Editor · Counselor Guide
Sources
- Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification — Christopher Peterson and Martin Seligman
Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification · Mike West, Editor · Counselor Guide