Positive Psychology Specialization Project: Design Your Life for Well-being

Character Strengths: One Concept to Rule them All

Module 1 of the Positive Psychology Capstone reviews the VIA Character Strengths Classification and in particular asks the learner to identify his or her five signature strengths and assess if they are authentic.

Peterson Theory on Psychological Mental Illness as defined as an Excess, an Absence, or an Opposite of a Character Strength rather than by the Presence or Absence of a Symptom in the DSM

Module 2 presents Chris Peterson's unfinished theory on mental illness. Specifically his belief that the absence of strengths, the excess of strengths, and the opposite of strengths might define 72 conditions of character weakness, and that these shortcomings might be a better framework than the DSM which uses a checklist of symptoms.

Developing a Positive Intervention using a signature strength to bolster a strength absence or strength opposite. Hypothesis & Experiment Design for Personal Positive Intervention

Module 3 has the learner target an area for remediation from among Peterson's inventory of 72 deviant strengths and craft a positive intervention using a signature strength.

Putting the Positive Intervention into Action

Module 4 has the learner put the positive intervention into action, assess and the share the results, and finally reduce the positive intervention to writing so it can be shared.