«Character strengths can be trained»

Mr Ruch, what is meant by character strengths?

These are positively valued personality traits that can vary in strength. The research field of positive psychology found a total of 24 such strengths, including creativity, love of learning, bravery, perseverance, friendliness and gratitude.

The important thing is that these characteristics can be changed and trained. Every society has its own rituals to develop such character strengths. For example, we send children to school to promote wisdom and knowledge.

For each character strength, there are role models who embody them in a special way, such as Mother Teresa, who stands for humility and generosity, or Nelson Mandela, who stands for forgiveness and grace. The valuable thing about character strengths is that they enrich both our own lives and those of our fellow human beings and thus contribute to a fulfilling life.

How do you use character strengths to become happier?

Everyone has so-called signature strengths: character strengths that are particularly pronounced in them, that come naturally to them and with which they identify. When someone comes to us for coaching because they are in a bad way, we first use a questionnaire to find out where their greatest character strengths lie.

Interpersonal virtues are more important to most parents than intelligence, success at school or good looks.

Next, we give the person the task of living out their signature strengths in various ways in everyday life. This can lead to an upward spiral. If you build your life around your strengths, you will automatically feel better. For example, you are more satisfied at work and more likely to feel an inner calling if you can regularly utilise at least four of your signature strengths in your job.

If you would like to know which character strengths are particularly pronounced in you, you can use the free questionnaire on the University of Zurich website.

What character strengths do parents particularly value in their children?

In a study of over 500 mothers and fathers surveyed, kindness was at the top of the wish list, followed by honesty, social skills, bonding skills and teamwork. This shows that interpersonal virtues are particularly important to parents. These strengths were also more important to most parents than intelligence, success at school or good looks.

How can these strengths be cultivated in the family?

A good exercise for more life satisfaction is to use the strengths that characterise me in a different way. For example, if I have a great curiosity and love of learning, I could deliberately go to a different section in a library or bookshop and specifically look for a book on an area that I have never dealt with before, but which arouses my curiosity and love of learning.

Or I change my usual route home and discover my surroundings. In moments like these, people experience the power that comes from their own strengths much more strongly. The combination of «new» and «enjoy doing» is important in this exercise. As a family, it's best to ask yourself: How can we use our time together to capitalise on everyone's strengths? For example, consciously plan a weekend or holiday in such a way that as many strengths as possible are taken into account.

So should we concentrate primarily on signature strengths?

Not necessarily. We conducted a study on this and found out: People who are not doing so well at the moment or who only have a few strong character strengths are best able to concentrate on using them more.

As a teacher, I would make sure that as many different strengths as possible are utilised in lessons.

However, if I already have a lot of strengths, it is more beneficial for me to develop even more broadly by building up new strengths that are not yet so present.

Would the character strengths concept also be an enrichment for schools?

Definitely! I have heard that the character strengths concept has already been anchored in the curriculum of some schools on the initiative of some teachers. I think that's important. We have seen in our studies that there are strengths that predetermine well-being at school and learning success.

These include perseverance, a love of learning, curiosity and self-regulation, i.e. being able to influence one's own feelings and orientate one's actions towards long-term goals. However, only a few pupils have all these strengths. Unfortunately, school is often organised in such a way that other virtues are less important.

What do you mean?

Let's take the example of the «class clown»: in our studies, we have found that these children have humour as a signature strength and that their leadership skills are often highly developed. But not everyone with a sense of humour becomes a class clown, especially if they have strengths of moderation - self-regulation, prudence.

I assume that children with humour as a signature strength mainly become class clowns when they cannot use their strengths in class and do not feel at home at school. As a teacher, I would make sure that as many different strengths as possible are utilised in lessons.

It hardly takes any time to ask who has experienced something funny this week or to give the humorous child a stage in another way. The child is better integrated as a result, because what makes them special also has its place at school. The more often strengths can be utilised in the classroom, the higher the level of school satisfaction. This also applies to teachers.

What role does the family situation play in the development of character strengths?

In addition to parents, siblings are also important. Studies show that children who have at least one sibling achieve higher scores in the strengths of friendliness, teamwork, spirituality, humour and forgiveness compared to single children. With the exception of spirituality, these are all clearly interpersonal strengths.

The position within the family also appears to be significant: only children and first-borns show a greater love of learning, more curiosity, caution and judgement, i.e. all more intellectual strengths. The «nestlings», on the other hand, show more humour in comparison. However, the differences are not too great.