3.3 Assignment

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From the course by University of Pennsylvania

Positive Psychology: Applications and Interventions

558 ratings

University of Pennsylvania

Positive Psychology: Applications and Interventions

558 ratings

Course 2 of 5 in the Specialization Foundations of Positive Psychology

Positive interventions are one of the building blocks for the application of positive psychology in our day-to-day lives. In this course taught by Dr. James Pawelski, we explore positive interventions through theory, research and practice. We provide learners the basic tools for using and measuring positive psychology in professional or personal contexts. Suggested prerequisite: Positive Psychology: Martin E. P. Seligman’s Visionary Science.

From the lesson

Identifying and Using Character Strengths

3.3 Signature Strengths7:25

3.3 Assignment2:25

Meet the Instructors

James Pawelski, Ph.D.
Director of Education and Senior Scholar
Positive Psychology Center

So, there are two things I'd like to invite you to do with your assignment for

this segment.

First, is to write down a strength story.

Think about a time when you used one of your signature strengths

in a significant way in your life.

And simply write down what happened in as much detail as you reasonably can.

The second part of the assignment is to share that strength story.

So, ask someone else to take the VIA survey and

write down their strength story, and then share your stories with each other.

Now, there may also be occasions where you would want to use the strength story

exercise when you don't have a chance to write the stories down, in a meeting or

a workshop, for example.

And that's certainly possible.

So, whether you've written your story down.

Or whether you're just creating the story in the moment,

there will be two roles to play in this exercise.

One is the speaker and one is the listener.

So, the speaker will choose a signature strength that they have.

They won't tell the listener what that strength is.

But they will tell that person about a time when they used this strength

successfully.

It will be a story of you at your best.

So, this is more about character strengths and less about talents and

achievements, although I'm sure you have plenty of those to share.

And then the listener is tasked with, first of all, just being a good listener.

So, having good eye contact, really paying attention and focusing and

letting the other person do the talking.

And while you listen, you want to listen for

the strengths that appear in the other person's story.

And when the story is finished, help the speaker to savor it.

Maybe ask questions about particular parts of the story so

they can kind of go into more detail about the great things that happened.

And then, tell the speaker what strengths you heard in the story.

Now, chances are you may have heard a lot more strengths than simply the one

around which the speaker wrote or composed the story.

And that's just fine.

That's part of the fun of the exercise.

Once you've shared the strengths that you heard

in the story with the speaker, then you switch roles and

the speaker becomes the listener and

the listener becomes the speaker.

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