Character Strengths
Your signature strengths among the 24 virtues of character
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Positive psychology asks a different question from most personality tests: not what is wrong with you, or which type you are, but what is best in you. This test measures twenty-four character strengths, from curiosity and bravery to kindness, fairness, self-regulation and hope, and groups them into six virtues valued across the world's moral traditions.
Rate each statement by how much it is like you, as you usually are rather than as you would like to be. Everyone has all twenty-four strengths in some measure; the aim is to find the ones that are most truly yours.
What it measures
Creativity
Coming up with original and useful ways of seeing and doing things, in the arts or anywhere else.
Curiosity
Taking an interest in experience for its own sake: exploring, asking questions, finding things fascinating.
Judgment
Thinking things through from every side, weighing the evidence fairly and changing your mind when it is warranted.
Love of learning
Mastering new skills, topics and bodies of knowledge, formally or on your own, because learning itself is rewarding.
Perspective
Seeing the bigger picture and making sense of life in ways that help yourself and others; being able to give wise counsel.
Bravery
Facing threat, difficulty or pain instead of shrinking from it, and standing up for what is right when it is unpopular.
Perseverance
Finishing what you start and sticking with a course of action despite obstacles, boredom or setbacks.
Honesty
Telling the truth and, more broadly, being genuine: presenting yourself as you are and owning your words and actions.
Zest
Approaching life with energy and excitement; doing things wholeheartedly rather than halfway; feeling alive.
Love
Valuing close relationships, especially those in which care and sharing flow both ways.
Kindness
Generosity, care and compassion in action: doing good things for others and looking after them.
Social intelligence
Being aware of your own and other people's feelings and motives, and knowing how to act well in different social settings.
Teamwork
Working well as a member of a group: being loyal, doing your share and putting the shared goal first.
Fairness
Treating everyone by the same standards and giving each person a fair chance, without letting personal feelings tilt the scale.
Leadership
Organizing a group to get things done while keeping good relations within it.
Forgiveness
Letting go of resentment toward people who have wronged you, accepting their flaws and giving second chances.
Humility
Letting your accomplishments speak for themselves and not regarding yourself as more special than other people.
Prudence
Being careful about your choices: thinking ahead, avoiding needless risks and not saying or doing things you will regret.
Self-regulation
Managing what you feel and do: discipline over appetites, habits and emotions.
Appreciation of beauty
Noticing and being moved by beauty, skill and excellence in every domain, from nature and art to craft, science and good deeds.
Gratitude
Being aware of the good things in your life and taking time to give thanks for them.
Hope
Expecting the best from the future and working to bring it about.
Humor
Liking to laugh and joke, bringing smiles to others and seeing the lighter side of things.
Spirituality
A sense of higher purpose and meaning, religious or not, that shapes how you live and offers comfort.
Wisdom
Strengths of the head, which gather knowledge and put it to use: creativity, curiosity, judgment, love of learning and perspective.
Courage
Strengths of the will, which keep you moving toward what matters despite fear, fatigue or opposition: bravery, perseverance, honesty and zest.
Humanity
Strengths of tending and befriending in close relationships: love, kindness and social intelligence.
Justice
Civic strengths that make life in groups and communities work: teamwork, fairness and leadership.
Temperance
Strengths that guard against excess, whether of anger, pride, risk or appetite: forgiveness, humility, prudence and self-regulation.
Transcendence
Strengths that connect you to something larger and give life meaning: appreciation of beauty, gratitude, hope, humor and spirituality.
Possible results
About this test
In the early 2000s the psychologists Christopher Peterson and Martin Seligman led a project to do for human strengths what diagnostic manuals had done for disorders: give them a common language. After surveying moral and religious traditions from Confucius and Aristotle to the Bhagavad Gita and Benjamin Franklin, they identified six virtues valued almost everywhere (wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance and transcendence) and twenty-four measurable character strengths through which those virtues show up in everyday life. Their handbook, Character Strengths and Virtues (2004), became known as the VIA classification.
The VIA Institute on Character offers its own official survey. This test is independent and not affiliated with it: the statements are original, written in the spirit of the public-domain IPIP scales for the same strengths.
Each strength is measured by four statements, one or two of them reverse-keyed, and every statement also counts toward its virtue. Your portrait is the virtue with the highest overall score. Alongside it you get your five "signature strengths", the ones Peterson and Seligman suggested feel most authentic and energizing to use; in one well-known study, using a signature strength in a new way every day for a week raised happiness for months afterwards.
Caveats: four items per strength is still short, so treat scores within a few points of each other as ties. Scores are relative to the range of possible answers, not to population norms, and self-report shows how you see yourself. The six-virtue grouping is a conceptual scheme; statistical studies usually find fewer underlying factors. Use the result as a starting point for reflection, not a verdict.
References
- Peterson, C. & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004). Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification. Oxford University Press / American Psychological Association.
- Park, N., Peterson, C. & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004). Strengths of character and well-being. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 23(5), 603-619.
- Seligman, M. E. P., Steen, T. A., Park, N. & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology progress: Empirical validation of interventions. American Psychologist, 60(5), 410-421.
- McGrath, R. E. (2015). Integrating psychological and cultural perspectives on virtue: The hierarchical structure of character strengths. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 10(5), 407-424.
- International Personality Item Pool: IPIP scales for the VIA strengths (public domain).
For self-reflection and curiosity, not diagnosis. Scores describe how you answered, relative to the possible range; they are not compared with population norms.
Character Strengths
About 11 minutes · 96 questions
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