Hope

This week we focus on the subject of character. What character traits are indicative of wellbeing? In 2004 Martin Seligman and Christopher Peterson published their findings regarding character in the book, “Character Strengths and Virtues.” They studied 24 character strengths. In a recent study, Scott Barry Kaufman together with Spencer Greenberg, Susan Cain, and the Quiet Revolution collected data on 517 folks looking for a correlation between character as described by Seligman and Petersen, and well-being. They found hope to be the top trait correlated with wellbeing. 1 Helplessness/Hopelessness I reported on Seligman’s work with helpless-hopeless dogs in my book, ...