Character strengths are positive qualities or capacities people can express through behavior, such as curiosity, perseverance, kindness, self-regulation or perspective. Researchers use different models of strengths. A useful test is whether a proposed strength is visible across situations and helps you pursue worthwhile goals.
Research basis: This guide draws on Niemiec, R. M., & Pearce, R. (2021) and Casali, N., & Feraco, T. (2025) for definitions of character strengths and evidence on strengths-based interventions and well-being.
The phrase personal strengths is broader than one psychological inventory. Some frameworks focus on character qualities, others on talents, competencies or work-related capabilities. That makes it important to know what a particular strengths assessment actually measures.
What are character strengths in psychology?
Character-strength approaches usually describe positively valued individual differences that can be expressed in thoughts, feelings and actions. One influential positive-psychology framework organizes 24 character strengths, but it is not the only possible taxonomy.
The DesperateMinds Personal Strengths Profile is an original educational self-report tool. It is not the VIA Survey of Character Strengths, CliftonStrengths or another proprietary inventory.
Examples of personal and character strengths
- Curiosity: wanting to understand, explore and ask questions.
- Perseverance: continuing effort when a meaningful task becomes difficult.
- Kindness: noticing and responding to other people's needs.
- Self-regulation: managing impulses and behavior in service of a goal.
- Perspective: seeing a problem from more than one angle and offering useful judgment.
- Creativity: generating useful or original ways to approach a problem.
A quality may be a strength in one context and need balancing in another. Perseverance can help you finish difficult work, but persisting indefinitely with a bad strategy is not automatically wise.
What does research say about character strengths?
A 2025 meta-analysis synthesized 130 studies with more than 275,000 participants. Most of the 24 strengths in the framework studied were positively associated with well-being, while associations with common mental-health outcomes were generally smaller. The findings are correlational and do not prove that maximizing a particular strength will cause better mental health.
Research on strengths-focused interventions is also promising but heterogeneous. A 2025 synthesis of randomized controlled-trial reviews found evidence that some strength and virtue interventions can improve targeted strengths or well-being, while effects vary by intervention and strength. That is a reason to avoid the claim that merely identifying a "top strength" transforms outcomes.
A strength can be useful, underused or overused
Calling something a strength does not mean “more is always better.” The effect depends on timing, intensity and context.
- Underused: perseverance may be available, but you give up before a difficult task has a fair chance.
- Well used: perseverance helps you stay with an important task while still updating the plan when evidence changes.
- Overused or mismatched: perseverance can become costly when it keeps you attached to a goal that is no longer realistic or safe.
The same logic applies to qualities such as honesty, caution, kindness and curiosity. The practical question is how the strength is expressed, not simply whether you possess it.
How can you identify your strengths?
- Look for repeated behavior. What qualities appear across work, relationships and difficult situations?
- Ask for specific feedback. "What do I do that helps this team?" is more useful than "What is my best trait?"
- Separate enjoyment from competence. You can enjoy something while still learning it, or be skilled at something you do not particularly value.
- Notice overuse. A strength used rigidly can create problems. Directness without tact or perseverance without reassessment can become costly.
- Connect strengths to goals and values. A strength becomes more useful when you know what you want it to serve.
How should you use a strengths test?
A self-report profile can generate hypotheses about qualities you tend to rely on. It cannot certify skill, predict career success with certainty, or identify one objectively best strength. Compare the result with evidence from behavior and other people's observations.
Explore your current strengths pattern
The DesperateMinds Personal Strengths Profile is designed for reflection. It does not reproduce VIA or CliftonStrengths and should not be read as a professional competency assessment.
A strength can help in one context and create a blind spot in another
Character strengths are positive capacities or tendencies, but using more of a strength is not always better. Persistence can support long projects and also keep someone stuck in a failing strategy. Kindness can strengthen relationships and become overextension when boundaries disappear. The useful question is how well a strength fits the situation.
| Strength | Helpful expression | Possible overuse |
|---|---|---|
| Curiosity | Asking questions and exploring alternatives | Never committing because another option might be interesting |
| Perseverance | Continuing through manageable difficulty | Ignoring evidence that a strategy needs to change |
| Kindness | Supporting others while respecting limits | Saying yes when resentment is already building |
How to identify a strength from evidence
Look for repeated behavior across more than one setting. Ask when the quality helped you solve a problem, what other people consistently rely on you for, and what you tend to do effectively even when nobody is rewarding you for it. Then separate the underlying strength from the learned skill used to express it.
For that distinction, see strengths vs skills.
Can character strengths be developed?
Strength language is most useful when it leads to behavior rather than a flattering label. If you want to develop curiosity, practice asking better questions and exploring unfamiliar evidence. If you want to strengthen perseverance, define a meaningful task and a stopping rule so persistence does not become rigidity.
Track the context and outcome of the behavior. A strength is not simply something that feels natural; it should help you function effectively and ethically in the situation.
Questions people ask next
Frequently asked questions
What are examples of character strengths?
Examples include curiosity, perseverance, kindness, self-regulation, creativity and perspective. Different frameworks use different lists and definitions.
Are character strengths the same as personality traits?
They overlap conceptually but are not identical. Big Five traits are broad descriptive dimensions, while character-strength frameworks focus on positively valued qualities.
Can strengths change?
How a strength is expressed can develop with practice, roles and experience. The evidence varies by construct and intervention, so change should not be promised from a simple profile alone.
Can I have too much of a strength?
A useful quality can be applied poorly or rigidly. Context, balance and judgment matter in how a strength is expressed.
Is the DesperateMinds Personal Strengths Profile the VIA Survey?
No. It is an original DesperateMinds educational profile and does not reproduce or claim equivalence to the VIA Survey or other proprietary strengths tools.
References
- Niemiec, R. M., & Pearce, R. (2021). The practice of character strengths: Unifying definitions, principles, and exploration of what's soaring, emerging, and ripe with potential in science and in practice. Source
- Casali, N., & Feraco, T. (2025). Bridges over troubled water: A meta-analysis of the associations of character strengths with well-being and common mental health disorders. Source
- Cebolla, A., et al. (2025). A synthesis of RCTs on psychological interventions fostering strengths and virtues: Evidence from 21 systematic reviews. Source
- Efficacy of cultivating human strengths and virtues on well-being: A one-stage meta-analytic structural equation modeling approach. (2026). Source