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VIA Institute on Character is a non-profit organization founded to advance the science and practice of character development.  The VIA Institute supported the creation of the VIA Classification, The VIA Survey  and Character Strengths and Virtues, by Drs. Martin Seligman and Christopher Peterson. These tools are used by researchers, clinicians, consultants, coaches and educators.  The Institute provides the VIA Survey, advances the science of character and educates practitioners.

Take VIA Survey of Character

People world-wide have taken the free VIA Survey more than 1.5 million times.  Learn your Signature Strengths. Available in 13 languages.
VIA Interpretive Reports

Sample Profile

Buy Consultant Code

Join consultants, psychologists, and coaches who are using the VIA Interpretive Reports (VIR) to explore and build strengths with their clients.  It's new from the VIA Institute. Purchase a VIR in the VIA Survey Center. Consultants: If you purchase the codes, the reports are sent to you when your client completes the VIA Survey. (They'll get the traditional, free report, immediately.)
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Benefits of report

Dr. Christopher Peterson
VIA Science Director

Chris Peterson, Ph.D., professor at the University of Michigan since 1986, is a member of the Positive Psychology Steering Committee, a consulting editor of the Journal of Positive Psychology and a former Templeton Senior Fellow. He led the creation of the VIA Classification of Strengths and was lead author of Character Strengths and Virtues, A Handbook and Classification.

A founding father of  Positive Psychology, he is one of the world's 100 most-cited psychologists. 

Purpose-
Driven
Parenting

By Neal H. Mayerson, Ph.D
Chairman, VIA Institute

I have written a couple times about parenting, always when studies have hit the press with messages that could lead readers to conclude that parenting is bad for your happiness and that parents have little influence over their child’s (especially a teen’s) decisions and development.

The most recent article appeared July 4 in New York Magazine. Entitled "All Joy and No Fun: Why Parents Hate Parenting," it examined the relationship between child-rearing and happiness.... More...

Also by Neal:
Strengths Terms: What's in a Name?
Judging Character: When We Fall Short
Graduation Season: What's Next?
Weeding for Character
Classical Character: Gabriela Montero
Signature Strengths: Frequency Data II
Character Jazz
More articles on News page

VIA Library Growing

We are pleased to make our online library open to all.  Just click on Library in the top-of-page navigation , and you'll find a robust list of videos,  books and abstracts of articles on the VIA Classification and Positive Psychology.  We invite your comments on each entry, so please don't be shy with recommendations or opinions.  If you have a publication, video or audio link you'd like to add, simply e-mail the information to: Senior Editor Linda Parker. 

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The VIA World Tour of first-class workshops for practitioners is underway. Click on the banners for more information and to register.

Study Report:
Preferences
for PP exercises

By Ryan M. Niemiec, Psy.D.
Education Director, VIA

The Study: Schueller, S. M. (2010). Preferences for positive psychology exercises. Journal of Positive Psychology, 5(3), 192-203.

Summary: The aim of this study is to inform the creation of tailored programs of positive psychology exercises. This study explored whether preferences for some exercises is linked to preferences with other exercises. The 792 participants were randomly assigned to receive, two, four, or six PP interventions; participants received instructions for one exercise at a time, did the exercise for 1 week, then returned to the website for the next exercise. Following each...More

Also by Ryan:
Study Report: Positive Interventions
Sports and PP
Character Strengths and Goal-Setting
Positive Psychology Movies
Taking Action with Strengths
More articles on News page

News from VIA

VIA Science Director, Chris Peterson, has won a top teaching award at the University of Michigan. He told his audience, "We’re in the business of ongoing life, not school....What would we learn in life and why should we learn it? My answer is very simple and my students have heard me say it often - it is that other people matter." The story at AnnArbor.com

Middle Strengths: Come Forth!
VIA Survey available in Danish
Blog: Chris Peterson on The Good Life
Video: Martin Seligman on Signature Strengths
Neal Mayerson on Simple vs. Complex Character Strengths
Ryan Niemiec: Notes on Goldstein's "Sacred Moments"
News (more)