Take this Survey: Your Character Strengths in 15 Minutes

I found this interesting survey on Psyblog a few days ago and meant to try it out myself.

Psychologists Christopher Petersen and Martin Seligman devised “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Positive Strengths and Virtues”. It’s a simple questionnaire that identify your strengths as a human being.

Officially, it’s known as the VIA and it consists of 6 virtues and 24 strengths. They are:

  • Knowledge (virtue)
    • Creativity (strength)
    • Curiosity
    • Love of learning
    • Perspective (wisdom)
    • Open-mindedness
  • Courage (virtue)
    • Bravery (strength)
    • Persistence
    • Integrity
    • Vitality
  • Humanity
    • Capacity to love and receive love
    • Kindness
    • Social intelligence
  • Justice
    • Citizenship
    • Fairness
    • Leadership
  • Temperance
    • Forgiveness/mercy
    • Modesty/humility
    • Prudence
    • Self-regulation
  • Transcendence
    • Appreciation of excellence and beauty
    • Gratitude
    • Hope
    • Humour
    • Spirituality

What did Matticus get?

Your Top Character Strength

Judgment, critical thinking, and open-mindedness
Thinking things through and examining them from all sides are important aspects of who you are. You do not jump to conclusions, and you rely only on solid evidence to make your decisions. You are able to change your mind.

Your Second Character Strength

Creativity, ingenuity, and originality
Thinking of new ways to do things is a crucial part of who you are. You are never content with doing something the conventional way if a better way is possible.

Your Third Character Strength

Perspective (wisdom)
Although you may not think of yourself as wise, your friends hold this view of you. They value your perspective on matters and turn to you for advice. You have a way of looking at the world that makes sense to others and to yourself.

Your Fourth Character Strength

Leadership
You excel at the tasks of leadership: encouraging a group to get things done and preserving harmony within the group by making everyone feel included. You do a good job organizing activities and seeing that they happen.

Your Fifth Character Strength

Social intelligence
You are aware of the motives and feelings of other people. You know what to do to fit in to different social situations, and you know what to do to put others at ease.

That’s just the top five strengths that I apparently possess after taking the VIA test. I definitely agree with the second and the fifth. Not too sure about the other three =).  You can expand the results when you finish as it lists more traits and qualities from your strongest to your weakest.

Interestingly enough, my weakest point was spirituality.

Try it now

You’ll have to register first, but it’s very painless. There’s three different survey versions: The full (240 questions), the full for kids and teens that are 8-17 (198 questions) and a brief versions (24 questions).

I spent no more than 12 minutes taking the full survey. You’ll get better results that way.

Go ahead and try it now!

I’m curious to hear what your top character strength is and if you believe that’s accurate!

14 thoughts on “Take this Survey: Your Character Strengths in 15 Minutes”

  1. 1 – Humor [playfulness]
    2 – Creativity [originality, ingenuity]
    3 – Perspective [wisdom]
    4 – Integrity [authenticity, honesty]
    5 – Vitality [zest, enthusiasm, vigor, energy]

    I would say these things apply though I’m not sure they can all be considered my “key” strengths. Either way… it’s a fun test. It shows me my strengths and wisely skips my weaknesses 😉

    Reply
  2. Here’s me. I’m only surprised that #1 was #1–I think if I had arranged these myself, I would have switched #1 and #3. I guess that’s maybe because my inner Care Bear isn’t obvious in all aspects of my life. #3 applies more to professional me.

    #1: Capacity to love and be loved

    #2: Creativity, ingenuity, and originality

    #3 Appreciation of beauty and excellence

    #4 Fairness, equity, and justice

    #5 Curiosity and interest in the world

    Reply
  3. 1) Bravery and valor
    2) Honesty, authenticity, and genuineness
    3) Humor and playfulness
    4) Kindness and generosity
    5) Creativity, ingenuity, and originality

    I like taking quizzes, this one is insightful but some of the questions they asked like 5-8 times in different variations. But I appreciate learning about myself and I’m quite happy that my top strength is Bravery and Valor. I would’ve been surprised if it was anything but.

    Orbitzs last blog post..Holiday Shinannigans!

    Reply
  4. Thanks for posting this! It made me realize a lot of things I hadn’t noticed about myself. Funny how the internet can do that, huh?

    1 – Appreciation of beauty and excellence
    2 – Creativity, ingenuity, and originality
    3 – Fairness, equity, and justice
    4 – Forgiveness and mercy
    5 – Love of learning

    I think it got me pretty well. 🙂

    druidkittys last blog post..Character Survey

    Reply
  5. Hmm, pretty darn accurate. I was only surprised to get not a single care bear category. Syd says I’m an asshat. 😛

    1 – Creativity, ingenuity, and originality

    2 – Love of learning

    3 – Judgment, critical thinking, and open-mindedness

    4 – Industry, diligence, and perseverance

    5 – Perspective (wisdom)

    Reply
  6. Thanks for posting this survey. I’m a big fan of self analysis and this was fun to go through. Keep up the great work!

    1.) Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence
    2.) Fairness, equity, and justice
    3.) Gratitude
    4.) Hope, optimism, and future-mindedness
    5.) Bravery and valor

    Reply
  7. Thanks for the link! 🙂

    I actually found mine to be pretty damn accurate:

    1) Judgment, critical thinking, and open-mindedness

    2) Perspective (wisdom)

    3) Humor and playfulness

    4) Love of learning

    5) Citizenship, teamwork, and loyalty

    Rather interestingly my bottom list is:

    24) Spirituality, sense of purpose, and faith – Probably due to me being an atheist.

    23) Gratitude – Yeah I’m a greedy bastard 😉

    22) Appreciation of beauty and excellence – Very true. Movies are about the only thing that can touch me deeply.

    21) Self-control and self-regulation – Might be why I’m always rushing to work instead of eating breakfast 😉

    20) Zest, enthusiasm, and energy – Might have something to do with the missing breakfast 😉

    Reply
  8. Ha! Would you recruit a character like this to your guild?

    Your Top Character Strength
    Citizenship, teamwork, and loyalty
    You excel as a member of a group. You are a loyal and dedicated teammate, you always do your share, and you work hard for the success of your group.

    Your Second Character Strength
    Love of learning

    Your Third Character Strength
    Humor and playfulness

    Your Fourth Character Strength
    Fairness, equity, and justice

    Your Fifth Character Strength
    Capacity to love and be loved

    I would!

    Copra

    Copras last blog post..Off to vet again

    Reply
  9. Your Top Character Strength
    Fairness, equity, and justice

    Your Second Character Strength
    Capacity to love and be loved

    Your Third Character Strength
    Spirituality, sense of purpose, and faith

    Your Fourth Character Strength
    Citizenship, teamwork, and loyalty

    Your Fifth Character Strength
    Curiosity and interest in the world

    I think it’s fairly accurate, but I’m disappointed Spirituality wasn’t higher on the list.

    Honorshammers last blog post..Thinking of the Future

    Reply
  10. Interesting twist on the usual tests – and I would say it’s pretty accurate. Wasn’t at all surprised that prudence and self-control were at the tail end =(

    -Fairness, equity, and justice
    -Leadership
    -Humor and playfulness
    -Zest, enthusiasm, and energy
    -Forgiveness and mercy

    Reply

Leave a Comment