Running head: ASSIGNMENT 1- CHARACTER STRENGTH RESEARCH PAPER 2 ASSIGNMENT 1- CHARACTER STRENGTH RESEARCH PAPER 1 Assignment 1: Character Strength Research Paper Khalid Alharbi SWU 349: Stress Management Tools II Arizona State University Introduction Stress is unavoidable in our society nowadays. Basically, due to the pressure that we get on -sometimes- a daily basis. We took a test on “VIA Character Strengths Assessment”, which was hosted via the University of Pennsylvania and Dr. Martin Seligman’s Team. After answering the 240 questions however, The results of the character strengths were the following: They include (1) Spirituality, Sense of Purpose & Faith, (2) Creativity, innovation, and originality, (3) Forgiveness and Mercy, (4) Gratitude and (5) Capacity to love and be loved. The purpose of the paper would be to review the literature on my top 5 characters and how these characters make me happy. Gratitude Nezlek, J. B., Krejtz, I., Rusanowska, M., & Holas, P. (2019). Within-person relationships among daily gratitude, well-being, stress, and positive experiences. Journal of Happiness Studies, 20(3), 883-898. For one, nothing really makes me happy as “gratitude”. Basically because of my gracious attitude. Which really makes me appreciate all the things that I have; both intangible and tangible. Moreover, I always show my gratitude to my family. Friends and even classmate because I believe that I am not an Island and thus, I need the help of everyone in my community. My gratitude also encourages me to help others who are in need. The article by (Nezlek, Krejtz, Rusanowska, & Holas, (2019) on “within-person relationship among daily gratitude, well-being, stress, and positive experiences” highlights the significance of gratitude in our lives today. Some of the most interesting findings were that negative relationships between stress and self-esteem make people more grateful. I partially agree with the findings because I believe that gratitude is a habit that a person must master to appreciate his family, friends and even community. Spirituality, Sense of Purpose & Faith McIntosh, E. J. (2015). Thriving and spirituality: Making meaning of meaning making for students of color. About Campus, 19(6), 16-23. Spirituality, a sense of purpose and faith plays a fundamental role in my life because I am always excited with the perspective of my action today affecting my happiness in the future. I value my sense of purpose because it is my driving force that makes me happy. Furthermore, I believe that my faith has made grateful for everything I have because I believe in a supreme being that watches over me. Therefore, I am always that a Supreme Being guides me and protect when I am working hard to achieve my goals. The article by McIntosh (2015) is an interesting one because it highlights the correlation between thriving and correlation amongst students in society. Even though the studies focus on the students of color, it still focus ...

1. Running head: ASSIGNMENT 1- CHARACTER STRENGTH
RESEARCH PAPER
2
ASSIGNMENT 1- CHARACTER STRENGTH RESEARCH
PAPER
1
Assignment 1: Character Strength Research Paper
Khalid Alharbi
SWU 349: Stress Management Tools II
Arizona State University
Introduction
Stress is unavoidable in our society nowadays. Basically, due to
the pressure that we get on -sometimes- a daily basis. We took a
test on “VIA Character Strengths Assessment”, which was
hosted via the University of Pennsylvania and Dr. Martin
Seligman’s Team. After answering the 240 questions however,
The results of the character strengths were the following: They
include (1) Spirituality, Sense of Purpose & Faith, (2)
Creativity, innovation, and originality, (3) Forgiveness and
Mercy, (4) Gratitude and (5) Capacity to love and be loved. The
purpose of the paper would be to review the literature on my top
5 characters and how these characters make me happy.
Gratitude
Nezlek, J. B., Krejtz, I., Rusanowska, M., & Holas, P. (2019).
Within-person relationships among daily gratitude, well-being,
stress, and positive experiences. Journal of Happiness Studies,
20(3), 883-898.

2. For one, nothing really makes me happy as “gratitude”.
Basically because of my gracious attitude. Which really makes
me appreciate all the things that I have; both intangible and
tangible. Moreover, I always show my gratitude to my family.
Friends and even classmate because I believe that I am not an
Island and thus, I need the help of everyone in my community.
My gratitude also encourages me to help others who are in need.
The article by (Nezlek, Krejtz, Rusanowska, & Holas, (2019) on
“within-person relationship among daily gratitude, well-being,
stress, and positive experiences” highlights the significance of
gratitude in our lives today. Some of the most interesting
findings were that negative relationships between stress and
self-esteem make people more grateful. I partially agree with
the findings because I believe that gratitude is a habit that a
person must master to appreciate his family, friends and even
community.
Spirituality, Sense of Purpose & Faith
McIntosh, E. J. (2015). Thriving and spirituality: Making
meaning of meaning making for students of color. About
Campus, 19(6), 16-23.
Spirituality, a sense of purpose and faith plays a fundamental
role in my life because I am always excited with the perspective
of my action today affecting my happiness in the future. I value
my sense of purpose because it is my driving force that makes
me happy. Furthermore, I believe that my faith has made
grateful for everything I have because I believe in a supreme
being that watches over me. Therefore, I am always that a
Supreme Being guides me and protect when I am working hard
to achieve my goals.
The article by McIntosh (2015) is an interesting one because it
highlights the correlation between thriving and correlation

3. amongst students in society. Even though the studies focus on
the students of color, it still focuses on the psychological
effects on the intelligence and social life of the students. The
findings of the study highlight that thriving students of color
are spiritual. Thus, spirituality plays an important role in their
happiness. The study also shows that spirituality provides
positive psychology on the life of student within the campus.
Capacity to love and be loved
Kapusta, N. D., Jankowski, K. S., Wolf, V., Chéron-Le
Guludec, M., Lopatka, M., Hammerer, C., & Blüml, V. (2018).
Measuring the capacity to love: development of the CTL-
inventory. Frontiers in psychology, 9, 11-15. Retrieved from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6066550/
The capacity to love and be loved is an important character that
makes me lovable, sociable and a person easy to talk to. It
makes me happy to have the capital to love and be loved
because I believe in people, I am calm when my family
members or friends do not agree on certain things. I can talk
with other people jovially and make them smile when the going
gets an invaluable touch.
The article by Kapusta et. All (2018) offers an interesting talk
on an individual’s capacity to love (CTL) that is linked with
mental health and psychotherapeutic treatment. The article
highlights that CTL-I (Inventory) is an important personality
that helps other people to have the capacity to love and be
loved. The findings highlight that the capacity to love and be
loved is affected by negative associations such as depression,
pathological narcissism, and promiscuity as well as associations
with relationship qualities such as conflicts, support, and depth
warrant its future use in burdened populations including couples
in clinical settings (Kapusta, et al., 2018).
Literature Review on Positive Psychology and How it
contributes to my life
Lomas, T., & Ivtzan, I. (2016). Second wave positive
psychology: Exploring the positive-negative dialectics of

4. wellbeing. Journal of Happiness Studies, 17(4), 1753-1768.
The article by Lomas, and Ivtzan (2016) on the “second wave
positive psychology: Exploring the positive-negative dialectics
of wellbeing” highlights on the classification of positive (such
as optimism) and negative (such as anxiety). The article
problematizes the notion of positive and negative via seven case
studies that includes five salient dichotomies (such as optimism
vs. pessimism) and two complex processes (posttraumatic
growth and love) (Lomas & Ivtzan, 2016). The paper
contributes to my life because it is vital to have an
understanding of both positives and negative factors that affect
our lives today. The evolution of positive psychology should
focus on both aspects to ensure I understand my type of critical,
dialectical thinking that characterizes this second wave.
Fredrickson, B. L., & Joiner, T. (2018). Reflections on positive
emotions and upward spirals. Perspectives on Psychological
Science, 13(2), 194-199.
The article by Fredrickson & Joiner, (2018) gives a reflection
on positive emotions and upward spirals. The article highlights
that the basis of positive emotions is positive psychological that
helps in a new upward spiral of lifestyle change. The article
concludes positive emotions are to encourage reciprocal
relations amongst humans and it improves people’s health and
wellbeing (Fredrickson & Joiner, 2018). The article can
contribute to my life through principles of positive emotions
that must be reciprocated for my wellbeing
References
Acar, S., Burnett, C., & Cabra, J. F. (2017). Ingredients of
creativity: Originality and more. Creativity Research Journal,
29(2), 133-144.
Fredrickson, B. L., & Joiner, T. (2018). Reflections on positive

5. emotions and upward spirals. Perspectives on Psychological
Science, 13(2), 194-199.
Jorgensen, L. M. (2018). Forgiveness after Charleston: The
Ethics of an Unlikely Act. The Good Society, 26(2-3), 338-353.
Kapusta, N. D., Jankowski, K. S., Wolf, V., Chéron-Le
Guludec, M., Lopatka, M., Hammerer, C., & Blüml, V. (2018).
Measuring the capacity to love: development of the CTL-
inventory. Frontiers in psychology, 9, 11-15. Retrieved from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6066550/
Lomas, T., & Ivtzan, I. (2016). Second wave positive
psychology: Exploring the positive-negative dialectics of
wellbeing. Journal of Happiness Studies, 17(4), 1753-1768.
McIntosh, E. J. (2015). Thriving and spirituality: Making
meaning of meaning making for students of color. About
Campus, 19(6), 16-23.
Nezlek, J. B., Krejtz, I., Rusanowska, M., & Holas, P. (2019).
Within-person relationships among daily gratitude, well-being,
stress, and positive experiences. Journal of Happiness Studies,
20(3), 883-898.