Strengths and virtues: An integrated approach

for the most part, positive psychologists have tended to study human strengths in isolation from one another. For instance, there are experts on strengths like gratitude, such as Philip Watkins, Mike McCullough, Robert Emmons and Jeffrey Froh. There are authorities on hope, optimism and 'optimistic explanatory style' - for example, Martin Seligman, Chris Peterson, Charles Carver, Michael Scheier and the late Rick Snyder. Clearly, these psychologists have earned their places as key contributors to growing fields of research, and it is not my intention to attempt to undermine the recognition they have merited in their respective domains. However, in this essay I propose that rather than examining strengths separately, there is much to be gained from studying mutually reinforcing strengths.