Zest

History of 24 Human Virtues

Upon realizing that in modern-day psychology there were many common terms used to describe human psychological abnormalities or deficiencies, Christopher Peterson and Martin Seligman thought it appropriate and necessary to develop terminology to describe human strengths. After the lexical analysis of dozens of strength and virtue inventories, they, in cooperation with other positive psychologists, have developed a descriptive list of 6 human virtues (Wisdom and Knowledge, Courage, Humanity, Justice, Temperance, and Transcendence) comprising 24 strengths. Zest is one of the 4 strengths that combine to make up the virtue of Courage as defined by this system.

Measurement of Virtues (VIA)

Positive Psychologists have constructed a relatively simple online test to allow individuals to define their strengths found here - http://www.viacharacter.org/VIASurvey/tabid/55/Default.aspx. The Values in Action (VIA) Classification of Strengths is intended “to reclaim the study of character as a legitimate topic of psychological inquiry and informed societal discourse". The goal of this test is the belief that once a person is aware of their most prominent strengths, they can cultivate them and use them to better themselves. By bettering oneself, Positive Psychologists hope, one will affect a general betterment of the world around them: a ripple of betterment from self to others.

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