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The VIA Institute on Character, a non-profit organization, advances the science and practice of character. VIA provides the free VIA Me! Character Strengths Profile designed to help all people live their best lives. VIA is an organization that aims to fill the world with greater virtue—i.e. greater levels of wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence. It does so by helping individuals learn about character strengths and how to apply them to their personal pursuits and relationships to achieve greater life satisfaction, social good, and actualization of potential.
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Click here to make a tax deductible donation to the VIA Institute on Character.
HISTORY
The idea behind the VIA Institute on Character was to systematically explore what is best about human beings. Instead of focusing on human frailties and shortcomings, Dr. Martin E.P. Seligman, who was the president of the American Psychological Association at the time, suggested that we study what is right about people.
It was a concept so radical that it caught the attention of Dr. Neal H. Mayerson, President of the
Manuel D. and Rhoda Mayerson Foundation. Finding their philosophies so much in sync, the two men created a non-profit organization as an umbrella for their work – the VIA Institute on Character.
Three years later, after thousands of hours of research and input from scores of experts in a variety of fields, they introduced the
VIA Classification and VIA Inventory of Strengths Survey. Today, these are regarded as the central tools in the field we now know as “positive psychology.”
The VIA Inventory of Strengths has always been, and continues to be, available for free to all through the generosity of the Manuel D. and Rhoda Mayerson Foundation. The results of the VIA Inventory are now captured and presented in the
VIA Me! Character Strengths Profile, which enables individuals to view the rank order and description of their VIA Character Strengths.
Additionally, after more than a decade of study and investigation, the VIA Institute now offers
VIA PRO, a collection of tools and resources designed to support strengths-based professionals by arming them with the knowledge, research and ability to assist individuals in making the best possible use of all the many characters strengths they have discovered.
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