A Foundation for the Integration of Peace Psychology and Character Strengths: New Science, Emerging Practices

This chapter highlights the importance of integrating character strengths and peace psychology and science and practices therein. It discusses the natural connection and mutual benefit of these areas, exploring the previous lack of scientific and practical integration as potentially relating to a wide range of misconceptions about peace/peace psychology and about character strengths/positive psychology. The misconceptions are detailed alongside corrective realities. A model for integrating character strengths and peace psychology is explained and offered as a framework for this book, Peace Psychology and Character Strengths. The model emphasizes “levels” of peace, including inner, relational, intragroup, intergroup, community, international, and ecological peace; “types” of peace as positive peace (amplifying harmony, balance, calmness) and negative peace (reducing conflict, aggression, violence) occurring at any level of peace; and character strengths in the form of character strengths’s concepts, specific character strengths, and character strengths’s dynamics across levels and types of peace. The chapter then examines the potential practicality of integrating peace and character strengths by sharing a study indicating feasibility and conducting two new studies, one on motivation to take action (N = 16,126) and the other on commitment to an action relating character strengths to peace within 1 week (N = 13,932). These studies show initial support for feasibility, motivation (both importance and confidence components), and commitment to action. This is followed by a summary of themes and insights from a 5-week pilot group integrating character strengths and peace, with emphasis on inner peace and relational peace, and to a lesser degree, group peace. This group revealed further support and benefit for the integration as well as the usefulness of weaving in character strength concepts, specific strengths, and character strength dynamics. Finally, science-based strategies for inner peace and relational peace are outlined for all 24-character strengths; these extrapolations serve as examples for further research.