Positive Psychology:

An Introduction UNIT 5 CHARACTER STRENGTHS AND

VIRTUES: INTRAPERSONAL
STRENGTHS AND WELL-BEING*
Structure
5.1 Learning Objectives
5.2 Introduction
5.3 Growth Mindset
5.4 Multicultural Mindset
5.5 Grit and Determination
5.6 Self-Compassion
5.7 Self-Forgiveness
5.8 Let Us Sum Up
5.9 Key Words
5.10 Answers to Self Assessment Questions
5.11 Unit End Questions
5.12 References
5.13 Suggested Readings

5.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After studying this Unit, you would be able to:
• Explain intrapersonal strengths and their importance;
• Differentiate between intrapersonal and interpersonal strengths;
• Discuss specific intrapersonal strengths such as growth mindset,
multicultural mindset, grit and determination, self-compassion, and self-
forgiveness; and
• Analyze their impact on well-being.

5.2 INTRODUCTION
In the previous unit we described what character strengths are, and various
approaches to study and describe these strengths. We also looked at some
specific character strengths that are relevant in the interpersonal domain and
their impact on well-being. In this unit we will look at some of the intrapersonal
strengths that are particularly relevant for an individual’s personal growth and
contribute to his/her psychological well-being.
Intrapersonal strengths are those positive personality traits that help us to
be more aware of our internal attitudes and inner processes. These are inner
82
Dr. Janhavi Devdutt, Clinical Psychologist, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi
*

Arabia
qualities or attitudes that help an individual manage emotions effectively, adjust Character Strengths
well to situations and people, pursue and achieve goals, achieve success in life, and Virtues:
Intrapersonal
and become better versions of oneself. They contribute to both hedonic as well Strengths and
as eudaimonic well-being. In other words, they help us not only to feel good Well-being
(hedonic well-being), but also, to do well (eudaimonic well-being). In this Unit,
you will learn about the following intrapersonal strengths:
• Growth mindset
• Multicultural mindset
• Grit and Determination
• Self-compassion
• Self-forgiveness

5.3 GROWTH MINDSET

‘Mindset’ refers to a set of beliefs that shapes how you make sense of the world,
influences the way you think, feel and behave. The Mindset Theory (Dweck &
Legget, 1988) suggests that people can have two mindsets or attitudes about
intelligence:
Entity or Fixed Mindset: Here one considers intelligence to be fixed, assumes that
talents, abilities and understanding are more-or-less fixed or unchangeable. A
person with a fixed mindset believes that talents are innate and s/he is born with
them – “you are the way you are”.
Incremental or Growth Mindset: Here one considers intelligence to be flexible,
and changeable. It is assumed that talents, abilities and understanding can be
cultivated, expanded and refined. In other words, the belief that you are a “work
in progress”.
Now imagine, as a student, which of the two mindsets would make you more
motivated to study for an exam or excel in class? You guessed right! A growth
mindset. As an individual, because you believe that you can improve, you are
more likely to expend time and effort on learning new things and investing
in personal growth. Thus, your mindset influences your motivation, attitude,
behaviour and performance. With a growth mindset you are more driven, more
committed and put in more effort. All these are important qualities that help a
person to succeed.
In fact, a person with a fixed mindset is likely to avoid challenges, give up more
easily in the face of failure and feel dejected by negative feedback. In addition,
such a person is constantly struggling to ‘prove himself/herself’ at school, at the
job or in relationships. Since intelligence, personality and character are traits
valued in our society, every situation for a person with a fixed mindset is full
of constant self-evaluation - “Will I be able to do this or not?”, “Will I appear
intelligent or stupid?”. On the other hand, a person with a growth mindset
welcomes challenges and takes negative feedback constructively. Failure
becomes a stepping stone to success as the person learns from it.

83
Positive Psychology:
A fixed mindset A growth mindset
An Introduction
(desire to look smart) (desire to learn)
Therefore a tendency to: Therefore a tendency to:
• Avoid challenges • Embrace challenges
• Give up easily • Persist despite setbacks
• See effort as useless • See effort as a path to mastery
• Ignore useful negative feedback • Learn from criticism
• Feel threatened by the success of • Find lessons and inspiration in the
others success of others
Thus a growth mindset is not just having a positive outlook, but also learning
from mistakes, exploring alternative strategies, taking up challenges, solving
problems and moving ahead.

5.4 MULTICULTURAL MINDSET

With the explosive growth of the internet and the in-roads of the World Wide
Web into our daily life, we are now living in a ‘global community’. We are
rapidly moving from monocultural to multicultural societies. Individuals with
a multicultural mindset adapt to and are open to learning about new cultures.
Mere exposure to diverse cultures is insufficient for personal and professional
growth. Maddux et al. (2014) report that even when individuals are exposed
to the same multicultural environment, it is their psychological approach and
engagement with different cultures that determines the extent to which they are
able to integrate diverse ideas, new ways of thinking, conflicting beliefs into their
existing set of thought/action repertoires. The successful assimilation of these
differences and subsequent broadening of an individual’s cognitive, emotional
and behavioural capacities eventually translates into visible advancement in
professional opportunities. It requires an active engagement with a new culture
so as to develop new ways of thinking and perceiving that will impact one’s
values, beliefs and behaviour.
The term multicultural mindset largely comes from the organizational literature.
As the work and organizational world becomes more and more culturally
diverse, career psychologists are looking at interventions that can promote a
multicultural mindset in young people. This kind of global mindset needs:
• Drive—interest, curiosity and confidence while interacting in a multicultural
environment.  
• Knowledge—meaningful understanding of the similarities and differences
between cultural groups, without resorting to stereotyping.
• Strategy—awareness and ability to plan effectively keeping these cultural
differences in mind.
• Action—being able to adapt when relating and working in multicultural
settings.
A multicultural mindset is an asset, especially in the work domain. It helps
individuals perform better during international work assignments, equips
individuals with effective cross-cultural negotiations skills and benefits sales
84
employees working with culturally diverse customers (Chao, 2018). Like Character Strengths
the growth mindset, an individual with a multicultural mindset believes that and Virtues:
Intrapersonal
cultural attributes are changeable, not fixed. They are more open to challenging Strengths and
their own cultural beliefs and attitudes, learn new ones or integrate them into Well-being
existing ones and act accordingly. As a result, they are less anxious about being
in multicultural environments. They are confident that they can create social
realities that are in line with their cultural expectations, thereby, reducing
awkwardness, embarrassment, or chances of rejection by others. For example,
suppose you go to Germany to study or work. You know that language is
not a barrier because you can manage well with English. However, if you
are an individual with a multicultural mindset, you would show an interest,
curiosity, and willingness to learn German. When you do that, you can adapt
with ease to the new culture, relate better with the natives, learn more about
how Germans think, feel and behave. This helps you to anticipate situations
and act accordingly, thereby increasing your chances of success in personal,
interpersonal and professional domains.
Self Assessment Questions 1
1. Examples of Fixed Mindset when responding to failure are:
a) “I am a failure.”
b) “There is no point trying.”
c) Both the above
d) None of the above
2. An individual with a growth mindset is likely to have which of the
following responses?
a) “Bring on the challenge!”
b) “That is valuable feedback.”
c) “I tried my best.”
d) “I already know what I need to know.”
i. b) i & ii c) i, ii & iii d) All the above
3. Mere exposure to diverse cultures is sufficient for the development of
multicultural mindset. True/False

5.5 GRIT AND DETERMINATION

Angela Duckworth, the world’s leading expert on ‘grit’, grew up with her father
ever so often telling her, “You are no genius.” By Duckworth’s own admission,
it was true. She was no genius. There were many others who were much smarter
and talented than her. However, Duckworth was an ambitious person. She
wanted to excel. But as a child who had always been told that she was not
smart, she often wondered how, then, would she succeed!? That is what sowed
the seeds of this question into her curious mind and she set out to understand
the predictors of success. During her stint as a Math teacher, Duckworth made
another interesting observation. She found that many of her students who were 85
Positive Psychology: naturally gifted for Math (could grasp mathematical concepts quickly) were
An Introduction getting rather poor grades in Math. On the other hand, those who struggled with
the subject in class were doing much better than she expected. “Talent for Math
was different from excelling in Math”, she concluded (Duckworth, 2016, p.16).
In other words, aptitude or talent did not ensure achievement. She noticed that
these students who were ‘weak’ in Math made sure that they attended their
classes regularly, made notes, asked questions, and sometimes stayed back after
class or during lunch breaks to discuss problems. It was their hard work and
persistence in the face of failure that was paying off.  
Grit can be termed as the Strength of will, that helps us to achieve goals. Grit is a
combination of passion and perseverance. It is a personality trait that combines
passion, motivation and determination to achieve long term goals (Datu et al.,
2017). According to Duckworth et al. (2007), there are two dimensions that
characterize grit: (i) consistency of interest and (ii) perseverance of effort. Grit
involves working hard towards long term goals with sustained interest, despite
disappointments or failures along the way. Gritty individuals deliberately
choose and continue to persevere in long-term goals that are not immediately
rewarding. Thus grit can contribute to one’s better academic performance, career
development, physical health and psychological well-being (Datu, 2021).

To estimate your level of grit, consider how true the following are for you:
• I enjoy projects that take years to complete.
• I am working towards a very long-term goal.
• What I do each day is connected to my deepest personal values.
• There is at least one subject or activity that I never get bored of thinking
about.
• Setbacks don’t discourage me for long.
• I am a hard worker.
• I finish whatever I begin.
• I never stop working to improve.
Source: Angela Duckworth’s Character Lab https://characterlab.org/playbooks/grit/

5.6 SELF-COMPASSION
Riya was very nervous. She was about to make her final project presentation
today. She had been preparing for it - collecting, organizing and studying
the data - for the past two months. She hoped that she would make a good
impression on the reviewers as her promotion depended on it. After answering
a series of questions correctly, one of the panel members asked her a question
that she was not quite sure how to answer. She fumbled a little, attempted to
answer, but eventually apologised to the panellist and was dejected. There was
no further questions and she came out of the room mad at herself. “You are such
an idiot! You were so well prepared and yet you messed it up.. You are good
for nothing. There’s no chance you’ll get that promotion now…”, Riya thought.
She obviously spent the rest of the day feeling sad, angry, and frustrated.
If Riya was your friend, what would you say to her? Perhaps you would tell her
86 that she was being too harsh on herself. That she did her best. That those were
some tough questions she managed to answer so well. And that it is okay to not Character Strengths
have all the answers. How do you think Riya would feel now? Perhaps calmer, and Virtues:
Intrapersonal
more relaxed? She would probably also feel more reassured about her abilities Strengths and
and less frustrated about not answering the last question. Now, imagine if Riya Well-being
could do for herself what you, as a friend, did for her - be kind, gentle and more
forgiving. That is called self-compassion.
You have already learnt about compassion in the previous unit. Self-compassion
is compassion directed inward. It involves being sensitive to our own distress
and a desire to reduce that distress. According to Kristin Neff (2003), self-
compassion consists of three components:
1. Self-kindness: We are said to be our worst critics. We tend to be harsher
towards ourselves than we would ever be towards others. Self-compassion
involves being gentle and benevolent towards ourselves when we falter, are
distressed, or feeling incompetent and inadequate. Rather than resisting,
denying, or beating ourselves up for our shortcomings, we look at them
with a kindness that allows us to take constructive action. We can’t always
get what we want. We can’t always be who we want to be. And that’s okay.
In other words, being patient with our flaws.
2. Common Humanity: In times of distress, we often ask ourselves, “Why
me?” By doing so, we are indirectly telling ourselves that bad things only
happen to me, and everyone else’s life is perfect. This is a distorted view of
reality created by tunnel vision. The truth is that trials and tribulations are
part and parcel of being human. By understanding that life challenges and
personal failure are universal, we feel less isolated and alone in our pain.
3. Mindfulness: Mindfulness means being aware of things as they are, not
more, not less. Thus, neither do we avoid our pain (by resisting or denying
it, e.g., “I wish I wasn’t so hurt!”), nor do we over-identify with it (by
ruminating, e.g., “Why am I always so upset?”). We observe our thoughts
and feelings as they are, without judgment (e.g., “I feel hurt/upset”).
What Self-Compassion is Not
Self-pity: When individuals feel self-pity they tend to get absorbed by their
own misery. They brood over their suffering and think they are the only ones
going through it. This, as we read earlier, is in contradiction to self-compassion.
People who are self-compassionate, in fact, view suffering as universal. They
accept pain as an inevitable part of being human that is experienced by everyone.
Thus, it reduces the tendency to exaggerate personal distress, prevents us from
feeling isolated, and makes us more open to accepting our pain with kindness.
Self-indulgence: We often feel that being easy on ourselves will make us lazy,
careless, and indifferent. We somehow have the notion that self-criticism is
a more effective motivator than giving ourselves nurturing, support, and
encouragement. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Constant criticism
makes us feel worthless and depressed. It might push us to do better only so
that we can avoid these negative feelings. But this motivation will be difficult
to sustain, and we will lose steam quickly. Self-compassion, on the contrary,
motivates us to do well because we care. We feel safe to acknowledge our
weaknesses and to work on them. Thus, we work on them because we want to 87
Positive Psychology: be a better version of ourselves. This motivating force is long-lasting.
An Introduction
Self-esteem: Self-esteem is based on a person standing out from a group, on how
unique and different he/she is from others around him. We need to see ourselves
as being above average or better than others to have high self-esteem, e.g., I am
more competent than my colleague or I am more fortunate than my neighbour.
In case of low self-esteem - I am not as smart as my classmates or her life is
easier than mine. In other words, self-esteem is based on comparison. This,
again, contrasts with what we know about self-compassion. Self-compassion
celebrates the similarity, rather than separateness, of human experiences. It
emphasizes the interconnectedness of human beings, e.g., Struggle is inevitable,
everyone goes through it or It’s human to feel pain.
Self-Compassion Practices
• Writing a letter to yourself from the perspective of an unconditionally
loving imaginary friend.
• Maintaining a self-compassion journal.
• Using supportive touch – activate the parasympathetic nervous system by
using supportive touch to help you feel calm, cared for and safe.
• Changing your critical self-talk – paying attention to your critical self-talk
and altering it with kinder, gentler words.
• Loving-kindness meditation – involves taking out time to express generous,
selfless love towards oneself (e.g., “May I be well”, “May I be healthy”)
and others (e.g., “May you be at peace”, “May you be safe”).

Self-compassion in Practice – Write a Self-compassionate Letter

• Describe a problem that tends to make you feel bad about yourself, such as
a physical flaw, a relationship problem, or failure at work or college. Note
what emotions come up—shame, anger, sadness, fear—as you write.
• Next, think of an imaginary friend who is unconditionally accepting and
compassionate; someone who knows all your strengths and weaknesses,
understands your life history, your current circumstances, and understands
the limits of human nature.
• Finally, write a letter to yourself from that perspective. What would your
friend say about your perceived problem? What words would he or she
use to convey deep compassion? How would your friend remind you that
you’re only human? If your friend were to make any suggestions, how
would they reflect unconditional understanding?
• When you’re done writing, put the letter down for a while and come back
to it later. Then read the letter again, letting the words sink in, allowing
yourself to be soothed and comforted.
Source: The Science of Compassion, Neff (2012).
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 Character Strengths
Self Assessment Questions 2 and Virtues:
Intrapersonal
1. Passion can be cultivated. True/False
Strengths and
2. A person with a natural talent for music will be a better musician than Well-being
one who is not as talented. True/False
3. Name the three components of self-compassion.
4. Self-compassion is different from self-pity because:
5. Self-pity makes us ruminate over our struggles.
6. Self-pity makes us ask “why me?” when we are in pain.
7. Self-compassion helps us see the universality of pain.
All the above
8. Self-esteem highlights our individuality while self-compassion
highlights our same-ness with other human beings. True/False

5.7 SELF-FORGIVENESS
In the previous unit, you learnt about the benefits of forgiving others. But what
about forgiving ourselves? Is that important, you ask? Think about this… Have
you ever felt regret at something that you did or did not do? Maybe you said
something insensitive to a friend. Perhaps you did something that deeply hurt
your parents. How did you feel afterwards? Guilty? Ashamed? Maybe you kept
thinking about it over and over again. You probably wished you could undo
what you had done. Perhaps you felt so ashamed that you couldn’t look the
other person in the eye. Maybe you started avoiding your friend, or even worse,
fought with him! Do you see now, the damage that such emotions can do to you
and your relationships? Hence, the importance of self-forgiveness.
It is not easy, of course. We have been socialized into feeling guilty when we
do something wrong. Our parents scolded us when we broke a friend’s toy as a
child. That ‘bad’ feeling could motivate desirable behaviour, like apologizing
to the friend and/or replacing their toy; thus, driving us towards corrective
action. However, intense guilt and shame can be very detrimental to our well-
being. They can give rise to self-resentment, self-hatred, self-punishing and
self-destructive behaviour.
Self-forgiveness can be defined as “a willingness to abandon self–resentment
in the face of one’s own acknowledged objective wrong, while fostering
compassion, generosity, and love toward oneself” (Enright, 1996, p. 115). Thus,
self-forgiveness is understood as having three components:
Experiencing and letting go of negative emotions directed at oneself: Prolonged
anger, shame, remorse, and other negative emotions associated with an offense,
can become toxic. Therefore, one needs to release them. But not before you
have experienced them. As that would be suppression, ignorance or denial of
the emotions and the offense you are responsible for. Thus, you do not excuse
yourself of wrongdoing. In fact, you accept responsibility for it. And move on
in a constructive way. 89
Positive Psychology: Fostering positive emotions directed towards oneself: You not only abandon
An Introduction self-directed negative emotions but also cultivate positive emotions like
compassion, benevolence, and love. Davis et al. (2015) define self-forgiveness
as “an emotion-focused coping strategy that involves reducing negative and
increasing positive thoughts, emotions, motivations and behaviours regarding
oneself” (pp. 329–330).
Accepting responsibility: Self-forgiveness does not mean absolving ourselves
of the blame. On the contrary, it means accepting responsibility for the
transgression and showing a willingness to work through it. If we interpret our
behaviour as only mildly inexcusable, justifiable, as not being solely our fault
or as being harmless, genuine self-forgiveness cannot happen (Woodyatt et al.,
2017).
Self-Forgiveness versus Interpersonal Forgiveness
Self-forgiveness and interpersonal forgiveness are similar in some ways, but
there are important differences between the two (see Table 5.1). Usually,
behavioural transgressions are involved in case of interpersonal forgiveness.
However, objective wrongdoings in self-forgiveness could include behaviours,
thoughts, desires, or feelings. Interpersonal forgiveness involves forgiveness
for the harm done to the victim. In case of intrapersonal forgiveness, one could
forgive either harm done to the victim or to oneself (e.g., I forgive myself for
hurting my parents or I forgive myself for cheating on the exam). While being
empathetic helps us to humanize the offender and thus facilitates interpersonal
forgiving, empathy towards oneself when one has transgressed is likely to lead
to justification of the wrong act rather than true self-forgiveness. Interpersonal
forgiveness does not imply reconciliation with the offender whereas
reconciliation with the self is necessary in self–forgiveness. One cannot remain
alienated from the self for long. Moreover, it is possible to avoid the thoughts,
feelings and situations related to the interpersonal transgression if one is able
to avoid the offender. This is not possible when one harms oneself or someone
else, as the offender must continue to face himself/herself and his/her actions.
It is, thus, impossible to escape the situation by avoiding the transgressor. This
is another reason why self-forgiveness is highly relevant as in the absence of it
one can get sucked into the abyss of self-condemnation.
Table 5.1: Self-Forgiveness versus Interpersonal Forgiveness

Similarities

• Both processes unfold over time

• Both require an objective wrong which makes the offender ineligible for
forgiveness but is still forgiven
• Both are not equal to excusing or forgetting the wrongdoing

• Both require conscious effort and do not occur automatically

90
 Character Strengths
Differences and Virtues:
Intrapersonal
Intrapersonal or Self– Interpersonal Strengths and
Forgiveness Forgiveness Well-being
Type of wrongdoing Behaviours, thoughts, desires, Behaviours
feelings
Focus of forgiveness Harm to self or to another Harm to victim

Empathy Inhibits forgiveness Facilitates

forgiveness
Reconciliation with Required Not required
victim
Focus of avoidance Transgression–related stimuli Offender
(e.g., victim, situations,
thoughts, etc.)
Vengeful feelings Offender (i.e., self) Offender (i.e.,
towards other)
Benevolent feelings Offender (i.e., self) Offender (i.e.,
other)
Consequences of Extreme Moderate
unforgiveness
Source: Adapted from Hall and Fincham (2005)

Why is Self-forgiveness Difficult to Practice?

Accepting responsibility for a transgression conflicts with two basic human
needs:
Need to maintain moral-social identity - this is related to our need for belonging,
seeing ourselves as good and moral people.
Need to maintain our sense of agency - to think of ourselves as being in control
of our actions.
However, when we commit wrongdoing both these needs come into conflict
with each other. For example, suppose you have cheated on your partner. To
protect your moral-social identity you may see the betrayal as not representing
your true self - It was a onetime thing, I love my partner. But in this case, you
may become doubtful about your sense of agency - then who or what made me
do it? On the other hand, you may try to protect your sense of agency and accept
your choices - I just wanted to be adventurous! But this raises questions about
your morality - How could I do it? Am I a good person? Given the nature of these
dilemmas, one may employ maladaptive strategies to avoid one conflict or the
other. These may include becoming overly defensive or severely self-punitive.
Thus, successful self-forgiveness requires working through the process of
establishing one’s sense of both moral-social identity and agency. This requires
investment of time and energy and is a psychologically effortful process.

91
Positive Psychology:
An Introduction Taking responsibility is difficult,
• As it is likely to increase unpleasant emotions like shame, guilt, and regret.
Thus, we try to avoid the emotions by shirking responsibility for the
wrongdoing and blaming it on an external entity (person or situation).
• Because doing so also means admitting that our actions went against
acceptable group norms and threatens our inherent need to belong.
• Because the possibility of social rejection, hostility and stigma from the
victim or the community at large can exacerbate feelings of shame. This
makes a person more inclined towards avoiding, rather than accepting,
responsibility.
The Process of Self-Forgiveness
Self-forgiveness involves a reaffirmation of values. When we hurt someone or
commit an offense, we have gone against a value that we hold. For example,
maybe our value is to uphold integrity in our actions, but we cheated in an
exam. Our action went against our value. Self-forgiveness would involve
learning from the experience, restating/reviving our values and committing to
act in accordance with them in the future. In this way, we show our commitment
towards shared values, thus, protecting our social-moral identity. At the same
time, we preserve our sense of agency since we take charge of our actions in
the future.
Self Assessment Questions 3
1. Self-forgiveness involves which one of the following steps:
a) Accepting responsibility for the wrongdoing, suppressing guilt,
justifying your actions.
b) Accepting responsibility, working through the guilt, recommitting
yourself to your core-values.
c) Accepting responsibility for the wrongdoing, punishing yourself
for being a terrible person, apologising for your mistake.
d) None of the above
2. If I feel highly empathetic towards the person I have offended, it will
be easier for me to forgive her. True/False
3) Taking responsibility for our wrongdoings is difficult because:
a) It conflicts with our need to belong
b) We are justified in our actions
c) Both the above
d) None of the above

92
 Character Strengths
5.8 LET US SUM UP and Virtues:
Intrapersonal
In this Unit, you learned about various intrapersonal strengths such as growth Strengths and
mindset, multicultural mindset, grit and determination, self-compassion, and Well-being
self-forgiveness. Growth mindset was differentiated from the fixed mindset,
and the importance of having growth and multicultural mindset was delineated.
You also learned about the meaning of grit and determination. Components
of self-compassion were described and this strength was differentiated from
related terms. Various ways to practice self-compassion were described.
Finally, you learned about the intrapersonal strength of self-forgiveness and
how it is different from interpersonal strength of forgiveness. Benefits of all the
intrapersonal strengths were highlighted which can help us achieve inner and
outer harmony.

5.9 KEY WORDS

Growth mindset : the belief that talents, abilities and
understanding are dynamic, they can be
cultivated, expanded and refined.
Multicultural mindset : a set of beliefs and attitudes that allows a
person to acknowledge and accept different
cultural perspectives, learn about different
cultures, assimilate and use this knowledge
while living/working in multicultural
environments.
Grit : a personality trait that combines passion,
motivation and determination to achieve long
term goals.
Self-compassion : an attitude of generosity and benevolence
towards ourselves when we falter, are
distressed, or feeling incompetent and
inadequate.
Common humanity : realization of the truth that suffering and
personal failings are part of the shared
human experience – something that we all go
through.
Self-forgiveness : the capacity to go beyond self–resentment/
punishment in the face of one’s own
acknowledged objective wrong, while being
compassionate, generous, and loving toward
oneself.

93
Positive Psychology:
An Introduction 5.10 ANSWERS TO SELF ASSESSMENT
QUESTIONS
Answers to Self Assessment Questions 1
1. (c); 2. (b); 3. False
Answers to Self Assessment Questions 2
1. True
2. False
3. self-kindness, common humanity and mindfulness
4. (d)
5. True
Answers to Self Assessment Questions 4
1. (b); 2. False; 3. (a)

5.11 UNIT END QUESTIONS

1. Differentiate between fixed and growth mindset.
2. Elaborate upon the meaning of self-compassion.
3. Compare and contrast self-forgiveness and interpersonal forgiveness.
4. Why is possessing a multicultural mindset of relevance today?

5.12 REFERENCES
Chao, M. M. (2018, July 17). Mindset Matters: From Cultural Mindset to
Multicultural Competence. Global Network Perspectives https://globalnetwork.
io/perspectives/2018/07/mindset-matters-cultural-mindset-multicultural-
competence
Datu, J. A. D., Yuen, M., & Chen, G. (2017). Grit and determination: A review
of literature with implications for theory and research. Journal of Psychologists
and Counsellors in Schools, 27(2), 168-176.
Datu, J. A. D. (2021). Beyond Passion and Perseverance: Review and Future
Research Initiatives on the Science of Grit. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 3914.
Davis, D. E., Ho, M. Y., Griffin, B. J., Bell, C., Hook, J. N., VanTongeren, D.
R., DeBlaere, D. R., Worthington, C., & Westbrook, C. J. (2015). Forgiving the
self and physical and mental health correlates: A meta-analytic review. Journal
of Counseling Psychology, 62(2), 329–335. doi:10.1037/cou0000063
Duckworth, A. (2016). Grit: The power of passion and perseverance (Vol.
234). New York, NY: Scribner.
Duckworth, A. L., Peterson, C., Matthews, M. D., & Kelly, D. R. (2007). Grit:
Perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Journal of Personality and Social
94 Psychology, 92(6), 1087–1101.
Dweck, C. S., & Leggett, E. L. (1988). A social-cognitive approach to motivation Character Strengths
and personality. Psychological Review, 95, 256–273. and Virtues:
Intrapersonal
Enright, R.D. (1996). Counseling within the forgiveness triad: On forgiving, Strengths and
Well-being
receiving forgiveness, and self–forgiveness. Counseling & Values, 40(2), 107–
127.
Maddux, W. W., Bivolaru, E., Hafenbrack, A. C., Tadmor, C. T., & Galinsky,
A. D. (2014). Expanding opportunities by opening your mind: Multicultural
engagement predicts job market success through longitudinal increases in
integrative complexity. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 5(5),
608-615.
Neff, K. D. (2003). Self-compassion: An alternative conceptualization
of a healthy attitude toward oneself. Self and identity, 2(2), 85-101. DOI:
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Neff, K. D. (2012). The science of self-compassion. In C. Germer & R. Siegel
(Eds.), Compassion and wisdom in psychotherapy (pp. 79-92). New York:
Guilford Press.
Woodyatt, L., Worthington Jr., E. L., Wenzel M., & Griffin, B. J. (2017).
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Worthington Jr., M. Wenzel & B. J. Griffin (Eds.), Handbook of the psychology
of self-forgiveness, (pp. 3-28).

5.13 SUGGESTED READINGS AND WEB

RESOURCES
Duckworth, A. (2016). Grit: The power of passion and perseverance (Vol.
234). New York, NY: Scribner.
Dweck, C. (2016, January 13). What Having a “Growth Mindset” Actually
Means. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2016/01/what-having-a-
growth-mindset-actually-means
Self-compassion Guided Practices and Exercises. https://self-compassion.org/
category/exercises/#exercises

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