Values and Virtues in the Military. Nadine Eggimann Zanetti

(16) forgiveness and mercy: forgiving those who have done wrong (17) modesty and humility: letting one’s accomplishments speak for themselves (18) prudence: being careful about one’s choices; not saying or doing things that might later be regretted (19) self-regulation [self-control]: regulating what one feels and does Virtue VI. Transcendence: strengths that forge connections to the larger universe and provide meaning (20) appreciation of beauty and excellence [awe, wonder, elevation]: noticing and appreciating beauty, excellence, and/or skilled performance in all domains of life (21) gratitude: being aware of and thankful for the good things that happen (22) hope [optimism, future-mindedness, future orientation]: expecting the best and working to achieve it (23) humor [playfulness]: liking to laugh and joke; bringing smiles to other people (24) spirituality [religiousness, faith, purpose]: having coherent beliefs about the higher purpose

      As illustrated in Tab. 1, virtues I–VI represent the level of (a) six virtues. Within this context, Peterson and Seligman (2004) relied on the six core virtues described by Dahlsgaard, Peterson, and Seligman (2005) which have demonstrated a continuing relevance in literature and across different cultures. Peterson and Seligman (2004) argued that these core characteristics are cross-cultural, widely recognized, and ubiquitous, suggesting the possibility of being universal. It has even been suggested that they are rooted in biology through evolutionary processes. However, since the virtues are understood at a level that is rather abstract and general, the authors did not intend to measure the concept of virtues. They focused on assessing the level of the (b) 24 character strengths [(1) to (24)], which represent the components of good character as measurable individual differences¹⁰. To establish a list of character strengths, Peterson and Seligman (2004) collected entries for “psychological ingredients – processes ←42 | 43→←43 | 44→and mechanisms – that define the virtues” (Peterson & Seligman, 2004, p. 13) and then evaluated them using various methodological methods (e.g., review of literature on good character, brainstorming in core groups of scholars, and analysis of American Boy Scouts and of popular song lyrics). Moreover, a list of several defining criteria of character strengths was used to reduce the initial list of human strengths. For instance, a criteria for a character strength is “fulfilling” (i.e., contributing to individual fulfillment, satisfaction, and happiness broadly) and “measureable” (i.e., having been successfully measured by researchers as an individual) (cf. Park & Peterson, 2007). Additionally, it was hypothesized that strengths are “distinguishable routes to displaying one or another of the virtues” (Peterson & Seligman, 2004, p. 13).

      The lowest level of the VIA classification is defined by the (c) situational themes. These are “specific habits that lead people to manifest given character strengths in given situations” (Peterson & Seligman, 2004, p. 14). For instance, zest might be shown in a different way at work, within the family, or in a group of peers. Zest at work may manifest in broad engagement and interest in the topics relevant at work, but zest within a peer group can be displayed differently, such as organizing special events and meetings to be together. However, there are fewer research studies on situational themes than on character strengths.

      Ruch and Proyer (2015) empirically verified the structural model of the VIA classification by including expert judgments. Participants were instructed to rate each strength to the extent of how prototypically it corresponds with a virtue. Results within this study supported the structure suggested by Peterson and Seligman (2004). Furthermore, they also showed that the assignment of the strengths to virtues was confirmed, as theoretically proposed by Peterson and Seligman (2004), with humor as the only strength that better fits to the virtues of humanity or wisdom than to the virtue of transcendence.

      From the viewpoint of this research, the importance of the VIA classification is twofold: First, it provides a well-established framework to classify and systematically assess universally valued positive characteristics. Virtues are seen as ←44 | 45→moral character traits (De Raad & Van Oudenhoven, 2011) and good character is a function of the six virtues and 24 character strengths. Accordingly, virtues are measured on the level of character strengths. Second, the hierarchical organization in different categories suggests which character strengths are similar and which are not. This provides the framework from which an individual profile of character strengths can be generated, and the components of good character can be assessed.

2.2.2 The VIA-IS

      To measure the 24 character strengths, several instruments have been created. The established instrument for measuring character strengths is the VIA-IS (Peterson et al., 2005)¹¹. It is a self-report questionnaire (10 items per strength) with 240 items using a 5-point Likert-scale (from 1 = very much unlike me through 5 = very much like me). The mean of the 10 items of each scale calculates the scale score. Validation was based on the data of over 150,000 adults: Peterson and Seligman (2004) reported substantial Cronbach alphas of all scales (α > .70) and satisfactory test-retest correlations for all scales over a 4-month period (> .70). Some small relations to demographics were found. For example, women had higher scores in the strengths of humanity than men, younger adults scored higher in humor than older ones, and married participants rated themselves higher on forgiveness than divorced ones.

      The original version of the VIA-IS is in the English language and was developed in several steps (Peterson & Seligman, 2004). Ruch et al. (2010) adapted the VIA-IS into German. As reported in this study, internal consistencies of the German version ranged from .71 (integrity) to .90 (spirituality), with a median of .77. Retest reliabilities were equivalent to the internal consistencies. Relationships of the German VIA-IS with demographics were modest but meaningful, and comparable to the ones found for the original VIA-IS. It is this German version of the VIA-IS by Ruch et al. (2010), which was applied in the Study II of this thesis.

2.3 Towards a positive military psychology

      Matthews (2008) is acknowledged as the initiator for anchoring the connection of the military with positive psychology in a first publication. He summarized ←45 | 46→the military studies on positive psychology so far, and thus introduced the concepts of positive psychology into the military organization. This had come at a time when military psychologists were faced with the increasing consequences and human challenges of the US military’s lengthy combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq with a large number of soldiers¹² and veterans suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It also had become difficult to select and prepare new soldiers for combat exposure and its psychological risks. Thus, the time had come for a paradigm shift in military psychology, adopting new ways of practice and research. According to Matthews (2008), positive military psychology is not considered to replace traditional models and methods that military psychologists apply in practice and research. Rather, positive psychological concepts and methods are proposed as a supplement to the military psychologist’s toolbox. More precisely, it is argued that the military is a perfect “home” for concepts of positive psychology such as character strengths, values, and virtues (Matthews, 2008). A military environment is composed of relatively young, healthy, and pathology-free individuals (cf. Booth et al., 2007). Moreover, Matthews (2009)