Considering Personal Strengths: The Effect of Three Different Methods on Mood,Arousal, and Self-Esteem1

One hundred twenty-eight college students were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 strength consideration conditions: (a) open-ended generation of strengths, (b) cued generation of strengths using 7 Divisions of Self (social, cognitive, behavioral, physical, emotional, motivational, spiritual; Dees, Dansereau, Peel, Boatler, & Knight, 1991) as cues, and (c) selection of strengths using the Tower of Strengths Activity (Sia & Czuchry, 1997). After all 3 conditions, students showed an increase in specific aspects of self-esteem and positive mood, and a decrease in global self-esteem. Students’ arousal decreased after both open-ended generation and cued generation, whereas after the selection of strengths, students’ arousal remained the same. Applications of the strength consideration activities are discussed.