P. Alex Linley & Susan Harrington

As unlikely as it might seem, strengths have been a much neglected topic in psychology until relatively recently. In this article, we provide an historical context for the study of psychological strengths before going on to consider three approaches to understanding strengths. We locate a psychological understanding of strengths in the context of an assumption about human nature that is characterised by a constructive developmental tendency within people, showing how this assumption is consistent with theory and research about psychological strengths, and how it is consistent with the theoretical approach of coaching psychology. We then begin to examine what strengths coaching might look like in practice, together with considering some caveats and future research directions for the strengths coaching approach.

Keywords: strengths, fundamental assumptions, positive psychology.

Full article: Volume 1, Issue 1 pages 37 - 46