Str Identity


What is a Strengths-Focused Identity?

Personal identity is a complex concept, better described as a process.  I will not attempt an in-depth explanation of the process of self-identity in this document because the task is too complex for the available space. For those of you who are interested in a deeper exploration, please read the chapter “Differentiating the I from the ME” (Forster, 2009a) in Reflections in Personal Construct Theory (Butler, 2009).  Click  HERE to access a PDF of this chapter.

The more simplified definition of strengths-focused identity used in this document is: a person’s personal description of self,  using his or her own words for conveying those self-perceived positive qualities .  This definition does not specify that a person’s strengths-focused identity is synonymous with his or her total identity, which would be nearly impossible to describe because of the complexity of personal identities.  Instead, a person’s strengths-focused identity will be limited to the description of self that a person gives when asked to describe self in terms of personal strengths.


If a person’s self-identity were primarily strengths-focused, that person would think of self mostly in terms of the positive qualities that she or he has articulated during a process like the one described in the book: Articulating Strengths Together (AST): An Interactive Process to Enhance Positivity. Information about that book can be accessed by clicking on the link to My Writings, which is the 4th link listed above in the second line of this page.


A more elaborated exploration of the concept of Strengths-Focused-Identity can be accessed by clicking on the Home link listed first on the 2nd line of this page.





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