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Positive Personality Traits and Positive Human Functioning

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Positive Psychology in the Clinical Domains

Abstract

This chapter offers a brief overview of various personality traits and models that were found to be linked with happiness and positive functioning. Among these, Cloninger’s psychobiological model and Peterson and Seligman’s character’s strengths model are described, underlying their specificities, as well as their commonalities. A particular emphasis is given to the importance of evaluating and considering positive personality traits together with personality disorders (and their mutual relationships) in the clinical practice. Individuals may present different combinations of strengths and vulnerabilities, and a balanced expressions of positive traits could be considered a manifestation of positive human functioning.

“Consider your origin. You were not formed to live like brutes,

but to follow virtue and knowledge.”

Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Chiara Ruini

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  1. Chiara Ruini
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Ruini, C. (2017). Positive Personality Traits and Positive Human Functioning. In: Positive Psychology in the Clinical Domains. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52112-1_3

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