Assessment Tools

VIA Character Strengths Testing is free at:

• The founder of Positive Psychology’s Authentic Happiness website.  There you’ll find many assessment tools.  In addition to the VIA Character Strengths, you will find  the Satisfaction With Life Scale.  http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/Default.aspx.
• The home page for the VIA Character Strengths.  http://www.viacharacter.org.

Gallup, the research firm, offers a strengths assessment tool called StrengthsFinder 2.0.  This strengths assessment requires the purchase of the book of the same name.  Click here for the Amazon.com link. 

For a broader array of personality, interest and career tests for purchase, go to Personality Desk at http://www.personalitydesk.com.

Financial Knowledge and Planning

ACCION   A leader in microfinance, working throughout the world, headquartered in Boston.  Offers small business loans up to $50,000 and financial literacy education to small business owners in the US. 

WIFE, Women’s Institute for Financial Education, http://www.wife.org.  ; Dedicated to providing financial education for women on their way to financial independence.

WISER, Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement   Dedicated to improving the long-term financial security of all women through education and advocacy.  Provide low and middle income women basic financial information in order to take financial control of their lives and increase awareness of the structural barriers that prevent women’s adequate participation in the nation’s retirement systems.

Grameen America   US microlending from Indonesian banker who won the Nobel Peace Prize.  Up to $2,200 to women only; establish groups of women who meet regularly and discuss their particular business; 99% repayment rate.

Grief

George Bonano, The Other Side of Sadness.  Pioneering bereavement and trauma researcher uncovers a new and more resilient side to grief.

Happiness Experts

Sonja Lyubomirsky, The How of Happiness, A New Approach to Getting The Life You Want

Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project, Why I Spent A Year Trying To Sing In The Morning, CleanMy Closets, Fight Right, Read Artistotle, and Generally Have More Fun

Motivation, Goal-Setting  and Other Current Social Science Topics

Dan Ariely, The Honest Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie To Everyone – Especially Ourselves

Dan Ariely, Predictably Irrational, The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow, The Psychology of Optimal Experience

Barbara Fredrickson, Positivity, Groundbreaking Research Reveals How to Embrace the Hidden Strength of Positive Emotions, Overcome Negativity and Thrive

Malcolm Gladwell, Blink, The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers, The Story of Success

Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point, How Little Things Can Make A Big Difference

Heidi Grant Halvorson,  Nine Things Successful People Do Differently

Heidi Grant Halvorson,  Succeed, How We Can Reach Our Goals

Reid Hoffman, The Start-up of You, Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself and Transform Your Career

Sheena Iyengar, The Art of Choosing

Daniel Kahneman, Thinking Fast and Slow

Marianne LaFrance, Lip Service, Smiles in Life, Death, Trust, Lies, Work, Memory, Sex and Politics

Christopher Peterson, A Primer In Positive Psychology

Dan Pink, Drive, The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

Dan Pink, A Whole New Mind, Why Right Brainers Will Rule The Future

James O. Prochaska,  Changing For Good, A Revolutionary Six-Stage Program For Overcoming Bad Habits and Moving Your Life Positively Forward

Tom Rath, Strengths Finder 2.0

Martin Seligman, Authentic Happiness, Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment

Pain and Illness

Jon Kabat-Zin, Full Catastrophe Living, Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress