Toolkit For Storytellers
Character Strengths In Adolescent Programming
Storytellers can help adolescents thrive and grow by authentically promoting character strengths in media. Curiosity , gratitude and humility are important character strengths for adolescent development as they foster self-awareness, positive relationships, and a deeper understanding of the world, contributing to their overall emotional and social growth.
CURIOSITY
GRATITUDE
HUMILITY
See Our Work on Character Strengths
Check out Common Sense Media’s list of movies, TV and books that promote character development
Check out The Choose Kindness Project's guides and resources on bullying prevention, intentional inclusion, and youth mental wellness.
Check out a NYT opinion piece about disconnection in our modern world.
An Ancient Solution to Our Current Crisis of Disconnection*
[*Paywalled link]
Learn
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Humility, gratitude, and curiosity are important character strengths for adolescent development as they foster self-awareness, positive relationships, and a deeper understanding of the world, contributing to their overall emotional and social growth.
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Media plays a crucial role in teaching character strengths like humility, gratitude, and curiosity to adolescents. It helps young viewers become more empathetic, open-minded, and reflective, enabling them to face life's challenges with confidence and respect for others. For storytellers, it's vital to include these character strengths in media because it can assist young viewers in becoming more empathetic and self-aware as they go through the ups and downs of growing up.
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Different life experiences and identities can impact the way people express these character strengths. In our tip sheets, we offer guidance on exploring these character virtues from various perspectives so storytellers can accurately and inclusively portray how these character virtues may differ across identities. When storytellers incorporate authentic and inclusive stories into their content, young audiences can learn about the unique ways they grow and connect with the world, promoting understanding, respect, and fairness among different communities.
Check out UCLA’s Friends of Semel Institute Livestream on How to Talk to Kids about Bullying
Best for Character Development: Our Recs for Families
HEAR FROM OUR EXPERTS
Hear CSS Founder Dr. Yalda T. Uhls discuss the importance of character strengths in storytelling with Janet Yang (President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) and Dr. Dacher Keltner (Founding Director of the Greater Good Science Center).
Hear CSS’s founder, Dr. Yalda T. Uhls, Nancy Kanter, Executive Producer for Kids & Family, Netflix, and Sarina Marzbani, Founder of Read and Write to Unite and YMR Teen, speak about this toolkit in a conversation moderated by CSS Research Director Dr. Alisha Hines.
Hear CSS Founder Dr. Yalda T. Uhls discuss the importance of character strengths in storytelling with Meg LeFauve (Screenwriter, Producer, and Co-host of The Screenwriting Life), Dr. Meg Ranney (Dean of Yale School of Public Health and Professor of Public Health), and Gael Aitor (Creator of Teenager Therapy, Founder of Astro Studios).
Watch our Character Strengths playlist! Storytellers can help adolescents thrive and grow by authentically promoting character strengths in media. Curiosity , gratitude and humility are important character strengths for adolescent development as they foster self-awareness, positive relationships, and a deeper understanding of the world, contributing to their overall emotional and social growth.
Hear CSS Founder Dr. Yalda T. Uhls discuss the importance of character strengths in storytelling with Olly Sholotan (Actor, Singer, and Music Producer) and Dr. Mary Helen Immordino-Yang (Professor at USC Rossier School of Education).
DOWNLOAD THE Tip sheets
Download all 3 Tip Sheets.
CURIOUSITY
GRATITUDE
HUMILITY
Storytellers can help adolescents thrive and grow by authentically promoting character strengths in media.
A 2023 study found that movies incorporating character strengths in stories generated on average $50 million more globally compared to those that did not.
Did you know?
When adolescents see themselves portrayed accurately on screen, it has a positive impact on their mental health.
Did you know?
Having Character Strengths present in the film is positively related to all metrics of box office performance (i.e., opening, domestic, international, worldwide).
Box Office Performance
Without Character Strengths
Box Office Performance
With Character Strengths
What does this mean?
Films containing Character Strengths are not only beneficial to child audiences–they also make more money. Interestingly, these Character Strengths appear to hold value across cultures and countries. Internationally, films with Character Strengths performed far better than those without, an average of $51 million dollars more.
Thank you to the John Templeton Foundation for awarding us a grant in the area of Character Virtue Development. Through their support, we were able to develop this web-based toolkit for storytellers.
Thank you to the following Advisory Council members for helping put together the curiosity, gratitude, and humility tip sheets: Jason Baehr, David Devries, Dr. Laurel Felt, Jill Hotchkiss, Dr. Marie-Louise Mares, Caroline Mehl, Hannah Minghella, and Jill Sanford
Thank you to the following research team for being a part of this project: Jasmine Baten, Mireille Karadanaian, and Marika Zappas