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A bear of very little brain : positive psychology themes in the stories of Winnie the Pooh

The aim of this study is to discover to what extent and in what way Peterson and Seligman’s (2004) twenty-four character strengths are present in Winnie the Pooh storybooks, and how they are depicted. Character strengths are a well-known theory in positive psychology and the analysis of children’s literature is a respected genre. A qualitative examination of the text was conducted using content and thematic analyses to extract examples of the strengths. The exemplars were coded and recoded before being subjected to a peer and supervisor review. The excerpts indicated that all strengths are depicted in the text, but Pooh is the only character to exhibit them all. A discussion of the findings revealed that no single strength could be deemed more prominent as they are intrinsically interconnected. It is recommended that the findings be reworked into a training manual for guardians to foster character strengths in young children. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:unisa/oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/22055
Date02 1900
CreatorsDohmen, Lizette
ContributorsTerre Blanche, M. J. (Martin J.), Saccaggi, C.
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeDissertation
Format1 online resource (xi, 108 pages) : illustrations

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