Creating Tomorrow Volume I

"Vanderheiden and Mayer have taken the concept of character strengths into a completely different and novel direction. Scholarship of the highest level."

—Professor Jerome Carson, University of Greater Manchester, UK

“That place that felt empty to me within the context of character strengths, where the evidence-based concepts of positive psychology are brought to bear on larger social issues, is beginning to fill. The two volumes of Creating Tomorrow go a long way towards that goal.”

—Professor Robert E. McGrath, Fairleigh Dickinson University, USA

This book, the first volume of Creating Tomorrow: Character Strengths and Positive Psychology in the Anthropocene, examines how human strengths can support reflection, connection, and responsible action in times of profound ecological and social disruption. Focusing on the virtues of wisdom, knowledge, and courage, it brings together international perspectives that reinterpret the 24 character strengths of positive psychology for the conditions of the Anthropocene. The chapters explore how creativity, curiosity, open-mindedness, love of learning, and perspective help individuals and communities navigate the complexity of today’s global polycrisis. The discussion of courage highlights bravery, perseverance, honesty, and zest as capacities that underpin ethical resilience and constructive engagement with environmental and societal challenges.

Combining conceptual reflection with applied insight, the contributions show how strengths evolve within educational, cultural, and ecological contexts. Character strengths are presented as dynamic, context-sensitive orientations shaping human agency and collective responses to interconnected crises. The volume addresses scholars, educators, and practitioners and offers conceptual clarity, practical relevance, and an interdisciplinary lens on character, virtue, and transformation in the Anthropocene.

Elisabeth Vanderheiden is an adult educator, mediator, and researcher. She serves as CEO of the Global Institute for Transcultural Research and of the NeuroTech Centre for Advanced Research. Her research focuses on shame, conflict, love, and transformative andragogy.

Claude-Hélène Mayer is Professor of Industrial and Organisational Psychology at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. Her research focuses on transcultural mental health, emotions and culture, positive psychology, women leadership, the 4IR and psychobiography.