Positive psychology

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Positive psychology is a branch of psychology that focusses on improving the mental functioning of human beings above that of normal mental health. People have been discussing the question of human happiness since at least Ancient Greece.^[1]

Psychology has been criticized (Seligman 1990) as primarily dedicated to addressing mental illness rather than mental "wellness". Several humanistic psychologists—such as Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, and Erich Fromm—developed successful theories and practices that involved human happiness despite there being a lack of solid empirical evidence behind their work^{[citation needed]}.

Current empirical researchers in this subfield include Donald Clifton, Albert Bandura, Martin Seligman, Ed Diener, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, C.R. Snyder, Christopher Peterson, Shelley Taylor, Barbara Fredrickson, Charles S. Carver, Michael F. Scheier.^{[citation needed]}

Contents 1 Research 1.1 General overview 1.2 The undo effect 1.3 Broaden-and-build 2 Application 3 See also 4 Notes 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Research

[edit] General overview

Some researchers^{[citation needed]} in this field posit that positive psychology can be delineated into three overlapping areas of research:

1. Research into the Pleasant Life or the "life of enjoyment" examines how people optimally experience, forecast, and savor the positive feelings and emotions that are part of normal and healthy living (e.g. relationships, hobbies, interests, entertainment, etc.).
2. The study of the Good Life or the "life of engagement" investigates the beneficial affects of immersion, absorption, and flow that individuals feel when optimally engaged with their primary activities. These states are experienced when there is a positive match between a person's strength and the task they are doing, i.e. when they feel confident that they can accomplish the tasks they face.
3. Inquiry into the Meaningful Life or "life of affiliation" questions how individuals derive a positive sense of well-being, belonging, meaning, and purpose from being part of and contributing back to something larger and more permanent than themselves (e.g. nature, social groups, organizations, movements, traditions, belief systems).

[edit] The undo effect

Main article: Undo effect

When people experience stress, they show increased heart rate, higher blood sugar, immune suppression, and other adaptations optimized for immediate action. If individuals do not regulate these changes once the stress is past, they can lead to illness, CHD, and heightened mortality. Both lab research and survey research indicate that positive emotions help people who were previously under stress relax back to their physiological baseline.^[2]

[edit] Broaden-and-build

Main article: Broaden-and-build

Studies from Barbara Fredrickson's lab have randomly assigned participants to watch films that induce positive emotions such as amusement and contentment, negative emotions such as fear and sadness, or no emotions. Compared to people in the other conditions, participants who experience positive emotions show heightened levels of creativity, inventiveness, and "big picture" perceptual focus. Longitudinal studies show that positive emotions play a role in the development of long-term resource such as psychological resilience and flourishing.^[3]

[edit] Application

The development of the Character Strengths and Virtues (CSV) handbook represents the first attempt on the part of the research community to identify and classify the positive psychological traits of human beings. Much like the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) of general psychology, the CSV provides a theoretical framework to assist in developing practical applications for positive psychology. This manual identifies six classes of virtue (i.e. "core virtues"), made up of twenty-four measurable character strengths.^[4]

The organization of these virtues and strengths is as follows:

1. Wisdom and Knowledge: creativity, curiosity, open-mindedness, love of learning, perspective
2. Courage: bravery, persistence, integrity, vitality
3. Humanity: love, kindness, social intelligence
4. Justice: citizenship, fairness, leadership
5. Temperance: forgiveness and mercy, humility and modesty, prudence, self-regulation
6. Transcendence: appreciation of beauty and excellence, gratitude, hope, humor, spirituality

Practical applications of positive psychology include helping individuals and organizations correctly identify their strengths and use them to increase and sustain their respective levels of well-being. Therapists, counselors, coaches, and various other psychological professionals can use the new methods and techniques to build and broaden the lives of individuals who are not necessarily suffering from mental illness or disorder.

[edit] See also

• Affective forecasting
• Eudaimonia
• Humanistic psychology
• Positivity effect
• Psychological resilience
• Needs & Motives Henry Murray

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Positive Psychology Center, University of Pennsylvania: FAQ
2. ^ Fredrickson, B. L., Mancuso, R. A., Branigan, C., & Tugade, M. M. (2000). The undoing effect of positive emotions. Motivation and Emotion. 24, 237-258.
3. ^ Fredrickson, B. L. (2003). The value of positive emotions. American Scientist, 91, 330-335.
4. ^ There is a suggestion in the introductory portion of the CSV that these six virtues are so consistently identifiable across cultures and throughout history that they may, in theory, be universal in nature. Notwithstanding numerous cautions and caveats, this suggestion of universality hints that in addition to trying to broaden the scope of psychological research to include mental wellness, the leaders of the positive psychology movement are challenging moral relativism and suggesting that virtue has both a biological and a cultural basis.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] References

• Argyle, Michael (2001). The Psychology of Happiness. Routledge.
• Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (1990). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. HarperCollins Publishers.
• Gilbert, Daniel (2006). Stumbling on Happiness. Knopf.
• Haidt, Jonathan (2005). The Happiness Hypothesis. Basic Books.
• Kahneman, Daniel, Diener, Ed, Schwarz, Norbert (2003). Well-Being: The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology. Russell Sage Foundation Publications.
• McMahon, Darrin M. (2006). Happiness: A History. Atlantic Monthly Press.
• Peterson, Christopher and Seligman, Martin (2004). Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification. Oxford University Press.
• Seligman, Martin (1990). Learned Optimism: How to change your mind and your life. Free Press.
• Seligman, Martin (2002). Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment. Free Press.
• Snyder, C.R., and Lopez, Shane J. (2001) Handbook of Positive Psychology. Oxford University Press.
• Deurzen, E. van (2007) Psychotherapy and the Quest for Happiness, London: Sage Publications.

[edit] External links

Resources:

• Positive Psychology Center - University of Pennsylvania-based center of study for Positive Psychology
• Authentic Happiness - Source of free self-assessment questionnaires
• European Network for Positive Psychology
• Positive Psychology News Daily - Daily news about Positive Psychology research and applications
• Master of Applied Positive Psychology Program - University of Pennsylvania
• Information on Positive Psychology and the "People are Proficient Movement"
• pursuit-of-happiness.org - Integrating Positive Psychology and human well-being into school curricula

Articles, Videos, Audio:

• Time Magazine's cover story in the special issue on "The Science of Happiness," 2005
• Positive Psychology Lectures at Harvard - taught by Tal Ben-Shahar
• Debating Human Happiness - a conversation between Martin Seligman, Robert Wright, and Steven Pinker
• On Point - Hour-long discussion about positive psychology and college courses that teach it
• Some Dark Thoughts On Happiness - investigating Positive Psychology's supporters and antagonists
• Pursuing Happiness - New Yorker book review (2006) that critically discusses the psychological study of happiness