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and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive.” People have been
discussing the question of human happiness since at least Ancient Greece.
Martin Seligman, who is considered as "the father of positive psychology" has pointed
out how psychology has been primarily dedicated to addressing mental illness rather than
mental "wellness" (Seligman, 2002). Several humanistic psychologists—such as
Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, and Erich Fromm—developed successful theories and
practices that involved human happiness, despite a lack of solid empirical evidence at the
time behind their work, and especially that of their successors, who chose to emphasize
phenomenology and individual case histories. Positive psychology refers to cultivation of
a more appreciative view of human nature. It advises psychologists to scientifically study
the positive qualities, motives and capacities of human beings. It came into being as a
protest against the predominant negative bias of traditional psychology.
General overview
Some researchers (Seligman, 2002) in this field posit that positive psychology can be
delineated into three overlapping areas of research:
•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.).
•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.
•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).
2 One can point to inspiring work such as the jigsaw classroom of Aronson, Blaney,
Stephan, Sikes, and Snapp (1978), which brought out the best in students, but such cases
are few and far between.
Western Perspective on Positive Psychology:
Hope has been a powerful underlying force in Western civilization. Although
hope has remarkable and pervasive power, we are often unaware of its presence. Perhaps
this is because hope is embedded in many related ideas. The story pf Pandora box
revealed the Greek’s attitude towards hope. The presence of hope in religion (of Western
civilization) is illustrated in bible at many places, e.g.
" ...... there was hope that creation itself would one day be set free from its slavery to
decay and would share the glorious freedom of the children of God: (Romans 8:18,
20,21)
During the Pre Renaissance and Renaissance period people began to view themselves as
individuals rather than as representatives of a class and interest emerged in the merits of
personal achievement led to focus on doing things related to life and unlike Medieval
people, who searched their soul, Renaissance citizens looked outward and forward to
achieve here and now goals that were based on their abilities and personal interests.
Industrial revolution made the hope of the Renaissance possible for most people through
development and easy living.
in China two and half thousand years ago one man, Kong Qui, and his followers,
synthesized the traditions of the Chinese people to create what they believed were
the fundamental principles of humanity. Of course what Westerners now call
Confucianism has changed over the years, just like the other major philosophies that
have flourished in the East: Buddhism and Taoism. But to have survived this long,
these systems of thought must have at their cores a useful set of principles that help
people live the 'good life'.
The concept of a good life has existed within the eastern tradition for many
centuries. Contrary to the western cultures idea of optimal functioning as occurring
intrapsychically, eastern cultures hold that an optimal life experience is a spiritual
journey involving transcendence and enlightenment. It parallels the westerner’s
hopeful pursue for a better life on earth.
Buddhism: Seeking the good of others is woven throughout the teachings of “The
master” or “The Enlighten one” “that is the Buddha. Like the other eastern
philosophies Buddhism gives an important place to virtue, which is described in
several catalogues of personal qualities.
Martin Seligman and Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi wrote that positive psychology is the
study of positive subjective experiences, positive traits, and positive institutions. Peterson
writes, “Positive psychology is the scientific study of what goes right in life, from birth to
death and at all stops in between.”
INDIVIDUALS:
What is the purpose of positive emotions such as joy, awe, happiness? (Fredrickson,
Haidt, Isen)
What are the inherent positive strengths of people? (Peterson, Park, Seligman)
King)
WORK:
How can people do what they most enjoy and do best at work? (Clifton, Rath)
Nakamura)
The study of Positive Psychology is just beginning, and so the topics and main areas of
focus can certainly change in a large way and very quickly.
Subjective Well-being:
Subjective wellbeing involves the subjective evaluation of ones current status in the
world. Diener (2002) defines subjective well being as a combination of positive affect (in
the absence of negative affect) and general life satisfaction (i.e. subjective appreciation of
life’s rewards).
Self-efficacy:
Self efficacy is a learned human pattern of thinking. It begins in infancy and continues
throughout the life span. It is based on the premises of social cognitive theory which
holds that humans actively shape their lives rather than passively reacting to
environmental factors.
Learned Optimism:
Abramson, Seligman and Teasdale (1978) define learned optimism as the adaptive causal
attributions to explain negative experiences or events. The optimist makes external
variable and specific attributions for failure like events rather than internal stable and
global attributions of the pessimist. Seligman places great emphasis upon negative
outcomes in determining one’s attributional explanations.
Hope:
Snyder defines hope as goal directed thinking in which the person utilizes path ways
thinking (the perceived capacity to find routes to desired goals) and agency thinking (the
requisite motivations to use other routes). Pathways thinking have been shown to relate to
the production of alternate routes when original ones are blocked for example positive
self talk. High hopers have positive emotional sets and a sense of zest that stems from
their histories of success in goal pursues, where a low hopers have negative emotional
sets and a sense of emotional flatness that stems from their histories of having failed in
goal pursues.
Wisdom and courage both exemplify human excellence; they involve challenge they
require sound decision making, and they typically contribute to the common good.
According to some theorists wisdom and intelligence are similar. Intelligence provides
the basic knowledge for accomplishing daily life supporting tasks for oneself and others,
whereas wisdom includes know how judgment and flexibility to resolve major life
problems for the common good.
Courage is a core human virtue comprised of such strengths as valor (taking physical,
intellectual and emotional stances in the face of danger), authenticity (representing one’s
self to others and the self in a sincere fashion), enthusiasm/zest (thriving/ having a sense
of vitality in a challenging situation), and industry/perseverance (undertaking tasks and
challenges and finishing them) (Peterson & Seligman, 2004).
Mindfulness:
When people are engaged in challenging but controllable tasks that are intrinsically
motivating they experience a unique psychological state referred to as flow. For flow
experiences to occur we must have a good chance of completing these tasks. There must
be clear goals and immediate feedbacks. These tasks require total concentration so we
become deeply and effortlessly involved in them so much so that we no longer think of
worries and frustrations of everyday life. Our sense of sense disappears when involved in
these tasks and paradoxically the sense of self emerges as strengthened after the task is
completed. Time perception is altered during flow experiences. Flow experiences may
occur during reading, sports, involvement in creative arts and music or involvement in
certain types of works.
Prosocial behavior:
• Empathy
• Egotism
• Altruism
• Gratitude
• Forgiveness
Egotism: Egotism is the motive to pursue some sort of personal gain or benefit through
targeted behavior.
Forgiveness: Forgiveness is a freeing from a negative attachment to the source that has
transgressed against a person. Forgiveness reflects increases in pro-social motivation
towards another person.
We see people from all walks of life, which talks about feelings of loneliness, a sense of
alienation, stem from relationships that have soured. When our basic needs of love,
belongingness and perfection are not met, we feel lonely and worthless. Attachment, love
and flourishing relationships are stressed by positive psychology. Attachment and love
are necessary components of flourishing relationships but they are not sufficient for
maintenance of such relationships. It must be accompanied by what we refer to as
purposeful positive relationship behaviors.
Attachment is a process that probably starts during the first moment of an infant’s life. It
is the emotional link that forms between a child and a caregiver, and it physically binds
people together over time. Maladaptive parental behaviors (chaotic unplanned attempts to
meet a child’s needs) inconsistency in responses to children and insecure attachment
system leads to frustration and anxiety that hurdle flourishing relationships and positive
love.
In the field of close relationships, many studies have examined how couples respond to
each other’s misfortune (e.g., social support) or bad relation-ship behavior (e.g., criticisms
and infidelities), but little is known about how couples respond to each other’s triumphs
(e.g., savoring positive events) or good relationship behavior (e.g., compliments and
displays of affection; see Reis & Gable, 2003). And there are volumes of work examining
how couples and families resolve conflict but very few studies examining them having
fun and laughing together. In the area of morality, there are thousands of published studies
on the negative moral emotions.
Positive psychology is the scientific study of positive experiences and positive individual
traits, and the institutions that facilitate their development. A field concerned with well
being and optimal functioning, positive psychology aims to broaden the focus of clinical
psychology beyond suffering and its direct alleviation. The proposed conceptual
framework parses happiness into three domains: pleasure, engagement, and meaning. For
each of these constructs, there are now valid and practical assessment tools appropriate
for the clinical setting. Additionally, mounting evidence demonstrates the efficacy and
effectiveness of positive interventions aimed at cultivating pleasure, engagement, and
meaning. We contend that positive interventions are justifiable in their own right. Positive
interventions may also usefully supplement direct attempts to prevent and treat
psychopathology and, indeed, may covertly be a central component of good
The VIA Signature Strength Survey is a 240 question survey that has been taken by
hundreds of thousands of people. The VIA Signature Strengths Survey measures 24
character strengths that are taken from Character Strengths and Virtues: The 24 character
strengths are listed below. The results page will show you your 5 greatest character
strengths.
Love of learning: Mastering new skills, topics, and bodies of knowledge, whether on
one’s own or formally.
Perspective (wisdom): Being able to provide wise counsel to others; having ways of
looking at the world that make sense to oneself and to other people
Bravery (valor): Not shrinking from threat, challenge, difficulty, or pain; acting on
convictions even if unpopular.
Vitality (zest, enthusiasm, vigor, energy): Approaching life with excitement and energy;
feeling alive and activated
Love: Valuing close relations with others, in particular those in which sharing and caring
are reciprocated.
Fairness: Treating all people the same according to notions of fairness and justice; not
letting personal feelings bias decisions about others.
Leadership: Encouraging a group of which one is a member to get things done and at the
same maintain time good relations within the group.
Forgiveness and mercy: Forgiving those who have done wrong; accepting the
shortcomings of others; giving people a second chance; not being vengeful
Humility / Modesty: Letting one’s accomplishments speak for themselves; not regarding
oneself as more special than one is.
Prudence: Being careful about one’s choices; not taking undue risks; not saying or doing
things that might later be regretted.
Self-regulation (self-control): Regulating what one feels and does; being disciplined;
controlling one’s appetites and emotions.
Gratitude: Being aware of and thankful of the good things that happen; taking time to
express thanks.
Humor (playfulness): Liking to laugh and tease; bringing smiles to other people; seeing
the light side.
Spirituality (religiousness, faith, purpose): Having coherent beliefs about the higher
purpose, the meaning of life, and the meaning of the universe.
All these are used for identifying and measuring the primary strengths of a person.
Participants [N = 462; 290 {63 percent women}] were sixty five years of age and older
[M = 79.4, SD = 6.53] with a mean of 14.3 of education {SD= .32}. 53{11 percent} were
single, 137{30 percent} were widowed. 158{34percent} lived alone and 73 {16percent}
were employed. Participants were recruited from private hospitals. NEO five factor
inventory {NEO-FFI}, NEO personality Inventory and Structured Clinical Interview {for
suicidal ideation} was used. Kanofsky Performance Status Scale for functional status and
Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression were used. Results revealed significant positive
correlations between suicide ideation and depression severity, trait negative affect and
functional status and burden of illness {that was covariate with main factors}. Suicide
ideation was also inversely associated with positive affect. High levels of trait positive
affect reduce the odds of suicide ideation {odds ratio = .78, 95percent confidence of
interval= .66_.94, p< .01, B=-025, SE=.09} but trait sociability and trait activity did not.
It was also noticed that effects of trait positive effect became pronounced with increasing
age {odds ratio=0.54, 95 percent, confidence interval = .28-1.05, p= .07, B=.61, SE=.33}
Malik & rehman (2003) explored the effect of occupational role stress on the
psychological well being and work motivation of medical professionals and associated
variables like impact of nature, private public and structure of the organization and
demographic variables like age.
Convenient purposive sampling was used to collect 100 medical professionals,
(performing multiple occupational roles) from private and government hospitals, age
group 30_64.
Occupational Role Stress Scale (ORSS), Psychological Well Being Scale (CPI)
and Work Preference Inventory (WPI) were used to collect data.
The scores of well being were found to be significantly negatively correlated with
Extrinsic motivation(r= -.26, p<.01) indicating those professionals who believed in
outward rewards and compensation appear to be low in their general psychological well
being. Where as no significance between psychological well being and intrinsic
motivation was found.
The scores of ORSS were negatively correlated with both extrinsic and intrinsic
motivation. Further public and private sector medical professionals were not much
different in their perception of occupational role stress and their well being, but they do
differ significantly in work motivation. Findings also suggest that that more experienced
professional have low occupational role stress and high psychological well being.
Findings also indicate that there exist significant difference in the scores of young and old
professionals on ORSS (t=3.4, p<.001) indicating that young professionals have more
perceived ORSS as compared to older professionals.
Practical applications
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 .Positive psychology is about
scientifically informed perspectives on what makes life worth living. It focuses on
aspects of the human condition that lead to happiness, fulfillment, and flourishing
Positive Psychology studies what is right with people and how people live the good life.
we look forward to the future time in the psychology when the positive is as likely as the
negative to be used in assessing the people and helping them to lead more satisfying
existences.
CONCLUSION
positive psychology presently is in the period of expansion, not so much in terms of the
relative percentage of the entire field that it represents but rather in terms of the influence
of these ideas in gaining the attention of the psychology community in particular and
society in general. In a relatively short time positive psychology has gotten off to a good
start in gaining attention both inside and outside of psychology. Media attention to the
positive runs counter to the old maxim ‘bad news sells newspaper’. Positive psychology
offers a free good antidote to the trails of tragedy left by acts of nature and human hands.
Positive psychology is a worldwide spread phenomenon now in a recent survey of major
edited volumes on positive, the percentage of scholars outside the United States has
varied from a low of 7% to a high of 37%. Nearly hundred universities and colleges have
instituted undergraduate and graduate courses that introduce students to principles of
positive psychology. A chief task of positive psychology in the coming decades will be to
integrate or research and insights with the mainstreams of science more generally. And it
will further cultivate the mutual exchange of knowledge between scholars in different
parts of the world.
We want to take our science, knowledge and arts about positive psychology, states,
feelings and experiences to the next level-- to scientifically explore, elucidate, codify, and
create a unified, interwoven, integrated paradigm which collects together existing models
so as to evolve a useful, practical Positive Science which spawns a collection of tools,
technologies and techniques for optimizing human and social functioning, performance,
health and happiness.
In a world where there are hundreds of thousands of studies and meetings on what is
negative, on what to move away from and eliminate experts on what's wrong-- we need a
positive vision-- somewhere and something to move towards. We need to create a science
of things positive-- of Positivity.
This site's goal is to get similar minded people connecting, talking, sharing ideas and
energies about what works, about the Positive Sciences fields-- from psychology and
psychoneuroimunology to anthropology, neurobiology, physiology, education,
technology, the arts, entertainment, sociology, medicine, spirituality. We need to do with
the positive arts and sciences what has been done with computers; software and new
technologies-- create commercial incubators for companies which make a viable business
of compassion, caring, happiness, fun, etc.
How far can we go with positive approaches? Can we heal anger, depression, anxiety,
fear, etc by solely teaching positive behaviors, responses, actions, strategies? Or can we
boost the strength of interventions based on treating pathology by adding positive
approaches? We know so little about how far positive efforts alone can go. This is worth
exploring