Positive psychology is a relatively young branch of psychology that "studies the strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive."^[1] People have been discussing the question of human happiness since at least Ancient Greece.^[2] Psychology (from Greek: ψυχή, psukhÄ“, spirit, soul; and λόγος, logos, knowledge) is an academic / applied discipline involving the scientific study of mental processes and behavior of humans and animals. ... Virtue (Greek αρετη; Latin virtus) is the habitual, well-established, readiness or diposition of mans powers directing them to some goodness of act. ... The Temple to Athena, the Parthenon Ancient Greece is a period in Greek history that lasted for around three thousand years. ...

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]}. A mental illness or mental disorder refers to one of many mental health conditions characterized by distress, impaired cognitive functioning, atypical behavior, emotional dysregulation, and/or maladaptive behavior. ... Humanistic psychology is a school of psychology that emerged in the 1950s in reaction to both behaviorism and psychoanalysis. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Carl Ransom Rogers (January 8, 1902 – February 4, 1987) was an influential American psychologist, who, along with Abraham Maslow, was the founder of the humanist approach to psychology. ... Erich Fromm Erich Pinchas Fromm (March 23, 1900 – March 18, 1980) was an internationally renowned Jewish-German-American social psychologist, psychoanalyst, and humanistic philosopher. ...

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, and Jonathan Haidt.^{[citation needed]} Empirical research is any activity that uses direct or indirect observation as its test of reality. ... Albert Bandura (born December 4, 1925 in Mundare, Canada) is a Ukrainian-Canadian psychologist most famous for his work on social learning theory (or Social Cognitivism) and self efficacy. ... Martin E.P. Seligman (Albany, New York, 12 August 1942) is an American psychologist and writer. ... Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a Psychology professor, formerly head of the department at the University of Chicago, is noted for his work in the study of happiness, creativity, subjective well-being, and fun, but is best known for his having been the architect of the notion of flow and for his years... Barbara L. Fredrickson is a prominent researcher in emotions and social psychology and one of the leaders in positive psychology. ...

Research

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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).

Affective forecasting is the forecasting of ones affect (emotional state) in the future. ... Flow is the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing, characterized by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. ... Biophilia is the love (philia) of Nature (bio). ...

The 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, Coronary Heart Disease, 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.^[3] In medical terms, stress is the disruption of homeostasis through physical or psychological stimuli. ... Heart rate is a term used to describe the frequency of the cardiac cycle. ... In medicine, blood sugar is a term used to refer to levels of glucose in the blood. ... Immunosuppression is the medical suppression of the immune system. ...

Broaden-and-build

Main article: Broaden-and-build

Studies from Babara 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.^[4] The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions suggests that positive emotions function to take our minds off of immediate needs and stressors, and encourage novel, varied, and exploratory thoughts and actions. ... Longitudinal studies form a class of research methods that involve observations of the same items over a longer time. ... For the band see Resilience (band) Resilience generally means the ability to recover from (or to resist being affected by) some shock, insult, or disturbance. ...

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.^[5] To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual published by the American Psychiatric Association The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is a handbook for mental health professionals that lists different categories of mental disorder and the criteria for diagnosing them, according to the publishing organization the American Psychiatric Association. ...

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.

Quotes

“A systematic study of 22 people who won major lotteries found that they reverted to their baseline level of happiness over time, winding up no happier than 22 matched controls” (p48 Authentic Happiness Martin Seligman)

“Within a few years, [paraplegics] wind up only slightly less happy on average than individuals who are not paralyzed” (p48 ibid)

“[83 percent] of Americans report positive life satisfaction” (p50 ibid)

“In wealthier nations … increases in wealth have negligible effects on personal happiness” (p54 ibid)

“Unlike money, which has at most a small effect, marriage is robustly related to happiness” (p55 ibid)

See also

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

Affective forecasting is the forecasting of ones affect (emotional state) in the future. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Humanistic psychology is a school of psychology that emerged in the 1950s in reaction to both behaviorism and psychoanalysis. ... In psychology and cognitive science, the positivity effect is the tendency of people, when evaluating the causes of the behaviors of a person they like, to attribute positive behaviors to the persons inherent disposition and negative behaviors to situations surrounding the behaviors. ... Resilience is a commonly used concept in psychology (such as in child development, adolescent development, psychopathology, and positive psychology) to describe the positive capacity of people to cope with stress and catastrophe. ... Henry Murray - American psychiatrist. ...

Notes

1. ^ http://www.ppc.sas.upenn.edu/ Psychology Center, University of Pennsylvania
2. ^ Positive Psychology Center, University of Pennsylvania: FAQ
3. ^ Fredrickson, B. L., Mancuso, R. A., Branigan, C., & Tugade, M. M. (2000). The undoing effect of positive emotions. Motivation and Emotion. 24, 237-258.
4. ^ Fredrickson, B. L. (2003). The value of positive emotions. American Scientist, 91, 330-335.
5. ^ 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]}

In philosophy, moral relativism is the position that moral or ethical propositions do not reflect objective and/or universal moral truths, but instead make claims relative to social, cultural, historical or personal circumstances. ...

References

• Argyle, Michael (2001). The Psychology of Happiness. Routledge.
• Benard, Bonnie (2004) Resiliency: What We Have Learned San Francisco, WestEd
• 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.

Professor Michael Argyle (August 11, 1925, Nottingham – September 6, 2002) was one of the best known English social psychologists of the twentieth century. ... Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a Psychology professor, formerly head of the department at the University of Chicago, is noted for his work in the study of happiness, creativity, subjective well-being, and fun, but is best known for his having been the architect of the notion of flow and for his years... Daniel Gilbert is the author of Stumbling on Happiness and a Harvard College Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. ... Daniel Kahneman Daniel Kahneman (born March 5, 1934 in Tel Aviv, in the then British Mandate of Palestine, now in Israel), is a key pioneer and theorist of behavioral finance, which integrates economics and cognitive science to explain seemingly irrational risk management behavior in human beings. ... Martin E.P. Seligman (Albany, New York, 12 August 1942) is an American psychologist and writer. ... Martin E.P. Seligman (Albany, New York, 12 August 1942) is an American psychologist and writer. ... Martin E.P. Seligman (Albany, New York, 12 August 1942) is an American psychologist and writer. ...

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
• 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