Positive Psychology

Positive psychology, which emphasizes both individual and societal well-being, is the scientific
study of what makes life most worthwhile. The goal is to raise the quality of life through the
study of "positive subjective experience, positive individual attributes, and positive institutions.

Level of Positive Psychology:

Positive psychology is frequently described as having three levels:

Subjective level: focuses on sentiments of joy, contentment, and optimism and how these
emotions affect how you feel on a daily basis.

Individual level: a synthesis of feelings at the subjective level and qualities like courage, love,
and forgiveness

Group level: the emphasis is on civic virtues, social responsibilities, nurturance, altruism,
civility, tolerance, work ethics, positive institutions, and other factors that contribute to the
development of citizenship and communities.

Origin of Psychology
1. Ancient Philosopher: Happiness
Happiness: In today's society, it is a term that is taken for granted. But since the beginning of
time, philosophers have been looking into what makes people happy. The goal of life, after all, is
to live "good," not just to survive.
Philosophers ask some key questions about happiness: can people be happy? In such case, do
they want to? Does the potential to be happy and the desire to be happy entail that people should
work to make others happy as well as themselves? They should be pleased if they can, but how
should they go about achieving this goal?
The first thinker to study the nature of happiness in the western world was Democritus, a Greek
philosopher (Kesebir & Diener, 2008). He made the argument that, contrary to what was
previously believed, pleasure is not the consequence of "favorable fate," such as chance or other
outside factors.
A more objective view of happiness was introduced by Socrates, and his student, Plato.
They proposed that the "secure enjoyment of what is excellent and beautiful" was the definition
of happiness (Plato, 1999,). The finest kind of existence, according to Plato, is one in which a
person is either seeking intellectual pleasure or using their intellectual virtues... Aristotle, the
following important figure in the development of the philosophy of happiness, disagreed with
this argument (Waterman, 1993).
The following section of this article will go into great detail about Aristotle's philosophy.
Hellenic history (i.e. ancient Greek times) was largely dominated by the prominent theory of
hedonism (Kesebir & Diener, 2008).
Simply expressed, hedonism is the idea that pleasure is the only intrinsically good thing
(Waterman, 1993). The Cyrenaic conception of happiness was this. It was believed that living a
good life meant pursuing pleasure and meeting one's physical, intellectual, and social demands
(Kashdan, Biswas-Diener & King, 2008).
Hedonic bliss is defined by Kraut (1979) as "the belief that one is acquiring the important things
[along with] certain pleasurable impacts that generally go along with this belief" (Waterman,
1993).
According to Christian philosophers, happiness is in the hands of God. Even though the
Christians believed that earthly happiness was imperfect, they embraced the idea that Heaven
promised eternal happiness (Kesebir & Diener, 2008).

2. Martin Seligman: Positive psychology

Positive psychology is the scientific study of human strengths and virtues. Martin Seligman is
the father of positive psychology. According to Martin Seligman, positive psychology is defined
as: “The study of what constitutes the pleasant life, the engaged life, and the meaningful life.”
In addition to having a methodical theory for why happy people are happy, Martin Seligman is a
pioneer of positive psychology (the word was first used by Abraham Maslow). He also applies
the scientific method to his research. Seligman revealed through the use of extensive
questionnaires that those who had identified and utilized their unique combination of "signature
qualities," such as humanity, temperance, and persistence, were the most contented and
optimistic individuals. The virtue ethics of Confucius, Mencius, and Aristotle are combined with
contemporary psychological theories of motivation in this conception of happiness.
According to Martin Seligman, happiness is divided into three dimensions which are:
Pleasant Life: Pleasant Life is about happiness in a hedonic sense.
Good life: The Good Life is about happiness through engagement.
Meaningful Life: The Meaningful Life is about happiness by achieving virtue.

3. William James: Optimal human functioning

In 1890, William James, “The Father of American Psychology,” published The Principles of
Psychology. William James says that self-worth is based on two elements: Our actual
achievements, and our aspirations. He demonstrated this idea in an equation:
Self-esteem = success/pretensions
Our self-esteem is dictated by how well we’re doing in life (success) divided by how good we
feel about ourselves (pretensions). Good self-esteem is the result of having more success than
pretensions.
According to James, happiness is created as a result of our being active participants in the game
of life. Instead of brooding on the suffering and evils of existence, we are to readjust our
attitudes and act as if life does have an ultimate meaning, even though this can never be proved
by the rational mind. As James writes, “Believe that life is worth living, and your very belief will
help create the fact.”

PERMA:
Dr. Seligman's PERMA™ theory of well-being is an attempt to answer these fundamental
questions. There are five building blocks of PERMA which are:

 Positive Emotion:
This path to well-being is hedonic, or it increases happy emotions.
Within reason, we can cultivate positive emotions about the past, the present, and the future. Exa
mples include cultivating gratitude and forgiveness, savoring physical pleasures, and practicing
mindfulness (e.g., building hope and optimism).

 Engagement:
Engagement is the process by which someone gives all of their abilities, focus, and talents to a
difficult endeavor. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi asserts that this results in an experience known as
"flow" that is so fulfilling that individuals are prepared to partake in it for its own sake as
opposed to what they will gain from it. The action itself is a reward. When one's skills are just
right for a hard activity, in pursuit of a distinct objective, with rapid feedback on progress toward
the goal, flow is experienced. In such an activity, self-awareness vanishes, concentration is
completely consumed in the present, and the perception of time is warped in hindsight, e.g., time
stops.

 Relationships:
They are essential for happiness. Our relationships frequently magnify the positive experiences
that enhance our well-being, such as profound joy, significance, laughing, a sense of belonging,
and pride in success. Relationships with other people can give life meaning and purpose. One of
the finest ways to combat "the downs" of life and a dependable way to feel up is through support
from and connection with people. According to research, showing kindness to others makes one
feel better.

 Meaning:
A sense of meaning and purpose can be derived from belonging to and serving something bigger
than the self. There are various social institutions that enable a sense of meaning, such as
religion, family, science, politics, work organizations, justice, the community, and social causes
(e.g., being green), among others.
  Accomplishment:
People pursue achievement, competence, success, and mastery for their own sake, in a variety of
domains, including the workplace, sports, games, hobbies, etc. People pursue accomplishment
even when it does not necessarily lead to positive emotion, meaning, or relationships.

USES:
Relationships at work:
Relationships are crucial to working attitudes. In particular, organizations need to build secure
connections between managers, individual staff, and teams. As well as celebrating success in
teams, employers could consider team-based activities, such as lunchtime exercise, mindfulness
training, or other activities with well-being benefits. Ensuring that team members understand
their own and each other’s role in a shared goal is essential. Organizational leaders need to be
inclusive, recognizing that everyone from the cleaner to the MD has a role to play regardless of
their job in the company. By including all employees, a sense of belonging is achieved, and
people feel valued.

Play to strengths:
Positive psychology encourages organizations to work with their employees’ strong suits and
create opportunities to build their talents. Strength assessment tests can assist you in working
with staff in this pursuit. Annual appraisals and objective setting are opportunities to build on
strengths to maximize personal and corporate benefit.
Research suggests people enjoy their work more if they can use as many of their capabilities as
possible, including teamwork, judgment, and leadership.
Of course, ignoring weaknesses isn’t good business, and there needs to be a balance between
managing performance, focusing on strengths, and being self-aware. By deliberately putting staff
in more situations to succeed, organizations can reap the benefits and build a more engaged
workforce. This approach can require some flexibility on behalf of employers, as they make the
right balance of strengths in their workforce.

Celebrate success:
Organizations can create processes to recognize and value employee contributions, creating those
essential positive emotions that keep people getting out of bed every morning. For example,
managers should regularly (but genuinely) acknowledge individual staff members and teams for
their excellent work. It could be via email or in team meetings, recognizing how individuals have
made a difference through persistence, collaboration, or creativity. Encouraging staff members to
present their work at conferences or publish a project in a professional journal or company
newsletter are ways of not only celebrating success but also promoting the organization to others
in a positive light.
These practices create positive goodwill at work and encourage people to repeat those successful
strategies in the future. Therefore, after challenging projects, be sure to allow staff to mark the
occasion and reflect on how it overcame hurdles.

Invest in people:
Creating opportunities for learning and accomplishment builds your workplace skill base and
shows employees that the organization values them. Consider ways you can sponsor employees
to grow their skills and ensure that these opportunities are visible. There are various options with
varying levels of financial investment:
Professional development
Mentoring (share expertise ‘up, down, and across the organization to give all staff leadership
experience)
Short-term promotions to cover senior staff on leave.
As well as building loyalty and fulfillment in your workforce, regular opportunities to learn can
help people develop a growth mindset for their career journey. We know this is vital in today’s
workplace, as organizations face rapidly developing technologies and work practices. Learning
and development add new skill sets to a team, so it’s a win-win for both individuals and
businesses.