Positive Psychology

Ayesha Majeed
COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore Campus
Contents
• Foundations
• Positive Introductions
• History and Background
• Defining and Measuring Happiness
INTRODUCTION
• Although other subareas of psychology were not focused on
human weaknesses, 20th-century applied psychology and
psychiatry typically were. For example, consider the statement
attributed to Sigmund Freud that the goal of psychology should
be "to replace neurotic misery with ordinary unhappiness" (cited
in Simonton & Baumeister, 2005, p.99).
• Thus, the applied psychology of yesteryear was mostly about
mental illness along with understanding and helping the people
who were living such tragedies.
• Positive psychology, on the other hand, offers a
balance to this previous weakness approach by
suggesting that we also must explore people's
strengths along with their weaknesses.
• In advocating this focus on strengths, however, in no
way do we mean to lessen the importance and pain
associated with human suffering.
 • Positive psychological science and practice are
situated fortuitously(By chance, luckily) for the
identification and understanding of human strengths
and virtues as well as for helping people to live
happier and more productive lives.
Positive Psychology is the scientific study of the strengths and virtues that enable
individuals and communities to thrive (moving toward success). The field is founded
on the belief that people want to lead meaningful fulfilling lives, to cultivate
(encourage) what is best within themselves, and to enhance their experiences of love,
work and play.
 Influences to Positive Psychology

• Humanistic Psychology by Abraham Maslow and

Carl Rogers
• The research of Albert Bandura and his research on
Self-efficacy
 Dr. Martin E.P .Seligman

• The father of Positive Psychology

• New York Times Best Selling Book Authentic
Happiness
• Head of the Positive Psychology Center at University
of Pennsylvania
• Former president of the American Psychological
Association
 Dimensions of Positive Psychology

• Although the range of possible interest areas in

positive psychology is large, its dimensions encompass
(enclose) human life in its positive aspects.
• In order to nurture talent and make life more fulfilling,
positive psychology focuses on three general areas of
human experience (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi,
2000) that reflect its perspective.
1. At the subjective level, positive psychology looks at
positive subjective states or positive emotions such as
happiness, joy, satisfaction with life, relaxation, love,
intimacy, and contentment (satisfaction). Positive
subjective states also can include constructive thoughts
about the self and the future, such as optimism and hope, as
well as feelings of energy, vitality (liveliness, energy), and
confidence and the effects of positive emotions such as joy.
2. At the individual level, positive psychology focuses on a
study of positive individual traits, or the more positive
behavioral patterns seen in people over time, such as
manifestations (realization) of courage, honesty, persistence,
and wisdom. It can also include the ability to develop aesthetic
sensibility or tap into creative potentials and the drive to
pursue excellence. That is, positive psychology includes the
study of positive behaviors and traits that in the past were
understood in the language of character strengths and virtues.
3. Last, at the group or societal level, positive psychology
focuses on the development, creation, and maintenance of
positive institutions. In this regard, it addresses issues such as
the development of civic virtues (Civic virtue is the
harvesting of habits important for the success of a society),
the creation of healthy families, and the study of healthy work
environments. Positive psychology may also be involved in
investigations that look at how institutions can work better to
support and nurture all of the citizens they impact.
• Positive psychology, then, is the
scientific study of positive human
functioning and flourishing
(growing) at a number of levels, such
as the biological, personal, relational,
institutional, cultural, and global Psychology is not just the study of
weakness and damage; it is also the
dimensions of life (Seligman & study of strength and virtue.
Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). Treatment is not just fixing what is
broken; it is nurturing what is best
within us. —Martin E. P. Seligman
 Assignment No: 1
What are the basic themes of Positive
Psychology?
 Negative Emotions Are Still Important
• One of the basic theme of positive psychology
• At this point, it should be emphasized that positive
psychologists do not wish to limit the topics of study but
rather to expand these to include aspects of human flourishing.
• Positive psychology does not deny that there are many
problems in the world that demand attention. It is also obvious
that negative emotions can be necessary for survival at times.
• We would be far too vulnerable (at risk, unsafe) if we
completely eliminated anxiety, fear, or skepticism (doubt) from
our lives. The recognition and expression of negative emotions
are also vital to self-understanding and personal growth.
• Positive psychology is not simply “happiology” (Seligman,
2011). In addition, positive psychology also includes
recognition that the tragic elements in life can enrich (improve)
our experience of being human (Woolfolk, 2002).
A SHORT HISTORY OF WELL-
BEING IN THE WESTERN WORLD
• To understand any field, it is important to examine the
history of how ideas in that field developed over time.
• Positive psychology is the latest effort by human
beings to understand the nature of happiness and
well-being.
 1. Hedonism
• Without question, the oldest approach to well-being and
happiness is hedonism.
• It focuses on pleasure as the basic component of the good
life. Hedonism in its basic form is the belief that the pursuit
of well-being is fundamentally the pursuit of individual
sensual pleasures (connected with your physical feelings;
giving pleasure to your physical senses, especially sexual
pleasure) and the avoidance of harm, pain, and suffering.
• Although the single-minded pursuit of pleasure is among the oldest notions
of the good life, this form of hedonism has been seen as self-defeating and
unworkable by most societies throughout history.
• Nearly everyone realizes that sensual pleasures are transient (temporary)
and require a constant struggle to be sustained; when focused on too
exclusively the hedonistic drive produces no lasting benefits to personality
and no personal growth.
• In general, the simple proposition that we behave in order to increase
physiological pleasure and avoid physiological pain is violated frequently
enough that it cannot serve as the ultimate basis for any serious inquiry
into the good life or psychological well-being.
 2. The Early Hebrews
• Among the most influential factors in the development and
proliferation (increase or buildup) of the Western worldview has been
Judaism.
• The ancient Hebrews developed a new social identity by developing a
relationship with their own personal God. For the Hebrews, many of the
rules that governed the relationship to God were expressed as
prohibitions, particularly in the form of the Ten Commandments.
• In general, these are prohibitions against self-centeredness, greed, and
irrational anger, as well as a commandment to accept the God of the
ancient Hebrews as the only true God.
• Philosophically, this approach to the search for happiness has been
called a divine command theory of happiness.
• The idea here is that happiness is found by living in accord (agree)
with the commands or rules set down by a Supreme Being.
• In its most basic form, this theory holds that if one follows the
commands, there will be rewards, and conversely (opposite), if one
doesn’t follow the commands, there will be punishments.
• Therefore, for the Hebrew patriarchs (seniors figure, fathers or
leaders), and later for many Christians, true happiness was related to
a religious piety based on submission to God’s supreme authority
and a rejection of self-centered hedonistic behaviors.
 3. The Greeks
• The core philosophical ideas of the Western world are rooted in
Greek philosophy. It was the golden age of Greece that introduced the
fundamental idea that the good life and the proper path to happiness
could be discerned (detect) through logic and rational analysis.
• That is, neither the gods nor societal traditions were the ultimate
arbitrator (someone chosen to judge) of individual values and goals.
• The general answer to the happiness question was that human beings
could decide for themselves which paths most reliably lead to well-
being.
 (i) Socrates

• Socrates directed reason to ultimate questions of

human knowledge and especially to ideas on what we
need to be truly happy. In his method, Socrates
affirmed the Delphic motto, Know Thyself.
• Socrates taught that true happiness could be achieved
only through self-knowledge and that only this
examination of one’s universal soul was true wisdom.
• One must know the good or the core elements of the good life.
Socrates believed that once the true nature of the good is known, it
will automatically be desired and so will rationally motivate virtuous
behavior.
• However, Socrates distrusted perceptual forms of knowledge. For
him, true wisdom must be found in a reality that expresses timeless
and unchanging truths. Any conclusions based on the sensory
experiences or the emotions cannot reveal that truth because they are
constantly changing in response to ephemeral (temporary)
circumstances.
 (ii) Plato

• Following in Socrates’s footsteps was his most important

student, Plato. Plato also believed that changeable sensory
experience could not be the basis of true wisdom.
• Rather, it must be found in an unchanging realm (circle)
that transcends (better) the sensory world. The search for
wisdom involves a passionate and difficult quest (search)
that looks beneath surface appearances and challenges
preconceived notions.
• The method of this search consists of both reason and
intuition (sixth sense). The person who undertakes this
quest must have courage to find the truth hidden beneath
the world of appearances that we experience through the
senses.
• Plato’s influence can be seen in any search for happiness
or the good life that involves looking beyond sensory
experiences toward a deeper meaning to life.
 (iii) Aristotle
• Unlike his teacher Plato, Aristotle did not favor the intuition
of eternal forms in the search for higher truth and well-being.
• The Aristotelian ideal valued poise (balance), harmony, and
the avoidance of emotional extremes.
• One of Aristotle’s goals was to find the golden mean that
existed between the extremes of life. This was a state of
balance, harmony, and equilibrium, which leads to a life lived
in accordance with the principle of eudaimonia.
 Eudaimonia
• That condition of flourishing (growing) and completeness
that constitutes (shape) true and enduring (long lasting) joy
… eudaimonia is not merely a set of pleasures.
• It is a life lived in a certain way, where life here refers to life-
on-the-whole, not some number of moments strung together.
• The good life, then, is found in the total context of a person’s
life. It is not just a transitory (temporary) emotional state or
even one specific emotion.
• According to Aristotle, happiness consists in achieving,
through the course of a whole lifetime, all the goods,
health, wealth, knowledge, friends, etc. That lead to the
perfection of human nature and to the enrichment
(improvement) of human life.
• This requires us to make choices, some of which may be
very difficult. Often the lesser good promises immediate
pleasure and is more tempting (attractive), while the
greater good is painful and requires some sort of sacrifice.
 Examples
• For example, it may be easier and more enjoyable to spend the
night watching television, but you know that you will be better off
if you spend it researching for your term paper. Developing a good
character requires a strong effort of will to do the right thing, even
in difficult situations.
• Another example is the taking of drugs, which is becoming more
and more of a problem in our society today. This short-term
pleasure will lead to longer term pain. A few hours later you may
feel miserable and so need to take the drug again, which leads to a
never-ending spiral of need and relief.
 Humanistic Psychology

• As mentioned earlier, positive psychology is not the

first attempt by psychologists to focus research on
positive emotions, healthy adaptation, and the
development of human potential.
• Throughout its history, the humanistic school of
psychology has focused on many of the same goals as
positive psychology.
• Abraham Maslow (1954), one of the cofounders of
humanistic psychology, even titled a chapter in his
seminal book Motivation and Personality, “Toward a
Positive Psychology.”
• Even today humanistic psychologists study what is
healthy, adaptive, and creative and address the full
range of human potential.
 Difference

• The differences between humanistic psychology and

positive psychology can be found in the focus of
investigations and the greater emphasis on traditional
empirical research in the latter school.
Empirical research is based on observed and measured phenomena and derives
knowledge from actual experience rather than from theory or belief (The data thus
gathered may be compared against a theory or hypothesis, but the results are still based
on real life experience). Empirical research is research using empirical evidence. It is
also a way of gaining knowledge by means of direct and indirect observation or
experience. 
• Much of the emphasis in humanistic psychology,
particularly early humanistic psychology was on
theories of optimal (ideal) personality development such
as self-actualization.
• Although positive psychology also investigates the
potential for greater psychological development, it has
tended to place greater emphasis on the well-being and
satisfaction of the “average” person on the street.
• Further, in terms of empirical research, positive
psychologists focus more on the benefits of happiness and
positive emotions such as gratitude. Of course, over the
years, many humanistic psychologists have been actively
involved in empirical research.
• Today the differences between positive psychology and
humanistic psychology are diminishing. What differences
remain tend to be about philosophical assumptions rather
than competing approaches to science.
FOUNDATIONS
• Our emotional reactions can range from simple impulsive
reactions (Impulsivity is the tendency to act without
thinking) toward unexpected events, such as the fight-or-
flight reaction, to complex combinations of experiences that
create our feelings of love, devotion, gratitude, and sense of
meaningfulness.
• In addition, emotions can be temporary, or they can extend
over time. In the latter case, we generally refer to them as
moods.
 Components Of Emotion
Biology of Emotions
The “Happy” Brain
• John Davidson of the University of Wisconsin has conducted
significant research to determine which parts of the brain are
involved in positive emotions.
• Specifically, the left prefrontal cortex of the brain is more
activated when we are happy. This area of the brain has also been
associated with greater ability to recover from negative emotions,
as well as enhanced ability to suppress negative emotions.
• In a unique series of studies involving long-term
Buddhist meditators, Davidson found that people can
train themselves to increase activation in this area of
their brains.
• A more recent study of the brain found that happiness
and satisfaction with life are tied to a region of the
brain found a bit farther back from the frontal lobe.
 Neurotransmitters and the Chemicals of
Pleasure
• Empirical evidence indicates that at least some of our
pleasurable responses are caused by the release of certain
chemicals in the brain called neurotransmitters.
• These are the chemical messengers that relay information
between nerve cells. Specifically, increased levels of the
neurotransmitter dopamine have been implicated
(involve) in the feelings of desire and happiness.
Nerve Cell: A type of cell that receives and sends messages from the body to the brain and
back to the body. Also called neuron.
Neurotransmitter, also called chemical transmitter or chemical messenger, any of a
group of chemical agents released by neurons (nerve cells) to stimulate neighboring
neurons or muscle or gland cells, thus allowing impulses to be passed from one cell
 to the next throughout the nervous system.
Dopamine is a type of neurotransmitter and hormone. It plays a role in many
important body functions, including movement, memory and pleasurable reward
and motivation.
 Social and Cultural Influences on Emotions
• How we experience our emotional lives is also influenced by
the social situation we are in at the time.
• Research on emotions supports a social constraints model of
mood regulation, which asserts that people regulate their moods
based on their understanding of the particular social situation.
• In addition, researchers studying the sociology of emotion look
at how social status and class structures, as well as culture, can
influence our sense of self, our identity, and our understanding
of both emotions and emotional expression.
DEFINING AND MEASURING
HAPPINESS
 HAPPINESS
• How happy are most people? In an effort to answer this question,
Professor Ed Diener from Minnesota University aggregated data from
916 surveys of happiness, life satisfaction and subjective well-being
involving over a million people in 45 nations around the world.
• He transformed all the data onto a scale that went from 0 to 10 where
10 indicated extremely happy, 5 was neutral and 0 was very unhappy.
From Figure 1.2 it may be seen that the average happiness rating was
6.75. So he concluded that the average person is moderately happy.
• Very few surveys found neutral mean ratings of 5 or an
unhappy mean ratings of less than 5. These positive reports
of happiness characterize all age groups, both genders and
all races studied.
• Of course certain minority groups were unhappy:
specifically hospitalized alcoholics; newly incarcerated
(jail) prisoners; new therapy clients etc. Also, there are
gender and age differences in the variability of happiness
ratings.
 MEASURING HAPPINESS
• In studies of happiness a variety of techniques have been used
to assess the construct.
• In many of the major national surveys single questions are used
to measure happiness. These questions are framed in different
ways such as ‘How happy are you now?’; ‘How satisfied are
you with your life?’; ‘How do you feel about your life as a
whole?’ Usually respondents are given a number Source:
Adapted from Myers and Diener (1996).of possible answers to
choose from on 5-, 7- or 10-point scales.
• Fordyce (1988) developed a two-item happiness
measure: (1) ‘In general how happy or unhappy do
you feel?’ (with a 10-point response format from
10=feeling ecstatic, joyous, fantastic to 0=utterly
depressed, completely down); (2) ‘On average what
percentage of the time do you feel happy (or unhappy
or neutral)?’ The average score for the first question is
6.9 and the average for the second is 54 per cent.