HISTORICAL CONTEXT MS.

SANA SHAHEEN
HISTORICAL CONTEXT THAT PROMOTES
POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
• In 1900 life expectancy in USA was 45 years; most died suddenly in
infancy, many women died during childbirth, men during their jobs, and
from diseases, like diabetes, tuberculosis, flu. Psychologists did
understand that the real killers are life style choices.
• Issues about quality of life are more important than whether we survive
infancy, childbirth, or a killer disease. A longer life with the last ten years
“frail” may be very useless.
• Medical science transformed life with treatments for mental and physical disorders. In
1947, National Institute for Mental Health in USA was established to deal with
mental health problems— focuses attention on solving problems and on the
negative.
• This was an era of mass migration from rural to urban settings as a result of which
communication and transportation became more advanced, come in urban crowding,
stress, stress-related disorders.
• University of Pennsylvania psychologist Martin Seligman should be singled out for
starting the recent explosion of interest in positive psychology, as well as for having
provided the label positive psychology.
• Abraham Maslow actually coined the term positive psychology when he used it as a
chapter title in his 1954 book, Motivation and Personality.
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Islamic Perspective
• Real Happiness is closeness to ALLAH.
• Among others, the following are valued (Farah,1968):
• Gratitude – (to Allah for His Benevolence)
• Love (of Allah because of His Forgiveness)
• Kindness (specially towards parents
• Justice (emphasizing fraternity and equality of all)
• Courage (acts of bravery)
• Brotherhood
• Sharing, charity and rights of the poor/needy.
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The Greeks
• Aristotle’s (384–322 BCE): Greatest contribution to philosophy is arguably his work on
morality, virtue and what it means to live a good life.
• As he questioned these topics, he concluded that the highest good for all humanity was
indeed eudaimonia (or happiness). Ultimately, his work argued that although pleasure
may arise from engaging with activities that are virtuous, it is not the sole aim of
humanity.
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Utilitarianism
• Utilitarianism, created by Jeremy Bentham and carried on by John Stuart Mill, is a
philosophy that argued that the right act or policy from government is that which will
cause ‘the greatest good for the greatest number of people’, also known as the
‘greatest happiness principle’, or the principle of utility.
• Utilitarianism was the first sector that attempted to measure happiness, creating a tool
composed of seven categories, assessing the quantity of experienced happiness.
Whereas philosophers before had assumed that happiness was not measurable,
utilitarianism argued and attempted to demonstrate that it was indeed possible.
Pawelski and Gupta (2009) proposed that utilitarianism influences some areas of
positive psychology today, such as subjective wellbeing and the pleasurable life.
Ultimately, positive psychology accepts that while pleasure is a component of overall
wellbeing, it is not enough, and the inclusion of eudaimonic pursuits is necessary as
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William James
• A brilliant scholar, William James is best known for his contributions to psychology through his widely
read text, The Principles of Psychology (James, 1890). James originally trained as a medical doctor at
Harvard University, Boston, USA, before becoming interested in religion, mysticism and epistemology
(Pawelski,2009).
• His chapter the ‘ Emotions’, is most relevant for positive psychology to acknowledge. He suggests there
that emotions come after we have physically acted out. For example, ‘common-sense says, we lose our
fortune, are sorry and weep; we meet a bear, are frightened and run, we are insulted by a rival, are angry
and strike. The hypothesis here to be defended says that this order of sequence is incorrect……that we feel
sorry because we cry, angry because we strike, afraid because we tremble….’(James,1890:1065-6)
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• This was one of the first examples, if not the very first example, of writing to connect
emotions and expressions together. His years of intertwining physiology, psychology
and philosophy still have an impact in philosophical issues surrounding the mind, the
body and the brain today.
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Humanistic psychology
• Humanistic psychology emerged in the late 1950s and early 1960s as a backlash to the
predominant psychological theories of psychoanalysis, behaviorism and conditioning. The
humanistic movement introduced and solidified qualitative inquiry as an imperative paradigm
to research human thought, behavior and experience, adding a holistic dimension to
psychology. In a nutshell, humanistic psychology is the psychological perspective that
emphasizes the study of the whole person. Humanistic psychologists believe that:
(1) Individuals’behaviour is primarily determined by their perception of the world around
them and their personal meanings
(2) Individuals are not solely the product of their environment or their genes.
(3) Individuals are internally directed and motivated to fulfil their human potential.
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• The main drive of humanistic psychology was to focus on mental health, specifically positive
attributes such as happiness, contentment, ecstasy, kindness, caring, sharing and generosity.
• Humanists felt that, unlike their behaviorist cousins, humans had choice and responsibility for their
own destiny. This perspective ultimately views life as a process, with all humans beholding an innate
drive for growth and fulfilment of potentials.
• The humanists even went as far as to include spiritual proprieties of the self, the world and
wellbeing; an area that is controversial even in today’s scientific societies. So, even back then,
psychologists were aware of the deficit in research on the positive side of life. Some positive
psychologists have argued that the reason why the humanistic discipline never really took off stems
from the fact that it never developed a respectable empirical basis. This lack of theoretical basis led to
encouraging a narcissistic preoccupation with the self and self-improvement at the expense of
societal welfare.
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Buddhism
Seeking the good of others is woven throughout the teachings of “the Master” or “the Enlightened One”
(i.e., the Buddha). Buddhism added Four Nobel Truths:
1. Life is suffering, essentially painful from birth to death.
2. All suffering is caused by ignorance of the nature of reality and the resultant craving, attachment,
and grasping.
3. Suffering can be ended by overcoming ignorance.
4. The way to relief from suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path (right views, right intention, and right
Speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right-mindedness, and right contemplation).
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• As long as craving exists, in Buddhist ideology, true peace cannot be known, and such
existence without peace is considered suffering. This suffering can be lessened only
upon reaching nirvana, which is the final destination in the Buddhist philosophy.
Accordingly, nirvana is a state in which the self is freed from desire for anything.
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Hinduism
• The most commonly used set of writings in Hinduism discuss two possible paths after
death: that of reincarnation (or returning to Earth to continue to attempt to achieve
necessary enlightenment), or that of no reincarnation (meaning that the highest
knowledge possible was achieved in life). The latter path, no reincarnation, is the more
glorified path and the one that Hindu followers would attempt to attain.
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Value Systems
WELLBEING IN INDIVIDUALIST
CULTURE
• In individualist cultures, the main focus is
the single person, who is held above the
group in terms of importance.
• Competition and personal achievement are
emphasized within these cultures.
• Positive self-concept is highly related to
happiness in individualistic cultures.
WELLBEING IN COLLECTIVIST
CULTURE
• In collectivist cultures, however, the group is
valued above the individual, and cooperation is
valued.
• Closely related to the interdependence that is
prized within collectivist cultures are the concepts
of sharing and duty to the group.
• Welfare of one’s extended family is given prime
importance in Collectivistic cultures.
Orientation to Time :
• Differences also exist between East and West in terms of their orientations to time.
In western cultures such as United states, individuals often look to the future.
Indeed, some of the strengths that are valued most (e.g. hope, optimism) reflect
future-oriented thinking.
• In Eastern cultures, however there is greater focus on and respect for the past. The
past oriented focus is revealed in the ancient Chinese proverb, ‘To know the road
ahead, ask those coming back’. Thus Eastern cultures value strength of ‘looking
backward’ and recognizing the wisdom of their elders.