POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY STRUCTURE General information History Theory

POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

STRUCTURE General information History Theory Positive psychology in the workplace Questions

GENERAL INFORMATION Positive psychology is the branch of psychology that uses scientific understanding and effective intervention to aid in the achievement of a satisfactory life, rather than treating mental illness.

Positive psychology is concerned with three issues: positive emotions, positive individual traits, and positive institutions

Positive emotions are concerned with being content with one's past, being happy in the present and having hope for the future.

Positive individual traits focus on one's strengths and virtues. Positive institutions are based on strengths to better a community of people

"Happiness" encompasses different emotional and mental phenomena.

HISTORY Positive psychology has roots in the humanistic psychology of the 20 th century, which focused heavily on happiness. As scientific psychology did not take its modern form until the late 19 th century, earlier influences on positive psychology came primarily from philosophical and religious sources

THEORY Some positive psychology researchers: 275 posit three overlapping areas of investigation: 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. ). Despite the attention given, Martin Seligman says this most transient element of happiness may be the least important.

2. Investigation of the beneficial effects of immersion, absorption, and flow, felt by individuals when optimally engaged with their primary activities, is the study of the Good Life, or the "life of engagement". Flow is experienced when there is a positive match between a person's strength and their current task, i. e. when one feels confident of accomplishing a chosen or assigned task.

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).

These categories appear neither widely disputed nor adopted by researchers across the 12 years that this academic area has been in existence. Although Seligman originally proposed these 3 categories, he has since suggested the last category, "meaningful life", be considered as 3 different categories. The resulting acronym is PERMA (Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning and purpose, and Accomplishments) and is a mnemonic for the five elements of Martin Seligman’s well-being theory.

Positive emotions Engagement Relationships Meaning Accomplishments

PERMA not only plays a role in our own personal lives but also can be used for public major news stories. With this model, journalists can instead focus on the positives of a story and ask questions about how conflicts or even tragedies have brought people together, how someone has experienced post traumatic growth, and more. News stories then shift the perspective from a victimizing one to an uplifting one. Positive psychology is slowly but steadily making its way through news reporting via constructive journalism. PERMA helps journalists ask the right questions to continue that progress by bringing the focus of a potentially negative story to the positives and solutions.

THE PLEASANT LIFE Abraham Maslow proposed a hierarchy of needs. Foremost, primitive needs must be met (basic physiological, and sense of safety) before social needs can be met (e. g. , intimacy). Subsequently, one can pursue more conceptual needs (e. g. morality and self-actualization).

Evidence suggests negative emotions can be damaging. In an article titled "The undoing effect of positive emotions", Barbara Fredrickson et al. hypothesized positive emotions undo the cardiovascular effects of negative emotions. When people experience stress, they show increased heart rate, higher blood sugar, immune suppression, and other adaptations optimized for immediate action. If unregulated, the prolonged physiological activation can lead to illness, coronary heart disease, and heightened mortality. Both lab and survey research substantiate that positive emotions help people under stress to return to a preferable, healthier physiological baseline. Other research shows that improved mood is one of the various benefits of physical exercise.

POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY IN THE WORKPLACE Positive psychology has been implemented in business management practice, but has faced challenges. Wong & Davey (2007) noted managers can introduce positive psychology to a workplace, but they might struggle with positive ways to apply it to employees. Furthermore, for employees to welcome and commit to positive psychology, its application within an organization must be transparent. Managers must also understand the implementation of positive psychology will not necessarily combat any commitment challenges that exist. However, with its implementation employees might become more optimistic and open to new concepts or management practices.

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