Positive Psychology

Welcome to Positive Psychology

In 1998, Martin E. P. Seligman, who was then president of the American Psychological Association, urged psychologist to remember psychology’s  forgotten mission : to build human strength and nurture genius. 

Definition of Positive Psychology

Kennon Seldon and Laura King (2001) describe positive psychology as follows :

The scientific study of ordinary human strengths and virtues. Positive psychology revisits “the average person” with an interest in finding out what works, what’s right an interest in finding out what works, what right, and what improving. For  finally, positive psychology is thus an attempt to urge psychologists to adopt a more open and appreciative regarding human potentials, motives, and capacities.

Therefore, Positive psychology studies what people do right and how the manage to do it. This includes what the do for themselves, for their families, and for communities.in addition, positive psychology helps people develop those qualities that lead to greater fulfillments for themselves and for others.

Other definition from Seldon, Federickson, Reathude, Csikszentmihalyi, and Haidt (2000) provide another prospective:the define positive psychology as, “the scientific study of optimal human functioning. It aims to discover and promote factors that allow individuals, communities, and societies to thrive and flourish”.

There is the video about positive psychology  

The Dimensions of Positive Psychology

Positive psychology focuses on three areas of human experience (Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi, 2000) that hep to define the scope and orientation of a positive psychology perspective.

1.      At the Subjective level, positive psychology looks at positive subjectives states or positive emotions such as happiness, joy, satisfaction with life, relaxation, love, intimacy, and contentment.  Positive psychology states also can include contructive troughts about the self and the future, such as optimism and hope. Positive psychology states may also include feeling of energy, vitality and confidence, or the effects of positive emotions such as laughter.

2.      At the Individual Level, positive psychology focuses of study of positive individual traits or the more enduring and persistent behavior patterns seen in people over time. It can also include the ability to develop aesthetic sensibility or tap into creative potentials and the drive to pursue excellence.

3.      At the group or societal level, positive psychology focuses on the development, creation, and maintenance of positive institutions. 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.

Therefore, in many ways, the focus of positive psychology is the scientific study of positive human functioning and flourishing at a number of levels, such as the biological, personal, relational, institutional, cultural and global (Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi, 2000)

Why Positive Psychology is Needed Today

Positive psychology is also needed today because scientific research is revealing how important positive emotions and adaptive behaviors are to living a satisfying and productive life. It was happened today, because many assumed psychology focus on more pressing social problems, such as drug abuse, criminal behavior, or the treatment of serious psychological disorder like depression. This assumption is only partially correct. It is quite true that psychology does need to study serious social and psychological problems. In fact, positive psychology suggest the studies of positive emotions can actually help to fight these problems.

Source : C.Compton, William. 2005. An Introduction to Positive Psychology. USA : Thomson Learning.