Positive psychology is among the newest areas of psychology that has emerged. This particular field of psychology is focused on ways to assist human beings to flourish and live happy, healthy lives. While other areas of psychology focus on abnormal behavior and dysfunction positive psychology focuses in helping people be happier.
Positive psychology was developed to “complement and expand the problem-focused psychology that’s been prevalent for a long time,” explained the late Christopher Peterson, author of “A Basic Introduction to Positive Psychology” and professor at the University of Michigan, in an article from 2008 published in Psychology Today.
“Positive psychology is…a need for psychology as well as practice that is equally concerned about strength as weakness; equally interested in creating the most desirable things in our lives as we are about repairing the weakest; and as focused on creating lives for ordinary people as they are with the healing process,” Peterson wrote.
According to some of the most respected experts within the field of psychology, Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Positive psychology can assist in the attainment of “scientific understanding and efficient strategies to foster thriving families, individuals and even communities.”
In order to comprehend the area that is positive psychology it’s important to begin by learning more about its principal theories, theories, applications, as well as the history.
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Levels
Positive psychology is usually called to have three levels:
Subjective level: concentrates on the feelings of well-being, happiness, and optimism and how these feelings change your life
Personal level: a mixture of emotions in the subjective realm and virtues such as forgiveness love and bravery
Group level: positive interactions with your neighbors and your community, with virtues such as altruism, social responsibility and altruism that can strengthen the bonds between people.
Positive Psychology, as well as the PERMA Model
To better understand and define the concept of well-being as a major area of Positive Psychology, Seligman developed Seligman’s PERMA model. PERMA can be described as an abbreviation that refers to the following five components of well-being
Feeling positive, feeling happiness and gratitude for the past, happiness in the present, and optimism for the future.
Engagement, or reaching “flow” through fun activities and interests
Connection, or the process of forming social connections with friends and family
Meaning is finding meaning in your life that is greater than yourself
Achievements, goals, or achievements
Uses
Positive psychology can be used to solve numerous practical applications, including therapy, education and self-help, stress management and workplace problems.
Utilizing strategies that are based on positive psychology teachers, coaches, employers, and therapists can help others be more motivated and also assist individuals discover and enhance their strengths as individuals.
The most important subjects of interest in positive psychology are:
Strengths and virtues of character
Flow
The Gratifications
Gratitude
Happiness/pleasures
Helplessness
Hope
Mindfulness
Optimism
Positive thoughts
Resilience
The effect of positive psychology
The most significant results of positive psychology are:
The money you spend doesn’t always guarantee well-being However, spending money on others will make people happier.
Everyone is generally content.
The best strategies to overcome setbacks and disappointments include having strong social connections and strengths in character.
Although happiness is affected by genes, individuals are able to become happier through developing optimism as well as gratitude and altruism.
It is important to work for wellbeing, particularly when people can engage in tasks that are meaningful and relevant.
Potential Pitfalls
The term “positive psychology” is frequently misinterpreted as positive thinking and is often interpreted as self-help strategies rather than scientifically-backed theories. Positive thinking is a method to think about ourselves as having a better behaviour and more resilience, not merely acting in a new mental state.
Positive psychology The opposite, however is the research into what causes people to succeed. It is focused on the behaviors that help people achieve a better mindset and also on thinking patterns that can lead to more effective behavior.
History of Positive Psychology
“Before World War II, psychology was a field with three distinct tasks that included curing mental illness, making people’s lives more productive and enjoyable as well as finding and nurturing the best talent,” wrote Seligman and Mihaly Csikszenmihalyi in the year 2000.
After WWII and the research and development of psychology became the first priorityof dealing with mental illnesses. Through the 50s thinkers of the humanist school such as Carl Rogers, Erich Fromm as well as Abraham Maslow helped renew interest in other fields by advancing theories that were based on happiness and the good aspects that human beings have to offer.
Here are some more important dates in the history of psychology that are positive:
1998 Seligman is elected president of the American Psychological Association and positive psychology was the main theme of his presidency. In the present, Seligman is widely viewed as the founder of modern positive psychology.
2002 First International Conference on Positive Psychology was held in 2002.
2006 A course at Harvard on positive psychology was the most-loved class at Harvard.
2009: The inaugural World Congress on Positive Psychology was held in Philadelphia and featured talks from Seligman along with Philip Zimbardo.
Other notable figures of positive psychology are:
Albert Bandura
C.R. Snyder
Carol Dweck
Christopher Peterson
Daniel Gilbert
Kennon Sheldon
The fascination with positive psychology has risen exponentially since the idea was first introduced. In the present, more people are looking for ways to be more satisfied and reach their maximum potential.