Positive Psychology

According to the Center, “Positive psychology is the systematic study of human strength, resilience and qualities that empower individuals and group of people to succeed” (Positive Psychology Center, 2014). Positive psychology’s founders learned through study that people usually place more emphasis on what goes wrong in their lives; they focus on their failures. For instance, divorce, financial obligations, or losing a job. It is imperative to comprehend the characteristics of undesirable experiences in an individual’s life. As an alternative to focusing on failure, focus can be placed on the positive situations in life and understand those are the occasions worth living for. Positive psychology emphasizes strengths and weaknesses, magnifying the positive aspects of life, and healing the effects of negative experiences. Positive psychology focuses on a person’s strengths and the hope of something larger then oneself to lead individuals to a more meaningful

The psychosocial approach helps us to develop a healthy questioning of the obvious. An open mind, imagination and knowledge of personality functioning, human behaviour and emotional suffering are inherent in the ideas; they assist in reaching;differential diagnoses and treatment plans. This is another way of saying that clients interact with their environments in unique ways and if we are to give service which is accurately targeted then, when appropriate, we have to comprehend underlying feelings and motives which can block people from making optimum use of such help. Freudian psychoanalytic ideas, particularly personality theory, began to feed into what became known as psychodynamic casework.

Every aspect of psychology excites me. As I take more classes, and my exposure to different theories and perspectives as well as topics and fields increases, I want to know more. The possibilities and applications of psychology are endless. When I wrote about peace and positive psychology for a career paper in an English class, my thoughts on psychology's impact expanded. Influenced by humanistic psychology, positive psychology focuses not only on the health or unhealthiness of an individual, but his or her potential to thrive and live a happy life. The prior theories have opened up the long-neglected opposite side of the spectrum of one’s psychological health. I am inspired by countless psychologists, but notably Abraham Maslow and Martin

The pursuit of happiness is the universal search for a life an individual can feel content and satisfied with. However, as stated in class, happiness is a fleeting emotion rather than a prolonged state. Once an individual achieves a sense of happiness it is only a matter of time before they return to the starting point of their quest. Therefore, happiness alone is not enough to elicit a good life. On a similar note, in 2004, Professor Martin Seligman gave a TED talk that addressed the current direction of psychology. He believed the extent of psychology had become the ability to “make miserable people feel less miserable” rather than “[making] relatively untroubled people happier.” As a result, he and his colleagues developed positive psychology, a branch of psychology that promotes the components of happiness, well-being, and fulfillment to achieve a satisfactory life. The purpose of this project is to learn about your well-being and discover ways to increase the quality of your life through positive psychology.

According to Peterson (2008), “positive psychology is what makes life most worth living.” Positive psychology is a frame of mind. It is the ability to look at the world, as the glass is half-full and not half empty. It focuses on the positives in your life, not the negative. Most people are resilient, positive psychology capitalizes on this attribute and draws on the great things that occur in your life leading to more fulfilling and productive outcome in your professional

The term happiness continues to perplex psychologists. With the recent study of positive psychology or the study of happiness, psychologists have unintentionally attached a negative connotation to all other emotions. However, all emotions, even the ones coined as negative, are valuable to humans. An analysis of human emotions proves that feelings of sadness, anger, fear, and happiness are equally beneficial to human development because they allow for a safer and more open mind-set.

Freud brought about the theory that the illness developed because of certain experiences in ones emotional life, “particularly

Martin Seligmon introduced the positive psychology movement after noticing how overly negative the field of psychology is. Though he agreed that psychology's previous study of weakness, damage, and suffering had yielded in valuable information about human behavior, Seligmon believed this negative approach of study neglected the positive qualities of human life and interaction. Positive psychology aims to shift focus away from negative thinking that is generally associated with the study of psychology. It is intended to better our unerstanding of the positive aspects of human existance. The field of postive psychology is broken down into three areas: positive emotions, positive traits, and positive communities. Positive emotions include feelings

In Martin Seligman’s TED talk, he explains the values of positive psychology’s impact on creating happier lives. In 2000, Martin Seligman created a new field of psychology called Positive Psychology. This field of positive psychology is the study of positive traits and behaviors that can contribute to a positive “happier” life. In Seligman’s TED talk, The New Positive Era of Psychology, he categorizes positive lives into three categories. The Pleasant life, the life of engagement, and the meaningful life. But before he begins his speech, he explains the negative actions taken by psychology when treating people.

Positive psychology principles that assist with the last four stages of Erikson’s psychosocial development are: resiliency, using assimilative and accommodative processes, telling our life story, and having positive posttraumatic growth. The aforementioned principles allow for cognitive and emotional growth and assist with a positive outlook on life.

In conclusion, the Good Life is within reach for me and anyone who hopes for it. Positive psychology provides the blueprint on actions and cognitive thinking which will lead me to happiness and balance. The goals I have established through the course and by focusing on: my signature strengths, knowing my motivational method, establishing goals, achieving flow, being healthy, continued cognitive and emotional growth, wisdom, and spirituality, I will meet “my” Good

Positive psychology, which has emerged recently, is the scientific study of human thriving. Psychology traditionally focuses on dysfunction—on people with mental illness or other psychological problems and how to treat them. Positive psychology, by contrast, is a relatively new field that examines how ordinary people can become happier and more fulfilled. In his 1998 APA presidential address, Seligman, the founder of positive psychology, argued that psychology had become too focused on curing mental illness according to a disease model, and that, for all intents and purposes, it had become a “victimology” (Seligman, 1998). What was needed, he averred, was a new “science of human strengths,” a positive psychology (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000).

[Positive Psychology] takes you through the countryside of pleasure and gratification, up into the high country of strength and virtue, and finally to the peaks of lasting fulfillment: meaning and purpose (Seligman 2002, p. 61).

Positive Psychology is a relatively new sub-field of psychology that deals with the study and

The theory also presents the aspect of defense mechanism. Defense mechanism is normally used by the ego to safeguard a person from anxiety. When unpleasant information is repressed into the unconscious mind, a person may become anxious. Psychoanalysis is also a therapy. From this perspective, it reasons that people are never aware of what determines their emotions and behavior. Therefore, when one has a psychoanalytic treatment, the unconscious factors that affect current relationships and patterns of behavior normally takes them back to their original, shows the change taking place and helps the person concerned to accept the realities of adult