The Power Of Positive Psychology : A Rich And Meaningful Life

Dr. Martin Seligman is the founder and leading authority in the field of Positive Psychology. Positive psychology is the scientific study of what makes life most worth living. Dr. Seligman’s work primarily focusses on Positive Psychology, resilience, learned helplessness, depression, optimism, and pessimism. He is also listed as being a leader in interventions that prevent depression, as well as build strengths and well-being. Dr. Seligman is also from my hometown, Albany, New York.

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

In Professor Seligman’s TED Talk he presents to us the state of psychology today. Just what is the state of psychology today? According to Seligman it is good, not good, and not good enough. In the “good” update for psychology today, it is beneficial that psychology is progressing forward. Once what was an extreme science of finding out what is wrong with someone has progressed forward into also finding out how to improve one’s life quality. Seligman states that just sixty years ago no disorder was treatable. However in today’s world of modern psychology not only are fourteen disorders treatable, but two are even curable. In the terms of not good, in Seligman’s opinion, there has been too much of an extreme focus on mental illness. Seligman believes that psychology has gone a pessimistic route and in turn forgotten about improving “normal” lives to make people less miserable. He believes that there should not only be interventions in terms of treating mental illness, but also interventions to make people happier. Seligman lists a few different ways that positive psychology could improve itself to go this route. The main idea is that psychologists should be concerned with both strength and weakness of people, therefore building strengths and repairing weakness. From further research in modern positive psychology has sought to answer just what are happy people and what makes them happy? Seligman explains that

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.

In class on Monday, we had a very engaging presentation on positive psychology and how flourishing shapes our perspective to be the successful young adults we are today. Positive psychology is the study of promotion for successful functioning. Building enabling conditions for a life worth living is vital to being satisfied with our lives and within ourselves. A few enabling conditions for a life worth living for my own perspectives is my resilience, my supportive buffers, and using my signature strength to help others.

The goal isn’t to live forever, the goal is to create something that will.” (Chuck Palahniuk). The first concept I learned is positive psychology, and unexpectedly I have applied this concept throughout my life for the last sixteen years without realizing it until this course. People who employ positive psychology are those who make people happy throughout the course of their life and are optimistic during difficult times to cope with the challenges (Franzoi, 2014, pg. 8). People who incorporate positive psychology into their life have less stress and are tend to be happier and healthier. Positive psychology brings similar effects to positive emotions like happiness and pleasure as clinical psychology that treats depression and anger (Max, 2007).

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.

Positive Psychology is defined as “…the scientific study of human flourishing, and an applied approach to optimal functioning. It has also been defined as the study of the strengths and virtues that enable individuals, communities and organizations to thrive” (Gable & Haidt, 2005, Sheldon & King, 2001, as cited by Positive Psychology Institute). According to Martin Seligman, one of Positive Psychology’s pioneers, positive psychology consists of three major components- “pleasure and gratification”, “strength and virtue”, & “meaning and purpose”. He believes that the road to “lasting fulfillment” is a journey in which an individual must pass through each component in chronological order. (Seligman)

Positive psychology is concerned with three issues: positive emotions, positive individual traits, and positive institutions. The first aspect “positive emotions” examines contentment in terms of the past present and future (Seligman, 2007). The second aspect, “positive individual,” identifies one’s virtues and strengths. Furthermore, where positive individual looks at the person, “positive institution examines the community (p. 75). In terms of happiness, this is considered an emotional state and is achieved when balance occurs between the stresses of life and the person’s ability to let the things that are bogging him or her down. It is interesting to note that because of the large amount of

In addition to completing those goals, it also has been found to increase psychological well-being. Sin and Lyubomirsky (2009) define well-being as “not only the absence of mental disorder but also the presence of psychological resources, including components of hedonic or subjective well-being as well as components of eudaimonic well-being” (p. 468). This definition includes happiness as part of subjective well-being. Sin and Lyubomirsky analyzed 49 separate studies in order to get the most complete look they could at the effectiveness of positive psychology interventions. What they found from their results indicated that positive psychology interventions are effective in increasing people’s psychological well-being, although not all of the studies they examined had those results. The mean r was 0.29, which indicated high statistical significance. In addition, the researchers examined the effects on depressive symptoms and found, with the mean r being equal to 0.31 in 25 studies, even more significant results than with well-being. Therefore, the researchers concluded that positive psychology interventions do have significant effects in enhancing psychological well-being and decreasing depressive symptoms (p. 482). Although this study did not directly look at happiness, since happiness is a part of psychological well-being, it can be assumed that the results would be similar if the researchers were looking at happiness as opposed to

I am aware that this is just a peer review exercise. I am not creating any bad animosity in this forum, I am complying with what the rubric for this assignment requires; we are allowed to defend our position in our paper. Now to respond to your question: positive psychology interventions have been and are applied to help people with depression and anxiety disorders. Additionally, positive psychology is used to increase life satisfaction of people and increase happiness. For instance, anxiety and depression in a psychological state scale is considered being in the negative side. Traditional psychology fields would try to bring the individual back to a normal state, but after that often nothing else is done. Positive psychology attempts to surpass

It is argued that the field of positive psychology is relatively new and therefore long term evaluation of applications is not available. Critics suggest that its potential is exaggerated, limiting its relevance in today’s society. However, Seligman argued that psychology was too heavily focused on treating mental illness rather than promoting mental health, and aimed to redress the balance between problem behaviour and mental illness. Using the positive approach, he aimed to use a variety of techniques such as meditation and mindfulness to inoculate individuals against future mental and physical ill health. He argued that positive psychology provides tools which can promote psychological well being and allow the human race to adapt to a range of significant economic, environmental and social challenges. Seligman provided some evidence to support his claims of success. 21 replications of Seligman's schools program found evidence of decreased anxiety and depression in participants.

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, 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 is a relatively new, yet rapidly expanding field of study. It is the study of the positive facets of humanity focused heavily around well-being and happiness. Through the studies of positive psychology researchers are attempting to find ways to continuously improve quality of life and flourish as a society. Traditional psychology is obviously very complex and diverse. It is commonly accepted and referred to as the study of the mind and the subsequent behaviour and functions it carries out. Traditional psychology is an over-arching discipline and encompasses numerous different sub-sections such as human development, social behaviour, cognitive processes and health to name a few (McLeod. S., 2011). Positive psychology is another