What´s 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.

Positive psychology is highly applicable with the field of education. The Penn Resiliency Program (PRP) is a program intended to integrate, as its chief goal, deterrence to counter and assist the unhappiness epidemic among children and adolescence. It is founded upon the psychosomatic notion, asserting the highly significant fact, that our beliefs concerning experiences and their construal have an influence not only on our sentiments but also on our behavior format. The hypothetical basis of this program is the perception of optimism-pessimism particularized by Seligman, in which optimism and cynicism, measured as comparatively strong human qualities, have a pivotal influence on the entire working of human beings. They produce action or inactiveness, and regulate inspiration and the choice of approach for achievement, and the outline as well as the behaviors in which life purposes are comprehended. Optimism or pessimism explain the capability to surpass one’s personal restrictions, or for being overwhelmed by one’s emotional state of powerlessness. The two are both cultured dispositions, notwithstanding their moderately perpetual character. Subsequently the Penn Resiliency Program focuses on leaning on the expectations of cognitive-behavioral treatment implements an extensive variety of interventions and tools to encourage an constructive method of individual development (Pluskota,

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

A study by Seth Kaplan and Jill C. Bradley-Geist (2014), conducted two positive psychology interventions to measure the increase in employee well-being. The article indicates from previous research done in the are of positive psychology, that encouraging specific behaviors and activities can have dramatic and enduring effects on psychological well-being (Kaplan & Bradley-Geist, 2014, p. 368). Two types of positive psychology interventions were developed, one focusing on “gratitude” exercises and the other on “social connectedness” exercises, these were conducted for two weeks to examine potential changes in job-related performance. They defined gratitude as an “orientation towards noticing and appreciating the positive ‘in one’s work life (versus

Some have argued that the positive movement is “an old wine in new bottles” because of the risk of stigmatizing employees who are struggling with negative emotions (Fineman, 2006), and that interventions fundamentally focused on individual issues rather than organizational issues (Hackman, 2009). On the other hand, Avey, Luthans, & Youssef, (2010) assert that POB is not an old wine in new bottles as claimed, but rather a new shift of perspective in a changing environment. The POB has emerged as an extension of positive psychology research to the workplace (Youssef-Morgan, 2014). Whereas, Van de Ven & Sun (2011) argue that change is an ongoing process that will never stop for an organization. PsyCap has expanded more because it offers different approaches for enhancing workplace positivity with high returns on investment, and employers find it appealing because it combines the “feel good” motivation impact in a typical training with the bottom line (Youssef-Morgan, 2014).

Gershoff, E. T. (2002). Corporal punishment by parents and associated child behavior and experiences: A meta-analysis and theoretical review. Psychological Bulletin, 128, 539 to 579

The new Psychology field of Positive Psychology promotes a “flourishing” life dedicated to individuals looking to expand the pleasant, engagement and meaning in their life. Many Positive Psychologist use Gratitude Practice as a method of therapy to aid individuals with a wealth of positive constructs. Before looking into Gratitude Practice it is important to begin the research by taking a look at what Positive psychology is. Positive Psychology is a newer field in Psychology focused on the study of the strengths that enable humans and organizations to flourish. Gratitude Practice can help individuals become more optimistic and live healthier lives (Emmons, R.E. & McCullough, M. E., 2003) it can lead to greater happiness (Seligman, M. E., 2011) and can lead to improved relationships (Lambert, et. al., 2010). Positive Psychotherapy will also be examined as it pertains to purpose, hope, and life satisfaction in three age groups.

positive psychology” is the human potential that lead individuals to become happier by discovering and promoting the factors of happiness.

We often think of psychology with a negative connotation. A reason for this is that for many years, psychologists focused more on the negative side of psychology. This part of psychology deals with peoples’ symptoms, wounds, disorders, and trauma (Morgan & Nemec, 2013). This changed in 2000 when psychologist Martin Seligman founded the science of positive psychology (Schueller & Parks, 2014). Although certain aspects of positive psychology were studied long before the branch was established, they were much less of a focus when compared to its negative counterparts (Morgan &Nemec, 2013). Positive psychology strives to understand “the positive side of human functioning, expanding research on positive behaviors, cognitions, emotions, and character traits (Schueller & Parks, 2014)

Hope is an important aspect of positive psychology that assists individuals to live positively by accepting tough life experiences through the expectation of a better outcome. Hope is considered to be a positive motivational state, which encourages individuals to develop methods that motivate themselves to achieve their coveted goals (Snyder, 2000).

their unique combination of ‘signature strengths,’ such as humanity, temperance and persistence…that happiness has three dimensions that can be cultivated: the Pleasant Life, the Good Life, and the Meaningful Life. In [Seligman’s] study of the Good Life (cultivating strengths and virtues) and the Meaningful Life (developing meaning and purpose), positive psychology seeks to help people acquire the skills to be able to deal with the stuff of life in ever fuller, deeper ways. (Seligman, 2002)

Another vastly used concept in management theory and practice i.e. the positive psychology pursues organisational virtues and social responsibility. Positive psychology is applied in contemporary management to facilitate social relation between a leader and his subordinates to develop a sense of security and create positive emotional states of the individuals. With smaller sized team and more freedom in work,Google Inc. keeps the employees working towards a set purpose besides instilling high levels of self- motivation and work empowerment within them. Google Inc. focuses on noble tasks and convince their employees of their significance in bringing changes and peace to the world by organising the world’s information and making life better for individuals and the society(Cook 2012).Hence,it can be observed that through positive psychology,high employee satisfaction and achievement can be gained through self-motivation,self-improvement and self-inspiration by incorporating passion in their work and align them with the organization’s own’s values.This in turns improves the company’s productivity and innovation ability which will then elevate the corporation’s social and economic status.

[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).

Psychology as its commonly recognised is the science of the mind where its apparent focus is investigation and treatment for mental illness. Positive psychology on the other hand could be quickly specified as the brief opposite. To attempt to define positive psychology, one would ask themselves the metaphysical question of, what is positive in relation to being human and what makes it positive (Alex Linley, Joseph, Harrington & Wood, 2006). Examples could be emotions, virtues and traits such as hope, courage and compassion which can be interpreted in a manner of ways. These examples mentioned possibly carry a great deal of depth where for an example, an emotion can share properties of positive and negative parts that are linked together (Lazarus, 2003). Anger as a prime example of an emotion that can be hurtful and destructive, yet, it is possible to be utilised as a fuel to be righteous. Development of emotions and other human qualities could then be dependent on cultural values, socioeconomic status and the demographic of age. A study has resulted in possible evidence that adults may be less susceptible to change in emotions and other values when compared to teenagers, where a traumatic or life changing event may be a catalyst for change (Seligman, Steen, Park & Peterson, 2005). This was a study in the realm of positive psychology, where its lack of focus and aim on the apparent negative side of psychology is not present. Research in mental illness and treatment are

Positive thinking is a term used by everyone, but only sounds useful to a lucky few. It is very easily dismissed by most of us, we hear it almost every single day but do we actually try it? It’s a gooey fuzzy phrase that we don’t even bother to take seriously, but we say it when we don’t know what to say to someone that’s going through a difficult time in his or her life. However these views may be changing, researchers are beginning to prove that positive thinking is much more than just a phrase to help you fake your happiness. People like Barbara Fredrickson are studying the impact that positive thinking has on your health, work, and skills. Her "broaden-and-build"theory explains why positive emotions change your perspective on life and how