Assumptions

• What are the assumptions of the positive approach?

  The acknowledgment of free will.

  The authenticity of goodness and excellence.

  Focus on the good life.
• Aims of positive psychology

  Look at people’s strengths as much as their weaknesses

  Focus on how to build the best of things as well as repairing the worst

  Examine how people can lead a fulfilling life
• PERMA model


  A scientific theory of happiness

  Positive emotion distinction between pleasure and enjoyment

  Engagement - flow - a sense of total immersion into a task

  Relationships - rarely alone during our happiest times

  Meaning - more important for fulfilment than the overshot of pleasure

  Accomplishment
• Diener & Seligman (2002)


  Explored the ties that students had to their friends and family by measuring the amount of time they invested in these relationships.

  Found that students who had the strongest ties to friends & family were happier and there was a negative correlation between levels of happiness and depression.
• The authenticity of goodness and excellence


  Human goodness & excellence are as authentic as disorders and distress and therefore deserve equal attention.

  Seligman believes we have innate behaviours he refers to as signature strengths. These are character strengths that are essential to who we are.
• The values in action classification of strengths 


  A system which explores your virtues & strengths.

  Six virtues in the values in action classification system:

  Wisdom - acquisition of and use of knowledge

  Courage - will to accomplish goals in the face of internal or external opposition

  Humanity - interpersonal strength

  Justice - civic strengths

  Temperance - strengths that protect us against excesses

  Transcendence - strengths that connect us to the larger universe
• Seligman (2001)


  If a person has a set of core strengths that they apply and incorporate into their everyday life, that person will experience authentic happiness.
• Seligman distinguishes between 3 desirable lives

  The pleasant life - happiness comes from pursuing positive emotions & daily satisfaction.

  The good life - happiness comes from pursuing activities that positively absorb and engage us. We develop character strengths to enhance our lives.

  The meaningful life - happiness comes from a deep sense of fulfilment by living for a purpose much greater than oneself.
• Seligman (2002) defines the good life as a combination of 3 elements

  Positive connection to others

  Positive individual traits

  Life regulation qualities