positive approach

• Assumption 1: Acknowledgement of Free Will


  This approach believes that humans are in charge of their own emotions and have the free will to change how they direct the emotions. The assumption is that, as humans, we are self directing and adaptive and that a good life can be experienced if we use our strengths and virtues to enhance our lives. Diener&Seligman (2002)
• Assumption 2: Authenticity of Goodness and Excellence

  Feelings of happiness and goodness are as natural as feelings of anxiety and stress, therefore psychologists need to assign these positive states equal attention. Seligman believes we have inherent traits, 'signature strengths', such as kindness, generosity and humour. We need to nurture these traits in order to transform our lives.
• Assumption 3: Focus on the 'Good Life'

  Seligman (2003) distinguishes between 3 desirable lives that follow on from each other: the pleasant life (happiness comes from pursuing positive emotions in relation to the past , present and future), the good life(happiness comes from pursuing tasks that positively absorb and engage us) and the meaningful life(happiness comes from a deep sense of fulfilment by living for a purpose greater than oneself). Seligman suggests that the good life is a combination of 3 elements: positive connection to others, positive individual traits and life regulation qualities.
• Relationship Formation


  We seek friendship for a number of reasons. Firstly, friendship encourages the expression of many authentic emotions such as kindness and generosity. Secondly, the rewards from friendship act as a buffer during difficult challenges in life, helping to prevent negative mental states. Finally, positive psychology would see friendship as a key ingredient to happiness as using our signature strengths to promote mutually useful and altruistic friendships assures physical, emotional and mental well-being. People feel happier when engaging in activities which increase their connection to a friend.
• Therapy: Mindfulness (MF)


  Links to the assumption of authenticity of goodness and excellence as it follows that positive traits are as authentic as negative ones.

  It is a way of teaching people to control their own mind by paying attention to and increasing awareness of their present thoughts.

  Being mindful trains us to focus on our present thoughts, emotions and feelings. Normally our minds are focused on the past or future, the MF goal of focusing on the present is to gain greater awareness of unhelpful or negative thoughts that often dominate us and gain control over them so we spend less time dealing with them. Central to MF is meditation which is usually learned through a mix of guided instruction and personal practice. Meditation helps people reprocess their internal experiences and helps to accept that thoughts are impermanent so the individual learns not to react in an automatic way to their thoughts. Once learned, MF can be practised throughout our daily life. Informal MF is making the conscious decision to focus on one single task- simply pay attention to your surroundings.
• Therapy: Mindfulness (MF) - Evaluation


  Integration With Other Therapies- techniques of MF are becoming increasingly incorporated into other therapies such as psychoanalysis and CBT, offering a new and alternative perspective in therapy.

  Application in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) - has been used to help prevent relapse in patients with recurrent depression. Teasdale et al (2000) found that it most helped those who had suffered the most relapses.

  Group Vs Individual MF- there is evidence suggesting that mindfulness is more effective in a group setting e.g Mantzios&Giannou(2014) found that participants in a group setting lost more weight.

  A 'Positive' Approach to Therapy- MF does not involve dragging up the past therefore client anxiety is avoided and instead of trying to change the thinking process, it encourages acceptance which is less frustrating for clients.
• Classic Evidence: Myers&Diener (1995)- Methodology and Procedures

  Interviews and Questionnaires- a way to asses happiness is to consider a person's sense of their own happiness or well-being, call subjective well-being (SWB), which is done by asking the closed question 'how satisfied are you with your life these days?' a)very, b)not very or c)not at all. Alternatively a multi-item scale(questionnaire) which includes a number of questions related to happiness. Both use a quantitative measure.

  Observation- a way to discover what people are doing is asking them to report what they are doing at selected times.

  Correlations- consider what factors co-vary with happiness. Some of these factors may contribute to making a person happy whereas others are a consequence of happiness. It is not always clear which is cause and effect.

  Reviews- This study is a review of other research!
• Classic Evidence: Myers&Diener(1995)- Findings

  Who are the happy people?

  Is happiness related to...

  Age: survey of almost 170,000 people of all ages in 16 countries found no difference. All ages wee equally happy, mean score of 80% satisfaction (Inglehart 1990). However different factors contribute to happiness at different ages.

  Gender: Inglehart's survey (above) found that 80% of both men and women were 'fairly satisfied' with life. However, Robins&Regier (1991) found that women were twice as vunerable to depression than men.

  Race/Culture: African-Americans reported nearly twice as much happiness as European-Americans (Diener et al 1993). People in individualistic cultures report greater SWB than those in collectivist cultures.

  Money: survey in 1993 found that 75% of American college students selected 'being well off financially' as an essential life goal. Not everyone agrees that money buys happiness but most agree that having more money would make them happier.
• Classic Evidence: Myers&Diener(1995) - Findings Continued

  Happy People(HP)

  Some people are simply happier than others, regardless of life's ups and downs.

  Traits of HP- High self-esteem, sense of personal control, optimism, extraversion.

  Relationships of HP- research shows that people who can name several close friends are happier than those who can't. Married people are happier than non-married people (Lee et al 1991).

  Work and the Flow of HP- work satisfaction affects happiness. People out of work are less happy than those in work. Work provides a personal identity,, a sense that one's life matters and a sense of community. However, stressful work is associated with unhappiness. Mihaly found that people were happiest when engaged in mindful challenge and experiencing flow.

  Faith of HP- People who are religious report higher levels of happiness (Poloma&Pendleton 1990). Happiness is also associated with strength of religious faith, affiliation and frequency of worship attendance (Witter et al 1985).
• Classic Evidence: Myers&Diener(1995) - Evaluation

  Self-report - the data collected about SWB is subjective, when someone reports that they are very happy we have no way of confirming or challenging that. On questionnaires people may respond to social desirability. Also people may think they're happy but are actually repressing their true feelings of unhappiness.

  Samples- a lot of data is based on Western samples as the researchers are American. The roots of happiness may be different in other cultures.

  Psychological Harm- there is very little risk of this because behaviour is not being manipulated. However, some people who are unhappy, may not welcome being asked about their happiness, possibly feeling more depressed after. Researchers must be sensitive to participants' needs and debrief them.
• Debate: Relevance of Positive Psychology in Today's Society- It is Relevant

  Education- Seligman et al (2009) proposed that a positive psychology curriculum(ppc) can promote valued skills and strengths, produce measurable improvements in students' well-being and behaviour and facilitate students' engagement in learning and achievement.

  Work- Mihaly's research for 'flow' theory posits that our experiences will be most positive when both the challenge and skills are high, the person is stretching their capabilities, learning new skills and increasing self-esteem. Mihaly&LeFevre(1989) found this was more than 3 times more likely during work than leisure.

  Leisure and Lifestyle Advice- Mihaly&LeFevre(1989)

  advocate that people increase their experience of flow and the quality of their lives by being more conscious of and active in their use if leisure time.
• Debate: Relevance of Positive Psychology in Today's Society- It Is NOT Relevant

  Education- there is a lack of empirical evidence for most positive psychology(pp) programmes. Spence&Shortt(2007) say that the existing research is based on small-scale or short-term interventions, therefore the widespread dissemination of pp in schools should not be taken further without more long-term research.

  Work- it is not a new idea, therefore we have to question whether pp in the workplace has really offered us anything more than empirical support for something which much of society knows. Work may make you happy but other aspects like money do not appear to be relevant to happiness.

  Leisure and Lifestyle Advice- Activities that may increase flow are likely to be prohibited to many due to lack of time or financial resources. It may be that wealthier people are attracted to such things and therefore beneficial outcomes might be due to wealth than the activity itself.
• Strengths of the Positive Approach

  A Shift in Focus for Psychology- it moves the focus of psychology beyond explaining and treating disorder and illness to celebrating the human character and how authentic strengths can be developed to gain greater life contentment.

  Applications- the assumptions have been applied in many fields of life to help individuals, organisations and communities to flourish. Examples can be seen in education, stress management, occupational psychology and therapy. E.g resilience training for the US Army.

  Free Will Approach- based on the notion that individuals are neither pre-determined nor restricted. They have the personal freedom to grow and develop their natural strengths. PP recognises that humans are self-regulating and not victims of their past.
• Weaknesses of the Positive Approach

  Not a New Idea- Maslow and the humanistic psychology movement in the late 1950s had similar ideas and urged people to think about addressing their higher needs.

  Can Happiness be measured?- defining happiness has proved challenging as each individual will have a different idea about what happiness means to them. Advances in neuroscience have allowed researchers to objectively measure the emotional experience of happiness however now it can be questioned whether happiness is a measurable discrete emotion or if it runs along a continuum with other emotions.

  Ignoring Individual Differences- ignores individual and cultural differences. Christopher&Hickinbottom(2008) suggest that it is ethnocentric as it is based on cultural-bound Western ideas centred on individual autonomy and fulfilment.