Pos Psych- Part 1

• Positive Psychology


  The scientific study of what makes life most worth living
• Positive psychology studies human thoughts, feelings and behavior
• Positive psychology


  • Focuses on strengths than weaknesses
  • Focuses on building of good life instead of repairing the bad
  • Focuses on taking the lives of average people up to "great" instead of solely on moving those who are struggling up to "normal"
• Positive events and influences in life


  • Positive experiences (e.g. happiness, joy, love)
  • Positive states and traits (e.g. resilience, gratitude, respect)
  • Positive institutions (e.g. application of the positive principles in the workplace, organization, institutions)
• Areas of focus in positive psychology


  • Character
  • Strength
  • Optimism
  • Life satisfaction
  • Happiness
  • Wellbeing
  • Gratitude
  • Compassion/self-compassion
  • Self-esteem
  • Self-confidence
  • Hope
  • Elevation
• Founder of positive psychology


  Dr. Martin Seligman
• Martin Seligman: 'The aim of Positive Psychology is to catalyze a change in psychology from a preoccupation only with repairing the worst things in life to also building the best qualities in life'
• Learned helplessness


  How humans and animals can learn to become helpless and feel they have lost control over what happens to them
• The first experts to describe learned helplessness were the American psychologists Steven F. Maier and Martin E. P. Seligman
• Learned-hopefulness


  Coined by Maier and Seligman after following up on their work on learned helplessness
• Goal of positive psychology


  • To improve people's lives (experiences) by creating positive thoughts, behaviors, and emotions (states and traits)
  • To decrease negative emotions and enhance the level of well-being in society (institution)
• Benefits of positive psychology

  • People overestimate the impact of money on their happiness
  • Spending money on experiences provides a bigger boost to happiness than spending money on material possessions
  • Gratitude is a big contributor to happiness in life
  • Oxytocin may provoke greater trust, empathy, and morality in humans
  • Putting in effort to cultivate a positive mood will make you feel happier
  • Happiness is contagious
  • Performing acts of kindness towards others boosts wellbeing and acceptance
  • Volunteering time to a cause improves wellbeing and life satisfaction
  • Spending money on other people results in greater happiness for the giver
  • Positive emotions boost job performance
  • Positive emotions in the workplace are contagious
• Happiness and a sense of meaning in life do not necessarily go hand-in-hand
• Satisfaction of wants and needs


  Boosts happiness but has virtually no impact on meaningfulness
• "Givers"


  Experience more meaning
• "Takers"


  Experience more happiness
• Worry, stress, and anxiety


  More likely to be felt by those whose lives are high in meaningfulness and low in happiness
• Intention to express authentic self and sense of strong personal identity


  Linked to meaning, but not to happiness
• Happiness


  A personal choice
• Formula of wellbeing (true happiness)

  Happiness + Purpose = Wellbeing
• Forcing people who are not naturally optimists to "just think positively" can do more harm than good
• Positive psychology is not to be confused with untested self-help, footless affirmation, or secular religion
• Theory and concepts of positive psychology summarized by Prof. Peterson


  • For the most part, most people are happy
  • Happiness is one of the causes of the good things in life, and also promotes more happiness
  • Most people are pretty resilient
  • Happiness, character strengths, and good social relationships act as buffers against disappointments and setbacks
  • Crises reveal character
  • Other people matter (in terms of what makes life worth living)
  • Religion matters (and/or spirituality)
  • Work also matters in terms of making life worth living, as long as we are engaged and draw meaning and purpose from it
  • Money has diminishing returns on our happiness after a certain point, but we can buy some happiness by spending money on other people
  • Eudaimonia (wellbeing, deeper form of satisfaction than happiness) is more important than hedonism (sole focus on pleasure and positive emotions) for living the good life
  • The "heart" matters more than the "head", meaning that things like empathy and compassion are just as important as critical thinking
  • Nearly all good days have three things in common: a sense of autonomy, competence, and connection to others
  • The good life can be taught
• Goals of positive psychology coaching


  • Increase the client's experience of positive emotions
  • Help clients identify and develop their strengths and unique talents
  • Enhance the client's goal-setting and goal-striving abilities
  • Build a sense of hope into the client's perspective
  • Cultivate the client's sense of happiness and wellbeing
  • Nurture a sense of gratitude in the client
  • Help the client build and maintain healthy, positive relationships with others
  • Encourage the client to maintain an optimistic outlook
  • Help the client learn to savor every positive moment
• Traditional psychology


  Focuses on what is 'wrong' with an individual and emphasizing the reduction of symptoms and prevention relapse
• Positive psychology


  Focuses on what's 'right' with an individual to boost character strengths and foster human flourishing
• PERMA model


  Widely used model in Positive Psychology representing the 5 major areas of wellbeing: Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Accomplishment/Achievement
• Team positive psychology


  • Dr. Martin Seligman (The Founder/Father)
  • Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (Co-Founder, developer of the Flow Theory)
  • Dr. Christopher Peterson (The legend and developer of Positive Psychology definition)
  • Dr. Roy Baumeister (The renowned social psychologist focused on Positive Psychology)
  • And everyone