One of the biggest questions of the age and any age is: How can one be truly happy? This is the question positive psychology and its related research aims to answer.
Recent global developments — including the coronavirus pandemic and witnessing the killings of unarmed Black people at the hands of police — have brought many of us to a state of misery and despair. Many of us who feel the weight of these events are seeking to focus on ways that we can emphasize positivity in our communities and in ourselves — highlighting the very things that give life more meaning. This is where positive psychology can play a role in your mental wellness.
Whatis Positive Psychology?
Positive psychology is the science and study of life’s positive qualities — well-being, happiness, satisfaction, and the ability to thrive in our day-to-day lives. The field studies what goes into building a life of purpose, rich with meaning that allows the individual to flourish.
In hisTED Talkon positive psychology, Martin Seligman, a leading authority in the field, highlighted three aims of psychology, stating their importance to the overall study of happiness.
“Psychology should be just as concerned with human strength as it is with weakness,” he said. “It should also be as interested in building the best things in life as in repairing the worst, and it should just be as concerned with making the lives of normal people fulfilling, and with nurturing high talent as with healing pathology,” he added. Generally, these aims form the basis of positive psychology.
Christopher Peterson, another renowned psychologist,defined positive psychologysimply as the scientific study of what makes life most worth living. It is a scientific approach to studying human thoughts, feelings, and behavior while emphasizing strengths instead of weaknesses, building the good in life while repairing the bad, and making people’s lives great rather than adequate.
Positive psychology focuses on influences like optimism, hope, happiness and joy, but it is more than just dealing with positive emotions. This field of psychology also covers traits like character strengths, self-esteem, and well-being, how such traits can be applied to our life, work, and interpersonal relationships, and how all those aspects come together to contribute to the attainment of a meaningful life.
What are the Three Levels of Positive Psychology?
Positive psychology isn’t limited to feeling a sense of individual well-being itself, rather proponents of this science often refer to the “Three Levels of Positive Psychology”:
Why Positive Psychology is Important
Positive psychology’s main aim is to encourage people to discover and nurture their character strengths, rather than channeling their efforts into correcting shortcomings. Positive psychology highlights the need for one to shift their negative outlook to a more optimistic view in order to improve quality of life.
According to the theories of positive psychology, positivity is one of the main driving forces of life. Each of us routinely experiences both good and bad outcomes , but it’s often feels easier to focus on the negative outcomes, ignoring the ways we could harness the effect of good things to remedy the bad. For much of its history psychological research focused on psychological defects and anomalies that make some of us different from others, the diagnoses that explain negative actions and patterns of behavior. These diagnoses include the mental health challenges that many of us struggle with including anxiety and depression.
Research into positive psychology, however,focuses more on scientific explanations for positive thoughts and actions. Positive psychology does not deny the existence of flaws and foibles in our thoughts and behavior, but it argues that equal consideration should be given to people’s strengths and virtues.
Positive psychology is important because discovering what leads people to live more meaningful lives can translate to better strategies for managing mental illness, correcting negative behaviors, andincreasing our happinessand productivity. For example, rather than analyzing the underlying traits associated with drug addiction, a positive psychologist might study the resilience of those who have managed a successful recovery and promote such resilience among future patients.
Positive Psychology and the PERMA Model
Fostering well-being is a primary focus in positive psychology. Higher levels of well-being are linked to increased productivity, a longer lifespan, and more satisfying relationships. In this regard, Seligman proposedthe PERMA modelto explain and define well-being in a broader sense. PERMA is an acronym for the five elements of well-being, and it has become a widely recognized model in the field of positive psychology. Below is a quick breakdown of the PERMA theory:
P –Positive emotions:
Experiencing positive emotions has a major impact on boosting well-being. Positive emotions may spring from fostering gratitude and forgiveness about past events, enjoying oneself in the moment, and being optimistic about the future.
E –Engagement:
R –Relationships:
As social beings, individuals often rely on building connections with other people to thrive, and the support we derive from these connections can give life purpose and meaning.
M –Meaning:
A –Accomplishment:
There is no doubt that when we achieve our goals and succeed, we feel a sense of fulfillment. If the drive to accomplish these goals doesn’t exist, a true sense of well-being is difficult to attain.
Experiencing the Personal Benefits of Positive Psychology
The theory of positive psychology suggests that building on the positive aspects of actions or situations can create the conditions for a generally happier and more fulfilled life.
What is an Example of Positive Psychology?
How is Positive Psychology Applied?
Positive psychology has also been a subject of criticism and accused of advancing misleading ideas about positivity. As a result, the principles of positive psychology are sometimes dismissed as bearing more in common with self-help tactics than scientifically-proven theories.
Carol Kauffman, director of the Coaching and Positive Psychology Initiative At Harvard University’s McLean Hospital, outlined four techniques for integrating positive psychology into traditional therapy methods in theHarvard Mental Health Letter. These techniques mainly involve reversing the focus of therapy from negative events and emotions to more positive ones, developing a language of strength, balancing the negative and positive aspects of certain actions or situations, and building strategies that foster hope, such as identifying skills to tackle a particular problem and shifting focus to those skills.
Though the principles of positive psychology suggest that success can be built on personal strengths, it’s also important to work on your weaknesses and achieve a healthy balance, so that you can attain a more fulfilled life. If you’re interested in more information about positive psychology and a more personalized and tailored approach to living your best life, try the convenience of working with a licensedonline therapist.
Our goal at Talkspace is to provide the most up-to-date, valuable, and objective information on mental health-related topics in order to help readers make informed decisions.
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