What is Positive Psychology?

Lisa Franchi October 17, 2012

"For a human being to be happy they must become what they can become." – Abraham Maslow

When some of the most popular, highly respected psychologists including Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) and Karen Horney (1885-1952) started focusing their studies on human potential, no one had any clue that positive psychology will come out as a well-accepted and admired field of study. It was not until 1998 when the purpose of positive psychology has been summed up by Martin Seligman, Ellen Langer, and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. According to them, it is developed to investigate and promote realistic ways of encouraging happiness in individuals and communities.

The Beginning

In less than a decade, positive psychology has gained so much popularity in the world, not just within universities but also among the public. This field traces its origin from humanistic psychology (which was formed by some of the world’s most renowned psychologists including Maslow during the 1950s) which states that humans have potential of greatness and heroism. This idea was far different from behaviourism that says humans are like a box that needs to take in a stimulus before providing a response (just like machines), and psychoanalysis which focuses on human’s basic instincts, neurosis, etc.

The problem with humanistic psychology was that it lacked scientific rigor. There were not enough studies or research that strengthen the principles and ideas it entail. That’s why humanistic psychology didn’t prosper much in the academe although self-help books talking about it remained to be best-sellers until today.

And then positive psychology came. This field takes on the ideas provided by humanistic psychology, but involved rigorous methodology to provide proof.

Positive psychologists focus on four major topics. These include positive relationships, positive institutions, positive experiences and enduring psychological traits.

The Science of Happiness and Good Life

Positive psychology is referred to as the scientific study of what makes life worth living. Unlike many other fields of psychology, it focuses more on the positive instead of the negatives. While other theories claim that human beings are like beasts nurtured and improved by time and environment, positive psychology reiterates that they are innately good and have great potential.

While the approach is different, positive psychology does in no way aim to replace or abandon the conventional teachings in psychology, rather complement them.

Truisms in Positive Psychology

There are several theories that underpin positive psychology. First, it stresses that the goodness of life doesn’t simply mean the absence of problems. Second, it claims that life is as genuine as what is bad – not secondary, epiphenomenal, derivative, illusory, or otherwise suspect, as Christopher Peterson from the University of Michigan puts it. Also, positive psychology is all about creating questions that would lead people to understanding more of themselves and what they need to be happy. Well, it doesn’t tell people exactly how to be happy, but it sets the conditions for them to ask the right questions.

Positive psychology doesn’t simply intend to inform, but to transform. When you say transform, you don’t just think of it at a metaphorical point of view but also in a literal perception. There are studies that show how the structure of the brain changes when people are doing mindfulness meditation and how it lowers risk of mental health disorders.

Positive psychology aims to reform how the mind perceives the world, particularly when it comes to happiness. Happiness does not depend on what information or knowledge people take in, but how they look at it. For example, a student aimed to rank first on class but she didn’t. There are two ways to interpret the situation. First, she might feel it’s depressing and disappointing, and she might tell herself a loser. Or, she could tell herself “okay, that’s upsetting. I’m sad”, but then she gives more importance on identifying what she has learned from it. Then she starts asking “what insights can I learn from it?”, “How do I improve myself?” and so on.

Furthermore, positive psychology overthrows the idea that happiness and good life is a game of luck. We do not have to spin the wheel of fortune to know what’s up in our lives three or five years from now. Good life can be learned. Negative emotions can be changed. And although such changes are difficult, they are possible. Positive psychology tells us that we can do something to make our lives better and it all starts by asking how.

Sources of this article:

Harvard 01 Positive Psychology 1504

What Is Positive Psychology, and What Is It Not?

Positive psychology