What is Positive Psychology?

Positive Psychology is the scientific study of human flourishing and an applied approach to optimal individual functioning. It has also been defined as "the study of the strengths and virtues that enable individuals, communities, and organizations to thrive" (Gable & Haidt, 2005, Sheldon & King, 2001). It encourages people to identify and use their individual strengths to make the most of them, find lasting meaning and contentment in their lives, be resilient in the face of challenges, and develop their personal toolkit for achieving success – whatever that means for them.

However, it’s equally important to explore what makes life worth living. Positive psychology emphasizes focusing on strengths alongside weaknesses, and it seeks to build the best aspects of life while addressing the worst.

The need to tackle human problems is undeniable, and human suffering demands scientifically grounded solutions. Yet, both suffering and well-being are integral to the human experience, and psychologists should engage with both dimensions.

Understanding positive emotion involves studying contentment with the past, happiness in the present, and hope for the future. Comprehending positive individual traits involves studying strengths and virtues such as the capacity for love and work, courage, compassion, resilience, creativity, curiosity, integrity, self-knowledge, moderation, self-control, and wisdom. Appreciating positive institutions involves studying meaning and purpose and the strengths that foster better communities, such as justice, responsibility, civility, parenting, care, work ethics, leadership, teamwork, purpose, and tolerance.

Each of these three domains relates to a different meaning of the scientifically difficult-to-handle term "happiness," and each has its own pathway to happiness (Seligman, 2002). Positive emotions lead to a pleasant life, which is similar to hedonic theories of happiness. Using one's strengths in a difficult task leads to the experience of flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990) and an engaged life. Applying one's strengths in the service of something larger than oneself can lead to a meaningful life (e.g., belonging to and serving institutions such as education, the free press, religion, democracy, and family, to name a few).

Sometimes, what is widely accepted as "wisdom" can turn out to be true, but in other cases, it may not hold up under scrutiny. Positive psychology research often uncovers insights that may not be recognized as wisdom by everyone, expanding our understanding of well-being in ways that go beyond familiar beliefs.

To name a few:

• Wealth is only weakly related to happiness, both within and between nations, especially when income is above the poverty threshold (Diener & Diener, 1996).
• Activities that make people happy in small doses – like shopping, good food, and making money – do not lead to long-term flourishing, indicating these have rapidly diminishing returns (Myers, 2000; Ryan & Deci, 2000).
• Engaging in an experience that produces "flow" is so rewarding that people are willing to do it for its own sake rather than for what they will get out of it. The activity is its own reward. Flow is experienced when a person's skills are sufficient for a challenging activity, in pursuit of a clear goal, with immediate feedback on progress toward the goal. In such an activity, concentration is fully engaged in the moment, self-awareness disappears, and the sense of time is distorted (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990).
• People who regularly express gratitude have better physical health, optimism, progress toward their goals, well-being, and help others more (Emmons & Crumpler, 2000).
• Trying to maximize happiness can lead to unhappiness (Schwartz et al., 2002).
• People who see others perform good deeds experience an emotion called "elevation," and this motivates them to do their own good deeds (Haidt, 2000).
• Optimism can protect people against mental and physical illnesses (Taylor et al., 2000).
• Optimistic or happy people perform better at work, school, and sports, are less depressed, have fewer physical health problems, and have better relationships with others. Furthermore, optimism can be measured and learned (Seligman, 1991; Lyubomirsky, King & Diener, 2005).
• People who report having more positive emotions in adulthood live longer and healthier lives (Danner, Snowdon & Friesen, 2001).
• Doctors who feel a positive emotion tend to make more accurate diagnoses (Isen, 1993).
• Healthy human development can take place even in conditions of great adversity due to a common and quite ordinary process of resilience (Masten, 2001).
• There are benefits associated with expressive writing. People who write about traumatic events are physically healthier than control groups who do not. People who write about perceived benefits of traumatic events gain the same physical health benefits as those who write only about the trauma (King & Miner, 2000). People who write about their life goals and best imagined future achieve similar physical health benefits to those who write only about traumatic events. Moreover, writing about life goals is much less distressing than writing about trauma and is associated with increased well-being (King, 2001).
• People are unable to predict how long they will be happy or sad after a major event (Gilbert, Pinel, Wilson, Blumberg & Wheatley, 1998; Wilson, Meyers, & Gilbert, 2001).