{"id":4533,"date":"2018-10-26T11:35:27","date_gmt":"2018-10-26T15:35:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/?p=4533"},"modified":"2018-10-27T15:25:09","modified_gmt":"2018-10-27T19:25:09","slug":"what-is-positive-psychology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/positive-psychology\/what-is-positive-psychology\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Positive Psychology"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Positive Psychology Is<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li>Individual differences in resilience<\/li>\n<li>Character strengths, practices (daily) for better outcomes<\/li>\n<li>Flow (engagement, absorption)<\/li>\n<li>, maladaptive, creative, fulfilling, positive<\/li>\n<li>Self-acceptance, personal happiness<\/li>\n<li>Healthy positive affect<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1>Positive Psychology Is Not<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li>Militant positivity<\/li>\n<li>Freud (mostly)<\/li>\n<li>Addictions or compulsions (pathology)<\/li>\n<li>Completely medical view<\/li>\n<li>Focus on weakness<\/li>\n<li>Maladaptive coping &#8216;Dark&#8217; personality<\/li>\n<li>One right way!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><u>Describing Positive Psychology<\/u><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1>Today&#8217;s Goals<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li>Get familiar with some PP definitions<\/li>\n<li>Consider what makes something &#8216;positive&#8217;<\/li>\n<li>Consider what is &#8216;positive&#8217; about PP<\/li>\n<li>Situate PP in broader context (other areas)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1>Seligman &amp; Csikszentmihalyi, 2000<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;The field of positive psychology at the subjective level is about valued subjective experiences: well-being, contentment, and satisfaction (in the past); hope and optimism (for the future); and flow and happiness (in the present). At the individual level, it is about positive individual traits: the capacity for love and vocation, courage, interpersonal skill, aesthetic sensibility, perserverance, forgiveness, originality, future-mindedness, spirituality, high talent, and wisdom. At the group level, it is about the civic virtues and the institutions that move individuals toward better citizenship: moderation, tolerance, and work ethic.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1>Gable &amp; Haidt, 2006<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;Is the study of the conditions and processes that contribute to the flourishing or optimal functioning of people, groups, and institutions.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1>Sheldon &amp; King, 2001<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;Nothing more than the scientific study of ordinary human strengths and virtues,&#8221; one that revisits the &#8216;average person.&#8217;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1>Linley, Joseph, Harrington, &amp; Wood, 2006<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;The study of human strengths and virtues.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;The study of health, fulfilment, and well-being.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1>Peterson, 2006<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;The scientific study of what goes right in life, from birth to death and at all stops in between. It is a newly christened approach within psychology that takes seriously the examination of that which makes life most worth living.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1>Zelenski, 2015<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;The parts of psychology that deal with (positive) experiences, dispositions, contexts, and processes, in individuals and groups, that facilitate well-being, achievement, and harmony.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>How Do We Know That Something Is Positive?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>This deep, central question has received less attention than you might think<\/li>\n<li>Many refer than you might think<\/li>\n<li>May refer to Diener &amp; Suh (1997) who addressed it RE &#8216;quality of life&#8217; indicators<\/li>\n<li>And they adapted the ideas from philosophers who were not thinking of PP<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1>3\u00a0 Criteria for Positivity<\/h1>\n<ol>\n<li>Choice<\/li>\n<li>Pleasure\/experience<\/li>\n<li>Values o Based on religion, law, logic, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>o Psychological lists, but not the purview of science<\/p>\n<p>These do not always agree<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>How Are These Positive?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Optimism<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Giving to charity<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ice cream<\/li>\n<li>Prayer<\/li>\n<li>Intelligence<\/li>\n<li>Schizophrenia<\/li>\n<li>Bird watching<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>What Might Positive Refer To?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Good intentions o Not unique to positive psychology<\/li>\n<li>Ideology: people are good o Seems odd position for science to take o We should test this; need to know how it works<\/li>\n<li>Appreciation: people are kinda neat o Less extreme, but similar to ideology o Slippery slope? o Says more about researcher than content o Maybe still useful in guiding work<\/li>\n<li>Topics<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1>Family Resemblance<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li>It is probably impossible to define necessary and sufficient conditions for positive psychology<\/li>\n<li>And expansive view of &#8216;positive topics&#8217; may work best, yet relies on complex\/competing definitions of &#8216;positive&#8217;<\/li>\n<li>Considering what makes something positive probably a good positive psychology topic itself<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1>Positive Psychology in Context<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li>Obvious overlap with other sub-disciplines<\/li>\n<li>Humanistic &amp; health psych have particularly similar perspectives and themes<\/li>\n<li>Positive Psychology as a science o Method; skepticism vs. cynicism<\/li>\n<li>Tension between research and practice o Similar to other areas, e.g., clinical psych<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Positive Psychology Is Individual differences in resilience Character strengths, practices (daily) for better outcomes Flow (engagement, absorption) , maladaptive, creative, fulfilling, positive Self-acceptance, personal happiness Healthy positive affect &nbsp;&hellip; <a class=\"continue\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/positive-psychology\/what-is-positive-psychology\/\">Continue Reading<span> What is Positive Psychology<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[116],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4533"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4533\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}