Positive Psychology Week 1 - Week 2 • (Developmental Psych and Clinical)
What do you think Psychology has become? • To identify work settings which lead to job and worker satisfaction and
What is Positive Psychology? wellbeing (IO)
• It is a scientific study of what goes right in life - (what works, what is right, IN SUM: What makes life worth living.
what is improving) from birth to death and everything in between.
• It is the scientific study of ordinary strengths and virtues. Psychology Paradigm
- Positive psych threads into export he pase they die difficult to Psychology has chosen to become a science of healing and to focus on
investigate. damaged and wounded individuals.
• It is that approach within Psychology that considers what makes life worth It has become reactive rather than proactive.
living and what people are doing right as a serious matter.
BASIC THEMES AND ASSUMPTIONS
MARTIN SELIGMAN It focuses on the elements and predictors of the GOOD LIFE (happiness that is
• Father of Positive Psychology behaviourist; well-known for learned based on something solid) - which is "using your signature strengths everyday
helplessness) to produce authentic happiness gratifications." and abundant.
• He was born on August 12, 1942, in Albany, New York.
• Seligman used to be the director of the clinical training program of the This good life is a combination of three things:
university of Pennsylvania for 14 years. • Positive connections to others
• His work mostly regards the topics of learned helplessness, positive • Positive individual traits
psychology, depression, resilience, optimism, and pessimism. • Life regulation qualities
• Today he is the Zellerbach family professor of psychology as well as the
director of the positive psychology center at the University of Positive connections to others:
Pennsylvania. The ability to love, presence of altruistic concern (genuine concern for the
• "The defining characteristic of pessimists is that they tend to believe that welfare of others), ability to forgive and having strong spiritual connections to
bad events will last a long time, will undermine everything they do, and others to create a sense of deeper meaning and purpose in life.
are their own fault. The optimists, who are confronted with the same hard
knocks of this world, think about misfortune in the opposite way. They Positive individual traits:
tend to believe that challenge, that its causes are just confined to this one • Sense of integrity
case. - Martin Seligman, Learned Optimism, 1991 • Ability to play and be
• Creative virtues such as courage and humility.
MARTIN SELIGMAN'S WRITINGS
• He is the author of around 20 self-help books and more than 250 articles. Life Regulation qualities:
• He has written about topics like: • Those which enable us to regulate accoy behavigoals wthat helping
• The Optimistic Child (Houghton Mifflin, 1995) enrich the lives of those we meet and institutions we belong to. These
• Abnormal Psychology (Norton, 1982, 1988, 995, with David Rosenhan) include self-control and wisdom
• Authentic Happiness (Free Press, 2002) • It believes that people are highly adaptive and seek positive social
• Flourish (Free Press, 2011) relationships.
• Learned Optimism (Knopf, 1991) • It believes that people can thrive and flourish despite less than favorabale
conditions
OTHER NOTABLE POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGISTS • It believes that strengths and virtues are central to the good life.
1. Christopher Peterson • It believes that well-being is not individual concerns because people are
2. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi social beings and live with others.
3. Barbara Friedrikson
Three Components of Mental Health
To help people flourish • Positive psychology talks about positive social environments, social
• Psychology has focused on the cure of mental illness wellbeing, and empowerment
• We have become so focused on finding out what is wrong that we have 1. Emotional Wellbeing
rejected to focus on what is right. 2. Psychological Wellbeing
• Psychology is much larger than curing mental illness or curing diseases. I 3. Social Wellbeing
think it's about bringing out the best in people; it's about positive
institution; it's about strength of character.- Seligman Virtues
• The most basic assumption that positive psychology urges is that human • Virtues are "acquired excellences in character traits, the possession of
goodness and excellence are as authentic as disease, disorder and which contributes to a person's completeness or wholeness.
distress. • Virtues represent ideal states that
• facilitate adaptation to life." (Emmons & Crumpler)
POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY TASKS • Virtues help us move forwards.
• To articulate a vision of the good life and to help people attain it; • Virtues are not only personal but are also interpersonal relationship.
• To identify behaviors which lead to well-being and thus develop positive • Virtues benefit not only the individual but also society.
individuals and thriving communities. • Best of what we have; no one is totally worthless.
• To identify the kinds of families which nurture children who flourish;
(parenting-socialization), Core Virtues
What do you think Psychology has become? • To identify work settings which lead to job and worker satisfaction and
What is Positive Psychology? wellbeing (IO)
• It is a scientific study of what goes right in life - (what works, what is right, IN SUM: What makes life worth living.
what is improving) from birth to death and everything in between.
• It is the scientific study of ordinary strengths and virtues. Psychology Paradigm
- Positive psych threads into export he pase they die difficult to Psychology has chosen to become a science of healing and to focus on
investigate. damaged and wounded individuals.
• It is that approach within Psychology that considers what makes life worth It has become reactive rather than proactive.
living and what people are doing right as a serious matter.
BASIC THEMES AND ASSUMPTIONS
MARTIN SELIGMAN It focuses on the elements and predictors of the GOOD LIFE (happiness that is
• Father of Positive Psychology behaviourist; well-known for learned based on something solid) - which is "using your signature strengths everyday
helplessness) to produce authentic happiness gratifications." and abundant.
• He was born on August 12, 1942, in Albany, New York.
• Seligman used to be the director of the clinical training program of the This good life is a combination of three things:
university of Pennsylvania for 14 years. • Positive connections to others
• His work mostly regards the topics of learned helplessness, positive • Positive individual traits
psychology, depression, resilience, optimism, and pessimism. • Life regulation qualities
• Today he is the Zellerbach family professor of psychology as well as the
director of the positive psychology center at the University of Positive connections to others:
Pennsylvania. The ability to love, presence of altruistic concern (genuine concern for the
• "The defining characteristic of pessimists is that they tend to believe that welfare of others), ability to forgive and having strong spiritual connections to
bad events will last a long time, will undermine everything they do, and others to create a sense of deeper meaning and purpose in life.
are their own fault. The optimists, who are confronted with the same hard
knocks of this world, think about misfortune in the opposite way. They Positive individual traits:
tend to believe that challenge, that its causes are just confined to this one • Sense of integrity
case. - Martin Seligman, Learned Optimism, 1991 • Ability to play and be
• Creative virtues such as courage and humility.
MARTIN SELIGMAN'S WRITINGS
• He is the author of around 20 self-help books and more than 250 articles. Life Regulation qualities:
• He has written about topics like: • Those which enable us to regulate accoy behavigoals wthat helping
• The Optimistic Child (Houghton Mifflin, 1995) enrich the lives of those we meet and institutions we belong to. These
• Abnormal Psychology (Norton, 1982, 1988, 995, with David Rosenhan) include self-control and wisdom
• Authentic Happiness (Free Press, 2002) • It believes that people are highly adaptive and seek positive social
• Flourish (Free Press, 2011) relationships.
• Learned Optimism (Knopf, 1991) • It believes that people can thrive and flourish despite less than favorabale
conditions
OTHER NOTABLE POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGISTS • It believes that strengths and virtues are central to the good life.
1. Christopher Peterson • It believes that well-being is not individual concerns because people are
2. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi social beings and live with others.
3. Barbara Friedrikson
Three Components of Mental Health
To help people flourish • Positive psychology talks about positive social environments, social
• Psychology has focused on the cure of mental illness wellbeing, and empowerment
• We have become so focused on finding out what is wrong that we have 1. Emotional Wellbeing
rejected to focus on what is right. 2. Psychological Wellbeing
• Psychology is much larger than curing mental illness or curing diseases. I 3. Social Wellbeing
think it's about bringing out the best in people; it's about positive
institution; it's about strength of character.- Seligman Virtues
• The most basic assumption that positive psychology urges is that human • Virtues are "acquired excellences in character traits, the possession of
goodness and excellence are as authentic as disease, disorder and which contributes to a person's completeness or wholeness.
distress. • Virtues represent ideal states that
• facilitate adaptation to life." (Emmons & Crumpler)
POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY TASKS • Virtues help us move forwards.
• To articulate a vision of the good life and to help people attain it; • Virtues are not only personal but are also interpersonal relationship.
• To identify behaviors which lead to well-being and thus develop positive • Virtues benefit not only the individual but also society.
individuals and thriving communities. • Best of what we have; no one is totally worthless.
• To identify the kinds of families which nurture children who flourish;
(parenting-socialization), Core Virtues
