Positive Psychology Essay

Positive psychology is defined as a science of haughty subjective experiences, exacting traits, and appointed institutions and it focussinges on such topics as hope, wisdom, creative thinking courage, animationuality (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). Although this definition seems to be broad enough, the current research on substantiative psychology consists of primarily quantitative studies of cognitive and affective variables in spite of appearance a particular experi cordial paradigm. It has non paid much oversight to topics of humanistic concerns such as nitty-gritty, values, courage, and spirituality.Research is beginning to accumulate just about the concept of positive psychology, or moving away from a focus on abnormal psychology to one of building positive qualities. The public straining Dont Worry, Be Happy, expressed in a nutshell a key concept in positive psychology, to develop a soul of optimism. Optimism and otherwise human strengths, such as coura ge, inter face-to-face skill, future mindedness, faith, hope, go bad ethic, perseverance, honesty, and the talent to achieve flow and insight, spate act as buffers against malaise, dysfunction, and mental illness. Human strengths such as optimism argon not enough, of course.A positive psychology seems to depend also on cultivating positive experiences that argon associated with ecstasy and subjective well- creation, on the capacity to adapt and organize to successfully discover changing takes, and to inter doings that occur within positive social circumstances (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000).Positive psychology is tacit as the scientific study of ordinary human strengths and virtues (Sheldon & King, 2001, p. 216).Resilience, a very(prenominal) important skill, illustrates (among other things) the importance of the ordinary. For instance, Masten (2001), in discussing resilience in children, punctuate the power of the ordinary (p. 235). Based on a review of resilience stu dies involving children, Masten observedResilience does not come from r be and special qualities, besides from the prevalent magic of ordinary, normative human resources in the minds, brains, and bodies of children, in their families and relationships, and in their communities. (Masten, 2001, p. 235)In another look at resilience in damage of its ordinary nature, the American Psychological Associations Practice directorate developed a public fostering campaign following the phratry 11, 2001, attacks. C altogethered the Road to Resilience, the campaign set out the following principles (a) resilience is a set of learned behaviors that are not automatic, (b) it is a individualized journey that is involved with others, (c) it is an ordinary, not an extraordinary, experience, and (d) it demands that improvement be accomplished through small, unflinching steps (Murray, 2003).This perspective of positive psychology that focuses on ordinary and cursory circumstances leads us to thin k in terms of a genial of terrestrial pr reddention that is within the r to each one of people and that counselors and other practitioners can intentionally bring to their cash in ones chips with clients and client systems. Everyday prevention should knock up and guide the work of all preventionists.The American population has moved beyond being passive recipients of expert- generated care to assume a much more(prenominal)(prenominal) personal certificate of indebtedness for their admit health and mental healthcare involve.People, including children, are viewed as active decision makers, selecting from available choices and preferences and shaping their environment, with the possibility of virtuoso(prenominal) and efficacious living. M either give up begun to assume greater initiative and responsibility for the direction of education and schools the rise in home schooling, the spread of e-educational programs, and the rent school movement are just three examples. This active thing in health care and education will become a dominant theme for the twentyfirst century.Professionals and professional training programs are beginning to do to this significant change in personal orientation and responsibility. For instance, training programs in integrative medicine are develop (e.g., at Duke University and University of Arizona), where the primary address is to back up people to experience optimal vitality and wellness, integrating mind, body, and spirit as well as allopathic, alternative, and complementary medical approaches. Counseling and counsel psychology programs are beginning to address prevention more instantaneously through coursework and training experiences. Healthcare plans are being created that are spaciotemporal and dynamic, geared to promoting optimal well-being. provided, of course, millions of Americans are not waiting for the healthcare and education establishments to alter themselves in the direction of increased integration a nd variety. Instead, many are experimenting with their own choices.They research, read, surf the Internet, learn from one another, and test out variant combinations of exercise, diet, herbs and vitamins, spiritual practice, social support, and alternative treatments to find what works for them. Much of this experimentation is proceeding without external expert monitoring and may be uncollectible to health, in some degree. Conversely, countless millions are organizing for themselves what they view as water-loving practices that seem to be yielding improved vitality and more delightful emotional state historystyles.All of this activity is a virtual wellspring of prevention, occurring at all ecological levels in our society. Our cultural blueprint is being rewritten at the large level and is being put into practice by individuals and groups to say, in military issue We are empowered. Organizations are slower to adapt because they have traditions, regulations, policies, revenue streams, and other forces and elements that require longer to turn most-sort of like turning around the Titanic. But organizations are beginning to fiat and reinvent themselves, too witness the increase number of programs and initiatives that take a health-promoting orientation.Where does the professional practice of prevention by counselors and other helpers fit with this paradigm shift toward a more self-directed and experiencing style of health care and education? Right now a gap exists, as prevention is still tied closely to disorder-reduction, population-based models nether the control of preventionists who work conscientiously, and oftentimes tellingly, to help avert dysfunction.Within the context of positive psychology, Seligman (1999) and others wonder about the following question What is the better life? He is quick to indicate that what he means by the vertical life is not a Porsche, champagne, and a suntan.Seligman suggests that what positive psychology needs is a taxonomy for the tidy life, the main purpose of which would be to guide the locution and building of the good life. He observes that psychological science has been able to make water an exhaustive (and exhausting) compendium to describe and diagnose human dysfunction and psychopathology (the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV) and its editions), merely that there is no assort product to describe and prescribe human health and positive functioning. in that location is a concerted effort under way to develop a taxonomy of the good life.The positive psychology perspective is based on a particular assumption of what is the best way to promote mental health, a way that is 180 degrees different from that which has been in effect within psychology and psychiatry (Maddux, Snyder, & Feldman, 2003).This previous way is to correct dysfunction and to prevent any of the hundreds of clinical syndromes contained in the DSM. Instead, positive psychology alters the focus from the redu ction and prevention of human psychological disabilities and disturbances to the enhancement of human strengths and abilities. This focus centers on bona fide rejoicing (Seligman, 2002) from the eudaemonic approach-that is, happiness that is centered on meaning and self-realisation (Ryan & Deci, 2001), as well as the choices people make about their lives and how they pick up what occurs (Maddux et al. 2003).For example, authentic happiness (Seligman, 2002) is an area within positive psychology that is being intensely studied and that is addressing issues surrounding the good life. Interestingly, with regard to the concept of everyday prevention, the work link to positive psychology-and authentic happiness-appears oftentimes in the popular press as well as in professional/scientific outlets The Happiest Guy (McCafferty, 2003), an article on Seligmans authentic happiness, in the regular army Weekend Sunday newspaper insert, is a case in point. This work is becoming part of mai nstream America, increasingly available to people on an everyday basis.Of course, authentic happiness is not the analogous as A inadequate song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your gasp, although it could be said that both glee and fun are relevant. In his book on authentic happiness (Seligman, 2002), Seligman presents a happiness facial expression H = S + C + V. That is, an long-suffering level of Happiness (H) is a function of ones biological Set (S) range, plus raft (C) to which people are subjected (both generally positive in relation to enduring happiness, such as marriage and sociability, and those that are generally negatively related, such as money and race), plus Voluntary control (V), the choices one makes in life, such as a range of positive emotions like optimism, hope, faith, trust, and confidence.Although a large component of authentic, enduring happiness seems to be set by biology, it is the voluntary choices over which people can exert control that serves as the bellwether test of positive psychology. People can learn how to enhance their capacity to make positive choices on a daily basis. The VIA (Values in Action) signature Strengths seeks to assess twenty-four signature strengths that are associated with authentic happiness. The VIA Questionnaire was developed by the Values-In-Action (VIA) Institute, which is directed by Peterson and Seligman, and funded by the Mayerson Foundation (http//www.authentichappiness.org/)The twenty-four signature strengths are organized within the broader categories ofWisdom and Knowledge-five cognitive strengths involving the acquisition and use of neckledge. These strengths overwhelm creativity, curiosity, open-mindedness, love of learning, and perspective taking.Courage-four emotional strengths involving the will toward goal accomplishment even when there is internal or external opposition. These strengths include bravery, industry/perseverance, authenticity, and zest.Love-three interpersonal str engths that include supporting and caring for others. These strengths include intimacy, kindness, and social intelligenceJustice-three strengths that back up healthy communities. These strengths include citizenship/teamwork, fairness, and leadership.Temperance-four strengths that moderate and protect against excessiveness. These strengths include forgiveness/mercy, substitute/ humility, prudence, and self-control/self-regulation.Transcendence-five strengths that help to connect with the universe and provide meaning. These strengths include perplexity/appreciation of beauty and excellence, gratitude, hope, playfulness, and spirituality.Seligman (2002) indicates that everyone possesses many signature strengths. He suggests that individuals complete and history the VIA, examine their top strengths, and apply a set of nine criteria to each one of the top strengths. As examples, three of these nine criteria are as follows a strength engenders a understanding of ownership and authent icity, a emotional state of excitement while displaying it, and a rapid learning curve as it is first practiced.If a strength is matched by one or more of these criteria, he suggests that it is a signature strength and should be used frequently and across many settings and situations. Seligman provides examples in the areas of work, love, raising children, and finding general meaning and purpose in life. In sum, he (2002) holds the following with regard to the good lifeUse your signature strengths every day in the main realms of your life to bring about abundant gratification and authentic happiness. (p. 161) foresighted before work began in positive psychology to examine the good life, Socrates (born 470 B.C.E.) had given it some horizon Gross (2002) reviewed Socrates seven principles, which are often thought to be associated with the good life, and how they can be used on a daily basis. These areKnow Thyself. This one, we hear most frequently. To know thyself means to be self-aw are, to review and reflect on actions, and to develop and revise plans to fit personal values within the community context.Ask vast Questions. Be inquisitive. Seek to actively learn all the time, everywhere, from everyone.Think for Yourself. monitor what you say and what you do. Ask if these actions are reflective of you and your values and thoughts. Make up your own mind after weighing evidence.Challenge Conventional Wisdom. wear getting caught up in the currents running around you. Dont blindly do what everyone else does. Develop the capacity to act consistent with personal conviction.Grow with Friends. Connect with others and seek appropriately to interact at honest-to-god and deep levels.Speak the Truth. Avoid lying, shading the truth, or faking it. Spot these behaviors around you, and those where truthful behaviors occur, and allow both to guide you.Strengthen Your Soul. Build into each day opportunities and experiences that are restful, bring joy, and are kind.Socrates pro vided a good sound on defining the good life.Subjective Well-Being (SWB) is a condition that reflects a preponderance of positive thoughts and feelings about ones life (Myers & Diener, 1995, p. 11). It is defined by three distinct factors that are also agree (a) relative presence of positive affect, (b) absence of negative affect, and (c) life satisfaction. Associating happiness with SWB, Myers and Diener have pondered the questionWho is happy? They and others (e.g., Little, 2000 Willi, 1999) have found that happy and effective people (i.e., those with high SWB) tend toPossess particular inner ameliorate or natural traits self-esteem and acceptance, personal control/autonomy, optimism, and extraversion bear witness free, or adaptive, traits that are culturally scripted patterns enacted within ones goals and projects, and are independent of fixed traitsHave warm, positive, trusting, and satisfying interpersonal relationships rule flow in work and in leisure (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990 ), where engagement in mindful challenge, with adequate support, is realizablePossess a religious or spiritual faithAdapt positively to change and show environmental masteryFind or create personal niches that enrich their lives spirited within a cultural worldview that is generally positiveHave a purpose and find meaning in lifeHave personal goals that guide personal growthThus, happiness can be thought of as a side effect of other main set up and their interaction. Happiness can also be viewed as the dessert and not the main course.Positive youthfulness Development (PYD) is an approach to prevention that emphasizes the growth of youth in context rather than attempting to prevent separate problems face up by youths (Pittman & Fleming, 1991). Many youth outcomes are affected by the same protective and risk factors, making interventions that address several personal-social and setting domains important.A set of PYD constructs has been developed in an effort to operationally define positive youth development. These constructs are relevant to our discussion of everyday prevention. Positive Youth Development programs and strategies seek generally to achieve one or more of the following objectives (Catalano, Berglund, Ryan, Lonczak, & Hawkins, 2002) get on bonding developing a childs relationship with a healthy adult, positive peers, school, community, or culturesurrogate resilience developing adaptive coping strategies to stress and change, and enhancing flexibility and boilersuit capacityPromote social competence developing appropriate interpersonal skills in such areas as communication and conflict resolutionPromote emotional competence developing skills in identifying and managing feelings and emotional reactions, such as in empathy and frustration tolerancePromote cognitive competence developing ability to use logic, analytic thinking, abstract reasoning, problem solving, goal setting, and related skillsPromote behavioral competence developing skills in no n communicative and verbal communication and in taking prosocial actionPromote moral competence developing empathy, a sense of right and wrong, what is moral and just, and a enjoy for rules and standardsFoster self-determination developing the ability to think for oneself, to take action that matches the thought, to be autonomous, and to be able to chart ones own courseFoster spirituality developing a belief in a higher power, a belief system, or a sense of spiritual identity/meaning/practiceFoster self-efficacy developing a sense that one can accomplish goals through ones own action, involving personal goal setting, mastery skills, and ways to reverse self-defeating thoughtsFoster clear and positive identity developing a dour sense of self, including positive identification with a supportive social or cultural subgroupFoster belief in the future developing a belief about the future that is based on optimism about possibilities bear recognition for positive behavior developing way s to reward positive behaviorsProvide opportunities for pro-social involvement developing strategies for becoming actively involved in pro-social activities, making a contribution, and experiencing healthy interactions with othersFoster pro-social norms developing understanding of hi-fi normative behavior (e.g., the number of contemporaries who actually use drugs), mentoring to assist others (and oneself) with forward movement, creating clear expectations for minimizing health risks, and enhancing social support (pp. 15-22)These 15 PYD objectives provide a robust direction not only for professionals to pursue but also for everyday prevention efforts. Relatedly, Lopez and McKnight (2002) discussed what they termed light-handed interventions in PYD. Light-handed interventions are everyday occurrences that can make a difference in peoples lives (also cognize as experiences that enhance competency). These authors proposed that an efficient approach to PYD might be facilitated by what they termed everyday luxuries in which all youth do not have opportunities to indulge, such as attending a sporting event or a musical, relaxing, playing, and writing about life events.