What is Positive Psychology?
Positive Psychology has become very popular and misunderstood. Let’s be clear that Positive Psychology is more than just feeling good and thinking positive thoughts. Positive Psychology is a science. The two leading researchers on Positive Psychology are both well-known psychologists, Dr. Martin Seligman and Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.
According to Wikipedia: “Positive psychology is a recent branch of psychology whose purpose was summed up in 2000 by Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: “We believe that a psychology of positive human functioning will arise that achieves a scientific understanding and effective interventions to build thriving in individuals, families, and communities.” Positive psychologists seek “to find and nurture genius and talent”, and “to make normal life more fulfilling”, not simply to treat mental illness. This approach has created a lot of interest around the subject, and in 2006 a course at Harvard University entitled “Positive Psychology” became the most popular course that semester.
According to Psychology Today: ’ Positive psychology is the scientific study of what makes life most worth living. It is a call for psychological science and practice to be as concerned with strength as with weakness; as interested in building the best things in life as in repairing the worst; and as concerned with making the lives of normal people fulfilling as with healing pathology.
Nowhere does this definition say or imply that psychology should ignore or dismiss the very real problems that people experience. Nowhere does it say or imply that the rest of psychology needs to be discarded or replaced. The value of positive psychology is to complement and extend the problem-focused psychology that has been dominant for many decades.
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Find out how Dr. Martin Seligman defines Positive Psychology and why he thinks it is such a strong area of study.
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Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment
$5.88 A national bestseller, Authentic Happiness launched the revolutionary new science of Positive Psychology—and sparked a coast-to-coast debate on the nature of real happiness. According to esteemed psychologist and bestselling author Martin Seligman, happiness is not the result of good genes or luck. Real, lasting happiness comes from focusing on one’s personal strengths rather than weaknes... |
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Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment
$5.88 A national bestseller, Authentic Happiness launched the revolutionary new science of Positive Psychology—and sparked a coast-to-coast debate on the nature of real happiness. According to esteemed psychologist and bestselling author Martin Seligman, happiness is not the result of good genes or luck. Real, lasting happiness comes from focusing on one’s personal strengths rather than weaknes... |
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Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life
$6.96 Martin Seligman, a renowned psychologist and clinical researcher, has been studying optimists and pessimists for 25 years. Pessimists believe that bad events are their fault, will last a long time, and undermine everything. They feel helpless and may sink into depression, which is epidemic today, especially among youths. Optimists, on the other hand, believe that defeat is a temporary setbac... |
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OTHER BLOGS!
Positive Psychology News Daily » Six Ways to Eat a Potato Chip …
While the science of positive psychology is relatively new, the strengths we act on are not. Focusing on strengths instead of weaknesses is also nothing new. It is founded in the timeless and enduring virtues that the Greek philosopher, …
Publish Date: 06/11/2010 13:42
http://positivepsychologynews.com/news/john-yeager/2010061111635
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Passion and Happiness You Have But Didn’t Know About | ABC article …
His blog, Shrunken Mind, was recently recognized as #1 in positive psychology on the web by PostRank (drjohnblog.guidetoself.com) and as one of the Top 100 blogs on the web by The Daily Reviewer. Dr. Schinnerer’s areas of expertise …
Publish Date: 06/16/2010 1:00
http://www.abcarticledirectory.com/Article/Passion-and-Happiness-You-Have-But-Didn-t-Know-About/915917
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Positive Psychology – What it is and How to Use It
We also know a lot about creative genius, but as a whole psychology did not know a lot about your every day Joe. So in 1998 Dr. Martin Seligman created a new field in psychology… positive psychology. …
Publish Date: 06/09/2010 13:49
http://theselfesteemblog.com/self-esteem/featured-articles/positive-psychology-what-it-is-and-how-to-use-it/
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