Positive Psychology

An International Perspective

Aleksandra Kostic, Derek Chadee, Aleksandra Kostic, Derek Chadee

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781119666448
• eBook ISBN: 9781119666363
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Social Psychology
• Index: Psychology

POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

Bringing together today's most prominent positive psychology researchers to discuss current themes and issues in the field

Positive psychology is the scientific study of the strengths, rather than the weaknesses, in human thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. For much of its history, psychology has focused on the negative, completely overlooking the positive attributes that allow individuals and communities to thrive. Positive Psychology is a collection of essays that together constitutes a much-needed theoretical rationale and critical assessment of the field. This book reassesses what we already know and provides directions for the future. Contributors are leading international authors, including Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Robert Sternberg, Vittorio Caprara, C. Daniel Batson, and Illona Boniwell, among others. These luminaries write in a way that is rigorous enough for academic use but accessible to professionals, policymakers, and lay audiences as well.

The content of Positive Psychology include both theoretical applied contributions focusing on a range of areas including altruism, positive creativity, science of well-being, forgiveness, coaching for leadership, cyberpsychology, intelligence, responding to catastrophes like COVID-19, time perspective, physiological and epigenetic, youth civic engagement, ups and downs of love, flow and good life, global perspectives on positive psychology, self and collective efficacy, positive psychology interventions and positive orientation. The book is pitched to senior undergraduates, graduates, academics and researchers and provides insights and perspectives into neglected and unresolved questions.

• Brings together the latest viewpoints and research findings on positive psychology, from the leading thinkers in the field
• Offers both theoretical and applied insights, for a well-rounded reference on this new and fast growing field
• Contains contributions from well known authors like Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Robert Sternberg, and Vittorio Caprara
• Appeals to academic, professional, and lay audiences with an interest in acquiring a profound knowledge of positive psychology

No other book currently on the market addresses such a breadth of issues in positive psychology. Positive Psychology represents a significant theoretical boost to this exciting field.

1
Embracing Psychology Positively

Derek Chadee and Aleksandra Kostić

Positive psychology conjures the notion of a soft approach to addressing hard psychological issues. Though this is far from the truth, academia quite often focuses on removing of the negative and thinking critically of issues that adversely impact on our lives. Focusing on the other side, the positive, somehow implicitly summons the notion of not assessing the core of a problem. Martin Seligman in 1998, recognizing the usefulness of critically assessing the cause and impact of the negative, also saw the need to focus theorization, research, policy, and a paradigm toward the other side of the coin – the positive. In fact, positive psychologists go even further to emphasize that by encouraging the development of positive attributes many of the negative issues may be systemically addressed.

Martin Seligman the father of positive psychology defined this area of psychology as “a scientific and professional movement with a new goal to build the enabling conditions of a life worth living” (2011) and studied not only the frailties and problems but the strengths and virtues of the human being (Seligman, 2002, p. 630). Later, Duckworth, Steen, and Seligman (2005) clarified positive psychology from clinical psychology noting that as a “scientific study of positive experiences and positive individual traits and the institutions that facilitate their development, a field concerned with well‐being and optimal functioning, positive psychology at first glance seem peripheral to mainstream clinical psychology. We believe otherwise.” In fact, they noted that positive psychology expands the emphasis of clinical psychology from distress and interventions for improvement and moving the discourse to continuance of well‐being. Taking this principle of positive psychology, its contributions toward well‐being expands beyond that of the clinical branch of the discipline of psychology. Gable and Haidt (2005) argued that the prominence of the negative in psychology may be a result of prioritizing of compassion, the history and pragmatism of focusing on distress and disease, the nature and theorization of psychology. But they also posited that a positive psychology in no way implies a negative psychology, nor prior or future theorization, and research outside of this emerging branch are not in any way inferior.

Core to the discipline is the fact that positive psychology has the characteristics of a scientific intellectual movement and has over a short period develop a paradigm of a mature science (Simmons, 2013). Seligman, Gillham, Reivich, Linkins, and Ernst (2009) acknowledged the growth of positive psychology as a scientific paradigm to study positive emotions, engagement, and meaning and the importance of these characteristics in the development of life satisfaction. But one may ask why the ease in which this discipline has so quickly navigated toward respectability. The answer obviously lies in the content of positive psychology and the simplicity of the assumptions and premises on which, over a hundred years prior, the discipline of psychology studied with interventions. However, psychology fell short of ensuring the continuance of the well‐being of the inner being (Duckworth et al., 2005). Simmons (2013) referred to an interesting quotation from Abraham Maslow’s classic book, Motivation and Personality, in a chapter titled “Toward a Positive Psychology”:

The science of psychology has been far more successful on the negative than on the positive side. It has revealed to us much about man’s shortcomings, his illness, his sins, but little about his potentialities, his virtues, his achievable aspirations, or his full psychological height. It is as if psychology has voluntarily restricted itself to only half its rightful jurisdiction, and that, the darker, meaner half.

(Maslow, 1954, p. 354)

The genesis of positive psychology has been attributed to the works of humanistic psychologists such as Carl Rogers, Rollo May, Abraham Maslow, Gordon Allport, and Marie Jahoda, who in 1958 wrote on the continuance of well‐being in patients (Duckworth et al., 2005). One can possibly say that the spirit of humanistic psychology manifested in positive psychology, one discipline in its evolution. However, Peterson and Seligman (2004, see also Simons, 2013) noted the reluctance of the humanistic school to emphasize scientific rigor.

Happiness and well‐being are partly influenced by positive emotions, engagement, and purpose (Seligman, 2008). Concerns about the past, present, and future influence our levels of contentment, serenity, somatic and complex pleasures, optimism, and hope (Duckworth et al., 2005; Seligman, Rashid, & Parks, 2006). Our engagement is reciprocally conditional to strengths which are constructed on core virtues such as wisdom, integrity, and honesty. Purpose and life meaning are derived from interaction within the institutional core to our self. These three domains are not mutually exclusive but the ideal is a harmonious balance. The interplay of the three domains provide hedonic, emphasis on happiness and pleasure, and eudaimonic emphasis on life’s meaning, purpose, and satisfactions. Both hedonic and eudaimonic models were synergized by Seligman and Adler (2018; see also Altmaier, 2019) to understand a blended engagement in the derivation of happiness and life satisfaction. Seligman articulated this blend in the PERMA model which is an acronym for positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment.

Positive psychology has distinguished between the absence of the negative and the presence of the positive. Consider, cold is the absence of heat or poverty the absence of wealth, though debatable, these analogies have their insights but also their limits. Similarly, consider the issue of delinquency. The resolution of this issue by addressing the core causes of the problem means that the issue has been addressed with temporal and spatial specificity. But has the well‐being of persons involved with or affected by delinquency been addressed or sustained? Has the social environment and parties feel engaged, or have a greater sense of well‐being, or have more positive emotions? The positive psychology emphasis of beyond time and space limitations is a core distinguishing factor. Duckworth et al. (2005) observing that the positive is not simply the absence of the negative, noted with an example that the removal of incivility, revenge, and anger, does not necessarily lead to the presence of civility, cooperation, and loyalty. Both the former, removal of the negative, and the latter, creation and sustenance of the the positive, require different interventions.

Within this context and sharing the assumptions and theorization of positive psychology, the contributors to this book are from a wide range of cultures and have diligently articulated significant issues of interest on positive psychology to an international audience. Their contributions include the areas of altruism, positive creativity, science of well‐being, forgiveness, coaching for leadership, cyberpsychology, intelligence, responding to catastrophes like COVID‐19, time perspective, physiological and epigenetic, youth civic engagement, ups and downs of love, flow and good life, global perspectives on positive psychology, self and collective efficacy, positive psychology interventions, and positive orientation.

Do we humans ever, in any degree, care for others for their sakes and not simply for our own? Daniel Batson, renowned for his research on empathy and altruism, in his chapter utilizes the empathy‐altruism hypothesis to address this question. The egoism–altruism debate is briefly discussed, touching on the egoism trend that prevails in Western societies. The empathy‐altruism hypothesis, which states that altruistic motivation is produced by empathetic concern is discussed distinguishing empathetic concern (the perceived welfare of a person in need elicits and is congruent with other‐oriented emotion) and altruistic motivation (increasing another’s welfare in the main goal). Other aspects of empathy‐altruism are articulated such as self‐benefits falling within the realm of the goal of egoism as opposed to the consequence of altruism. The author notes that empathy‐induced altruistic motivation is within the human repertoire and the biological roots of such motivation may lie in generalized parental nurturance. Practical implications of the empathy‐altruism hypothesis are then discussed in relation to its benefits and liabilities. Some benefits include the inhibition of aggression, the increase of collaboration in conflicts, and improved attitudes toward stigmatized groups. Some liabilities include the potential risk of harm (e.g., through time, money, and physical injury) by performing some altruistic acts and some needs may not necessarily arouse empathetic concern.

Distinguished psychologist, Robert J. Sternberg, differentiates between positive and negative creativity, highlighting that while fundamentally being the same, the distinguishing factor is the function they serve. The author contends that creators need to think beyond the short‐term requirements of creative solutions since solutions which have outlived their purpose may become negative in the wrong hands, for example, nuclear weapons and carbon‐based fuels. Acknowledging the prevalence and impact of negative creativity globally, the article outlines some of the fundamental reasons for negative creativity. These include enhancing reputation, responding in anger, responding to fear, and revenge.

Creators need to also pay attention to whether creativity is adding value both in the short and long term, that is whether it is positive, negative, or neutral. Citing social media and a form of creativity once intended to be positive, it has evolved into a medium which has been used to distort elections and spread hateful propaganda. One of the many conclusions from this chapter is a discussion on how creativity can be uncomfortable and potentially dangerous, but, despite this, there is a need for more positive creativity, decency in discourse, reflection, and civility.

In their chapter Jessica Kansky and Ed Diener extend theconcept of subjective well‐being (SWB) beyond happiness. The primary causes ofwell‐being (e.g., income, social relationships, genetics, strengths andpositive behaviors, and health) were discussed as well as its criticaloutcomes. SWB consists of three independently related facets: positive,negative, and life satisfaction. The dynamic nature of SWB has seen a growinginterest in the field which has been matched by evolving methods of measurementwhich range from self‐report methods to physiological and neuroimaging methods.These methods, however, are constrained by their inability to provide causal conclusions. To address this limitation, experimental methods and long‐termfollow‐up assessments were viewed as a way forward allowing researchers tounderstand the causal relationship between moods and affect. The influence ofprograms such as ENHANCE strongly suggest the malleability of happiness. As the authors pointed, “an individual may have multiplehappiness set points, rather than one global point and that different aspectsof well‐being can move in different directions independently”. Inclosing an emphasis is given to the strong need for further research on theconceptual and theoretical foundations of SWB and its globalization.

How can positive psychology be applied to leadership styles not only for the direct benefit of organizations but for overall human development? Ilona Boniwell and Wendy‐Ann Smith discuss the merit of positive leadership for organizations challenged by global competition. Employees who belong to teams which are guided by greater opportunities for recognition, whose leaders are seen as more ethical, authentic, and charismatic, tend to demonstrate greater engagement at the individual level, and those organizations are better able to achieve their corporate goals. Positive leadership is an umbrella term encompassing several leadership styles which places the human at the center of the value creation process. The authors distinguish among positive organizational scholarship, positive organizational behavior, and positive leadership as critical tools of positive psychology within the workplace. Guided by the competing values framework, which posits that leadership has the capacity to hold and integrate contrasting tensions, the chapter discusses the major theoretical underpinnings of leadership.

Some of the major tools in coaching of employees are articulated and include perceiving emotions, understanding emotions, using emotions to facilitate thinking, and managing emotions. Perceiving emotions extends beyond just that of the individual leader but also of members of the team since this directly impacts leadership thought and behaviors. Understanding emotional reactions provides a greater awareness of the causes of certain emotions and some predictability to the consequences of such emotional responses. Using emotions, both positive and negative, to facilitate thinking can have beneficial outcomes. Positive emotions make one more receptive and creative while negative emotions, guided by support have the potential for creative problem solving. Finally, the authors insightfully discuss that the managing of emotions as a coaching tool is critical since emotions can be contagious and can impact the mood and morale of work teams. Leadership is a...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• List of Contributors
• Acknowledgment
• 1 Embracing Psychology Positively
• 2 The Empathy‐Altruism Hypothesis
• 3 Positive Creativity
• 4 Science of Well‐Being
• 5 Positive Psychology: Coaching Leadership Tensions
• 6 Positive Cyberpsychology
• 7 Earth to Humans
• 8 Time Perspective and Good Feelings
• 9 Physiological and Epigenetic
• 10 Youth Civic Engagement
• 11 The Ups and Downs of Love
• 12 Flow
• 13 Global Perspectives on Positive Psychology
• 14 Self‐Efficacy, Collective Efficacy and Positive Psychology
• 15 Positive Psychology Interventions
• 16 From Serbia with Positive Orientation
• Index
• End User License Agreement