Fog City Reader » positive aspects http://www.fogcityreader.com Reference and Education Resource Center Sat, 04 Sep 2010 17:14:46 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Positive Psychology http://www.fogcityreader.com/2009/10/positive-psychology/ http://www.fogcityreader.com/2009/10/positive-psychology/#comments Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:49:02 +0000 admin http://www.fogcityreader.com/?p=25 Positive psychology is a scientific field that focuses exclusively on the positive aspects of people and life. It covers topics like well-being, happiness, engagement, meaning, positive relationships, optimism, and so on. The premise behind the movement is that for many decades, psychology as a field had been too focused on the so-called ‘disease model’, and in treating mental illness. While this is obviously an important part of psychology (in fact, a number of mental disorders that were once though of as untreatable, can now treated), positive psychologists believe that a fulfilling life is not merely the absence of disease, but is the addition of other factors.

But just because the field is focused on the positive aspects of life, this does not mean that it dismissed the real problems that people face in their lives. It simply proposes that positive experiences also deserve to be studied, in addition, but not instead of, negative or neutral experiences.

Positive psychology is a science, just as psychology in general is. So all the assumptions and theories that come out of the field are tested thoroughly. So positive psychology is not to be confused with self-help, a non-evidence based field. And the evidence that has accumulated so far has been quite interesting, for example:

Most people in the world are happy

Happiness is both a cause, and a result, of good things happening

Social relationships are one of the biggest factors in happiness

Money has a diminishing effect on happiness

People in many varied cultures have very similar strengths of character

Work can bring happiness if it is engaging and provides meaning

Psychological well-being comes from three things – autonomy, competency, and relations with others

One of the more important findings is that happiness can be taught. It appears that life circumstances such as age gender, income, and material possessions have only a minimal impact on happiness. The biggest factor, after genetics, is the intentional action that people take in response to the world; how they act and think.

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