What is Positive Psychology?

What is Positive

Psychology?

“Positive psychology is the scientific study of what makes life most worth living” 1

Psychology has previously focused on the effects of past events that are still impacting people negatively in the present. Psychologist, and one of the founders of positive psychology, Dr. Martin Seligman has shifted, “… the focus from mental illness and pathology to studying what is good and positive in life … that help(s) make life worth living and how to define, quantify, and create well-being”. 2 He reasons that, “... the absence of ill-being does not equal the presence of well-being.”3 The term positive psychology can be misleading so please note that:

“…positive psychology is not to be confused with untested self-help, footless affirmation, or secular religion—no matter how good these may make us feel. Positive psychology is neither a recycled version of the power of positive thinking nor a sequel to The Secret.” 4 Studying what is positive in your life does not ignore or eliminate the need to resolve problems interfering with present well-being. As psychologist James Pawelski, PH.D. noted: “Positive psychology is based on the fundamental insight that treating mental illness is not the same as promoting mental health. Getting rid of what we don’t want in our lives does not automatically bring what we do want” 5 To illuminate this concept Dr. Pawelski offers a garden analogy. If you want a healthy, flourishing garden you must not only pull weeds that hinder growth but you must also plant seeds so flowers or vegetables can flourish. Focusing on the past is the psychological equivalent of weeding; filtering out the negative thinking, the faulty perceptions, that inhibit our growth and prevent us from

fully enjoying our lives. Planting seeds is a positive act representing optimism about the future.

Self-Talk: Explanatory Styles The Three “P’s”

Explanatory styles are how we frame our lives and the world. They are the stories we tell ourselves. Under similiar circumstances the optimist may see a hiccup where a pessimist might see a hurricane. The most common example highlighting the opposite viewpoints is the way optimists and pessimists interpret whether a glass is half full or half empty. Explanatory style can become a self-fulfilling playbook, good or bad, and have huge consequences for your life and your future. According to Dr. Seligman explanatory styles comes down to three P’s: • Permanence • Pervasiveness • Personalization

https://merancis.com/2021/09/28/the-power-of-purpose-meaning-and-fulfillment/

“If you’ re a pessimist, you think good fortune won’ t last (Permanence), it doesn’ t apply to the rest of your life (Pervasiveness) and it’ s because you just got lucky (Personalization).

If you’ re an optimist, you tend to see life the other way around: good fortune will probably last, it’ s just another example of how everything’s awesome in your life and it’ s probably the result of all the diligent, patient, persistent and playful hard work you’ve put in for quite a while”.6

In real life choices usually aren’t binary: yes/no, either/or. Pessimism isn’t always negative and optimism isn’t always positive. Going through life as a “Pollyanna” who only sees the up side of things and being blind to potential problems is unrealistic and can lead to bad choices and vulnerability. We need to be aware that, “pessimism … can help us: maintain critical thinking;

utilize the skill of risk assessment; prevent naivety; and promote rationality”.7

The idea of perpetual happiness as so often portrayed in television, movies, popular literature and advertising is unrealistic and distorting. According to Dr. Vanessa Buote:

Learned Helplessness

“One of the misconceptions about happiness is that happiness is being cheerful, joyous, and content all of the time; always having a smile on your face. It’ s not. Being happy and leading rich lives is about taking the good with the bad, and learning how to reframe the bad.”8

A person with a pessimist explanatory style believes they are helpless to change or solve their circumstances. This belief can evolve into learned helplessness which is defined as , “ … a psychological phenomenon in which a person learns that he or she cannot avoid bad things happening in the future. This causes him or her to stop trying to prevent them”. 10

It is the equivalent of throwing your arms up in the air and saying, “I give up! Nothing I do matters. It’s hopeless”. Phrases such as, “I don’t care”. “What difference does it make”? can be a sign of a person trapped in a state of learned helplessness. Depression, “…is a disorder of the future, not a disorder of the past or the present” .

11

The two explanatory styles of perceiving the world are, according to Dr. Seligman, learned helplessness and learned optimism. How do we develop these perspectives that determine how we frame the world?

How can we change the future when

the stories we tell ourselves are bleak and our memories are distorted? Positive therapy has an answer because it is, “… oriented toward better planning, and rosier views of possible futures” . 12 Learning new ways to reframe events and perceptions counters the negative thinking of learned helplessness by embracing learned optimism. Mindfulness can help redirect your thoughts from dark thoughts. One simple way to focus on the present is to start a gratitude journal where you note the positive daily experiences. They could include simple things such as acknowledging that someone held a door open for you, or you received praise for something to did.

Learned Optimism

“Learned optimism is a process by which you learn to recognize habitually negative thoughts, and then challenge them. Challenging your pessimistic ideas helps you reframe them into new, more positive beliefs”. 13

Research has shown that optimism, “… cause(s) better resistance to depression when bad events strike, better performance at work, … and better health”.14 In an eight year Women’s Health Initiative study optimism was measured by the Life Orientation Test and the results showed, “… that optimism protects and pessimism hurts. This was true holding all the other risk factors – including depressive symptoms -constant” .14

But what about the future? Depressed people often conjure negative ideas about the future. Why not “…write three good things you anticipate happening tomorrow and what you can do to make it more likely [they] happen…and write down three methods that could be used to mitigate disappointment if the good things do not actually happen? This could include coping mechanisms (reaching out to a friend) or alternate strategies (e.g. if a friend cancelled lunch, you could suggest lunch next week).16

The PERMA Model

The PERMA model offers a road map about how to, “…build resilience, wellbeing, and optimism”. It is “… a higher order construct that predicts the flourishng of groups, communities, organizations, and nations”. 17

https://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/learn

Positive Emotions

“Feeling love, joy, and pleasure. This element encourages us to focus on optimism and view life with a constructive perspective. Rather than focusing on “the lows” in life, we should embrace positive emotions and be hopeful about future outcomes “. 18

Engagement

“Engagement is being in flow and focused on our activities. This element encourages us to be present during activities and attempt to find a state of “flow” or immersion into a task.” 19

Relationships

“Relationships Having healthy, supportive, and rewarding connections with others. We thrive on connections and intimacy and fostering these relationships is critical to finding happiness.” 20

W h a t i s F L O W ?

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi co-founder of positive psychology, was the first to identify and research flow.

He said: “flow is “a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience is so enjoyable that people will continue to do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it”

https://positivepsychology.com/mihaly-csikszentmihalyi-father-of-flow/

Meaning

“ Giving significance to the events in our lives. This can come in the form of religion, profession, raising children, volunteer work, etc. Considering the impact of our lives can help us live a life of fulfillment“.v21

Acccomplishments

“Attaining goals that support our core values. Setting and reaching our goals can give us a sense of accomplishment. These achievements can give us a sense of fulfillment and pride when they have been reached.” 22

The Plus (+) in PERMA

Vitality

“Research shows us that vitality is integral to our well-being. Our ability to get a good nights sleep, get the right nutrition inour bodies.To exercise regularly has a significant impact on all other elements of well-being. Maintaining physical vitality and energy management is essential for building resilience and bouncing back through adversity and challenge”. 23

Sherry Tuffin Editor, Book Reviewer stuffin@ltu.edu

Cover image https://openclipart.org/detail/331976/growing-mental-health

1 Peterson, C. (2008). What is positive psychology, and what is it not? Psychology Today. Retrieved from https:// www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-good-life/200805/what-is-positive-psychology-and-what-is-it-not 2 Seligman’s PERMA+Model Explained: A Theory of Wellbeing. Retrieved from: https://positivepsychology.com/perma-model/

3 Seligman, Martin E. P. The hope circuit : a psychologist's journey from helplessness to optimism / Martin Seligman Penguin

Random House Australia North Sydney, NSW 2018

4 Peterson, C. (2008). What is positive psychology, and what is it not? Psychology Today. Retrieved from https:// www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-good-life/200805/what-is-positive-psychology-and-what-is-it-not

5 https://www.coursera.org/learn/positive-psychology-visionary-science/discussionPrompt/zuQiw/imagine-your-life-as-agarden

6 https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-1115/The-3-Ps-of-Optimism.html 7 https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/resilience-training/about/pac-20394943#:~:text=Resilience%20training% 20focuses%20on%20four,life's%20inevitable%20challenges%20as%20opportunities 8 https://positivepsychologylearning.com/international-day-happiness-2016/#:~:text=Vanessa%20Buote%20said%2C%20%E2% 80% COne%20of,how%20to%20reframe%20the%20bad.%E2%80%9D 9 https://www.simplypsychology.org/learned-helplessness.html

10 Ibid 11 Coursera Drawn by the Future Part 2

12 Ibid

13 https://www.betterup.com/blog/learned-optimism

14 (Authentic Happiness 83) 15 (hope circuit 332)

16https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_thinking_about_the_future_makes_life_more_meaningful

17 https://positivepsychology.com/perma-model/ 18http://pedsanesthesia.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/How-to-Appply-PERMA-Model.pdf

19 Ibid 20 Ibid 21 Ibid 22 Ibid 23 Ibid 24 American Psychologist, 55(1), 5-14. 25https://positive.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Build-An-Emotions-Portfolio.pdf