Positive psychology

Positive psychology is a recent branch of scientific psychology that "studies the strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive." People have been discussing the question of human happiness since at least Ancient Greece.

Psychology has been criticized (Seligman, 2002) as primarily dedicated to addressing mental illness rather than mental "wellness". Several humanistic psychologists—such as Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, and Erich Fromm—developed successful theories and practices that involved human happiness despite there being a lack of solid empirical evidence at the time behind their work, and especially that of their successors, who chose to emphasize phenomenology and individual case histories.

Current empirical researchers in this subfield include Donald Clifton, Albert Bandura, Martin Seligman, Ed Diener, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, C. R. Snyder, Christopher Peterson, Shelley Taylor, Barbara Fredrickson, Charles S. Carver, Michael F. Scheier, and Jonathan Haidt.

General overview
Some researchers (Seligman, 2002) in this field posit that positive psychology can be delineated into three overlapping areas of research:


 * 1) Research into the Pleasant Life or the "life of enjoyment" examines how people optimally experience, forecast, and savor the positive feelings and emotions that are part of normal and healthy living (e.g. relationships, hobbies, interests, entertainment, etc.).
 * 2) The study of the Good Life or the "life of engagement" investigates the beneficial affects of immersion, absorption, and flow that individuals feel when optimally engaged with their primary activities. These states are experienced when there is a positive match between a person's strength and the task they are doing, i.e. when they feel confident that they can accomplish the tasks they face.
 * 3) Inquiry into the Meaningful Life or "life of affiliation" questions how individuals derive a positive sense of well-being, belonging, meaning, and purpose from being part of and contributing back to something larger and more permanent than themselves (e.g. nature, social groups, organizations, movements, traditions, belief systems).

The undo effect
When people experience stress, they show increased heart rate, higher blood sugar, immune suppression, and other adaptations optimized for immediate action. If individuals do not regulate these changes once the stress is past, they can lead to illness, Coronary Heart Disease, and heightened mortality. Both lab research and survey research indicate that positive emotions help people who were previously under stress relax back to their physiological baseline.

Elevation
After several years of researching disgust, University of Virginia professor Jonathan Haidt and others studied its opposite, and the term "elevation" was coined. Elevation is a moral emotion and is pleasant. It involves a desire to act morally and do "good"; as an emotion it has a basis in biology, and can sometimes be characterized by a feeling of expansion in the chest or a tingling feeling on the skin.

Broaden-and-build
Studies from Barbara Fredrickson's lab have randomly assigned participants to watch films that induce positive emotions such as amusement and contentment, negative emotions such as fear and sadness, or no emotions. Compared to people in the other conditions, participants who experience positive emotions show heightened levels of creativity, inventiveness, and "big picture" perceptual focus. Longitudinal studies show that positive emotions play a role in the development of long-term resource such as psychological resilience and flourishing.

Application
The development of the Character Strengths and Virtues (CSV) handbook represents the first attempt on the part of the research community to identify and classify the positive psychological traits of human beings. Much like the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) of general psychology, the CSV provides a theoretical framework to assist in developing practical applications for positive psychology. This manual identifies six classes of virtue (i.e. "core virtues"), made up of twenty-four measurable character strengths.

The organization of these virtues and strengths is as follows:


 * 1) Wisdom and Knowledge: creativity, curiosity, open-mindedness, love of learning, perspective
 * 2) Courage: bravery, persistence, integrity, vitality
 * 3) Humanity: love, kindness, social intelligence
 * 4) Justice: citizenship, fairness, leadership
 * 5) Temperance: forgiveness and mercy, humility and modesty, prudence, self-regulation
 * 6) Transcendence: appreciation of beauty and excellence, gratitude, hope, humor, spirituality

Practical applications of positive psychology include helping individuals and organizations correctly identify their strengths and use them to increase and sustain their respective levels of well-being. Therapists, counselors, coaches, and various other psychological professionals can use the new methods and techniques to build and broaden the lives of individuals who are not necessarily suffering from mental illness or disorder.

Quotes
“A systematic study of 22 people who won major lotteries found that they reverted to their baseline level of happiness over time, winding up no happier than 22 matched controls” (p48 Authentic Happiness Martin Seligman)

“Within a few years, [paraplegics] wind up only slightly less happy on average than individuals who are not paralyzed” (p48 ibid)

“[83 percent] of Americans report positive life satisfaction” (p50 ibid)

“In wealthier nations … increases in wealth have negligible effects on personal happiness” (p54 ibid)