What’s positive psychology all about? Is it about happiness?
Some of the findings of positive psychology seem like common sense.
- Wealth is only weakly related to happiness both within and across nations, particularly when income is above the poverty level (Diener & Diener, 1996).
- Activities that make people happy in small doses – such as shopping, good food and making money – do not lead to fulfillment in the long term, indicating that these have quickly diminishing returns (Myers, 2000; Ryan & Deci, 2000).
- People who express gratitude on a regular basis have better physical health, optimism, progress toward goals, well-being, and help others more (Emmons & Crumpler, 2000).
- Trying to maximize happiness can lead to unhappiness (Schwartz et al., 2002).
- People who witness others perform good deeds experience an emotion called ‘elevation’ and this motivates them to perform their own good deeds (Haidt, 2000).
- People who are optimistic or happy have better performance in work, school and sports, are less depressed, have fewer physical health problems, and have better relationships with other people. Further, optimism can be measured and it can be learned (Seligman, 1991; Lyubomirsky, King & Diener, 2005).
- People who report more positive emotions in young adulthood live longer and healthier lives (Danner, Snowdon, & Friesen, 2001).
- Physicians experiencing positive emotion tend to make more accurate diagnoses (Isen, 1993).
- Healthy human development can take place under conditions of even great adversity due to a process of resilience that is common and completely ordinary (Masten, 2001).
Positive psychology is not just about happiness nor is it just about thinking positively. Neither is it new, positive psychology has many distinguished ancestors including Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers, who founded Humanistic psychology which emphasises the goals for which people strive their awareness of this striving, and the importance of rational choice in this process.
What would happen to you if you performed small acts of kindness every-day? Performing five kind acts a week, especially all in one day, creates a measurable boost to levels of psychological well-being. Giving not only makes you feel good about yourself, it enhances your connection with others and can bring you positive feedback from others.
(Source:https://ppc.sas.upenn.edu)
MWP 