
This theory, which has been backed by decades of research, explains how humans and animals can learn to become helpless and feel they have lost control over what happens to them. Seligman’s research in the 1960s and 70s laid the foundation for the well-known psychological theory of “ learned helplessness.” If you had never heard of the positive psychology movement until now, you still might have heard his name at some point. Martin Seligman is a researcher with a broad range of experience in psychology. These topics are studied in order to learn how to help people flourish and live their best lives. Positive institutions (applying positive principles within entire organizations and institutions).Īs a field, positive psychology spends much of its time thinking about topics like character strengths, optimism, life satisfaction, happiness, wellbeing, gratitude, compassion (as well as self-compassion), self-esteem and self-confidence, hope, and elevation.
Positive states and traits (like gratitude, resilience, and compassion). Positive experiences (like happiness, joy, inspiration, and love). Positive psychology focuses on the positive events and influences in life, including: What Positive Psychology Focuses on in a Nutshell To push this brief description a bit further, positive psychology is a scientific approach to studying human thoughts, feelings, and behavior, with a focus on strengths instead of weaknesses, building the good in life instead of repairing the bad, and taking the lives of average people up to “great” instead of focusing solely on moving those who are struggling up to “normal” (Peterson, 2008). “Positive psychology is the scientific study of what makes life most worth living” (Peterson, 2008). Positive psychology has been described in many ways and with many words, but the commonly accepted definition of the field is this: What is Positive Psychology: A Definition Criticism of the Movement in Perspective. Examples of Positive Psychology in Practice (+PDF). Meaning of Topics Like Flow and Flourishing.
Goals of Positive Psychology (in Coaching). What is Positive Psychology: A Definition.