- What are the features of positive psychology? — History of appearance
- Basic Principles of Positive Psychology - PERMA Model - Learned Optimism
- Positive Psychology: Helpful Techniques - Research-Backed Thesis Guaranteed to Improve Your Quality of Life
- Disadvantages and controversial points of positive psychology
Positive psychology has been the cause of heated debate for many years - it has no less opponents than supporters. On the one hand, it promises a simple recipe for happiness, on the other hand, it is denounced for mysticism and controversial attitudes. Skeptics believe that this trend creates the illusion that a person can become happy if he directs his thoughts in a positive direction, while the mind is more complex. But despite all its controversy, this theory has useful techniques that are worth adopting.
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Below we will talk about these techniques, the essence of positive psychology, its strengths and controversial sides
.
What are the features of positive psychology?
The concept of positive psychology was first used by Abraham Maslow back in the 1950s.
, and the founding father of the movement was the American psychologist
Martin Seligman
, who developed Maslow’s idea in 2002.
According to Seligman, the science of the soul is not working on the things it should be working on. Instead of making people happy, it focuses their gaze on the negative - old grievances, difficult childhood, past traumas. Classical psychology is aimed at curing a disorder or disease, and if this is not possible, then stopping it and teaching a person to live with it.
they hardly talk about how to make a person happy in everyday life
A psychologist is perceived as a specialist whom people go to to fix a problem, and not to improve their life or improve themselves.
, on the other hand, focuses on the study of a person's feelings, behavior and thoughts, focusing on their strengths.
, and not on the negative aspects in life.
According to the ideas of this movement, happiness is one of the main goals of existence, along with well-being
, which is achieved through personal achievements and relationships.
According to the American psychologist, the formation of character and a happy lifestyle are based on six qualities: humanity, justice, wisdom, courage, spirituality and self-control
.
The history of positive psychology
One day, Nikki's five-year-old daughter interfered with Seligman's work in the garden. The psychologist could not stand it and shouted at her, and in response the girl recalled that just a couple of years ago she was a terrible whiner, and on her fifth birthday she firmly decided to improve. Nikki asked her father why she was able to change her character by force of will, but he could not stop being so harmful.
Seligman had an epiphany. His daughter’s thought struck him with its wisdom and childlike spontaneity: to change your character for the better, it’s enough to make an effort and direct your energy in the right direction
.
It was this idea that formed the basis of positive psychology, the focus of which is shifted from problems and diseases and is aimed at improving the quality of life and cultivating the best qualities of a person
.
Story
The ideological predecessor of the direction is Abraham Maslow, who first used the term “positive psychology” in his book “Motivation and Personality” (1954). Maslow and other representatives of humanistic psychology, writing in the 1950s and 1960s, encouraged psychologists to pay more attention to promoting mental health than to treating diseases and pathologies. Among modern researchers in this field, the most famous are Ed Diener, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Charles Snyder, Albert Bandura, Daniel Gilbert and John Haidt.
The founder of positive psychology as an academic field is Martin Seligman, who, when elected president of the American Psychological Association in 1998, dedicated his speech to this new direction of psychology. In his speech, Seligman emphasized that for the previous fifty years, psychology had been studying and treating all sorts of pathologies, without paying attention to the positive aspects of human life, such as creativity, hope, or perseverance in achieving one's goals. Seligman called on his colleagues to "restore the balance" and suggested three main directions for future research:
- positive emotions and subjective feelings of happiness (for example, enjoyment, satisfaction with life, a feeling of closeness, constructive thoughts about yourself and your future, optimism, self-confidence, full of energy, “vitality”);
- positive human character traits (wisdom, love, spirituality, honesty, courage, kindness, creativity, sense of reality, search for meaning, forgiveness, humor, generosity, altruism, empathy, etc.);
- social structures that promote people's happiness and development (democracy, healthy families, free media, healthy workplace environments, healthy local social communities).
Seligman's speech aroused great interest among his colleagues, including such famous psychologists as Christopher Peterson, Ed Diener and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, thanks to which the ideas of positive psychology very quickly turned into a new direction in psychological science. science
Basic principles of positive psychology
From the point of view of positive psychology, a person should strive for global meaning
, and not just be content with fleeting joy.
Seligman identified three steps on the path to happiness
:
- Achieving a comfortable and enjoyable life (superficial happiness).
- A decent life in which the individual is focused on developing his own strengths and achieving a state of flow.
- A meaningful life: a person strives to achieve a higher goal (usually serving others).
Model PERMA
PERMA
is Martin Seligman's plan for well-being. Let's figure out what components this acronym consists of - they are also the key principles of Seligman's theory, which allow us to achieve the happiness promised by positive psychology.
P – Positive Emotions
Of course, a good mood won’t come out of nowhere. But this is an important factor in well-being, and you need to work on it.
. It has been proven that a positive mood has a good effect on health (including psychological) and even prevents the occurrence of chronic diseases. Often optimists are more successful than pessimists, and this is largely due to the fact that they do not give up, but try to actively solve problems.
How to achieve:
To experience more positive emotions, focus on things that lift your spirits every day: a cup of cocoa, a morning run, a book from your favorite writer.
E – Engagement
When you don't like what you're doing, it's hard to feel happy. And the state of flow gives absolutely the opposite sensations. We experience it when we are truly passionate about something - so much so that we forget about time and problems
.
This is an inspiring feeling of high spirits and a burst of energy
that develops when striving for an important goal. In the flow it is easy to achieve high productivity and solve even complex problems. The method is based on the research of the Hungarian psychologist M. Csikszentmihalyi, who noticed that a person enthusiastically takes on complex tasks if his level of qualifications in a particular field is also high.
How to achieve:
Learn a hobby that interests you, take courses to develop your skills and find a job that better suits your passions. You will find useful tips on how to enter a state of flow and stay in it in the corresponding article.
R – Relationships
Although introverts have less of a need to connect than extroverts, all people are social creatures and interacting with others is necessary to feel included.
. The form of communication with others that suits you has a positive effect on your sense of self.
How to achieve:
Expand connections with other people: increase the number of contacts, make new acquaintances, pleasant interlocutors with similar interests. Improve existing relationships with relatives and friends.
M – Meaning
The feeling of boundless bliss is not permanent, it comes and goes. According to the concept of positive psychology, only finding meaning in life will make you truly happy.
.
How to achieve:
Seligman recommended looking for meaning “outside oneself”—devoting oneself to caring for someone: for example, about family, about animals, about people in need. You can do volunteering or other charitable work. When you see that your actions bring real benefit to others, it increases your self-esteem and improves your mood (unless you have problems with empathy and a few others).
A – Accomplishment
We experience happiness when we overcome ourselves and succeed in something. This desire and moments of success give life flavor
.
How to achieve:
Focus on your goals and achieving them, but don't obsess over them. To know what to strive for, it is important to find your own strengths. You may not even realize some of your benefits.
This model is the basis for achieving well-being, according to Seligman. To know happiness, you need to succeed in all of the above aspects.
In the life of an optimist and a pessimist there are the same number of troubles and misfortunes, but an optimist experiences them better (M. Seligman)
Learned optimism
Seligman discovered the concept of learned helplessness
– when a person is sure that he is unable to avoid negative events and change his life for the better. According to him, this trait becomes a key barrier to well-being.
The psychologist made similar conclusions as a result of an experiment conducted in the laboratory. The dogs were placed in a cage and shocked. After this, they were placed in a box with a partition, and the animals could avoid pain by jumping over a low barrier. But instead they lay on the floor and whined, not trying to change anything. Seligman was amazed by this discovery. He showed that people have the same pattern of behavior and the feeling of helplessness literally destroys lives
.
The American psychologist contrasted learned helplessness with learned optimism.
and developed a technique by which this trait can be developed.
Fortunately, the animals who participated in the experiment were also able to be “cured” - they began to drag them through the partitions, despite resistance, and over time the dogs realized that painful blows could be avoided.
How to get into positive thinking
So how can you increase the amount of positive emotions in your life and apply the theory of expansion and development to yourself?
Any spark of joy, satisfaction and love will certainly do its job. But only you know exactly what will work for you. Maybe it will be playing the guitar, walking with a loved one, or carving a wooden gnome for your favorite flower garden.
Nevertheless, it is worth paying attention to some activities that are suitable for many earthlings. Meditation. A recent study by Fredrickson found that people who meditate daily experience more positive emotions than those who do not meditate.
As expected, meditation had a beneficial effect on long-term skills. For example, three months after the end of the experiment, people who meditated daily had increased attention and determination, and their health improved
Meditation. A recent study by Fredrickson found that people who meditate daily experience more positive emotions than those who do not meditate. As expected, meditation had a beneficial effect on long-term skills
For example, three months after the end of the experiment, people who meditated daily had increased attention and determination, and their health improved
Letter. The study, published in the Journal of Research in Personality, examined two groups of 45 students. The first group wrote about strong positive feelings for three days. The other is on a regular topic.
Three months later, the members of the first team were in a better mood, they were sick less often and sought help from doctors. Just three days of writing about positive things resulted in improved health.
A game. Fit team sports into your life schedule. You plan meetings, negotiations, events and various responsibilities on your calendar, but why don't you find time for amateur sports?
Photo: chaoss / Photogenics
When was the last time you indulged in experimentation and discovered new things for yourself? When was the last time you planned entertainment? Is happiness less important than a Tuesday planning meeting?
Give yourself permission to smile and enjoy the benefits of positive emotions. Plan a futsal game with friends or a little adventure with your significant other. By doing so, you will experience satisfaction and joy, as well as learn and develop new skills.
Positive Psychology: Helpful Techniques
Let us repeat: despite the fact that positive psychology itself causes quite heated debate, useful practical advice can be derived from this theory. They will help you change the way you think, become more optimistic, stronger and feel happier.
Look for the positives in everything
Let's say you have to give an oral presentation on your work, and the thought of speaking in front of an audience is terrifying. Before your emotions overwhelm you, step back and think about the situation with a cool head. You will make a report in front of your colleagues. What does this mean? For example, that the boss values your opinion and trusts you. What benefits can be derived from this? You have the opportunity to establish yourself on a positive side and promote your ideas.
When you see the benefits, you will feel a surge of strength and optimism.
, which will help you cope with the task.
Identify your strengths
Instead of dwelling on your weaknesses, spend your energy and resources on cultivating your talents and strengths
. If you have a clear affinity for programming, taking courses like this will help open the door to your dream job. Perhaps what you thought was a disadvantage will work for you. Meticulousness and pickiness can be turned into punctuality, which is highly valued in many areas of work.
Keep an emotional diary
Set an alarm on your smartphone and record your emotions and feelings on paper several times a day. This will make it easier for you to analyze your condition and improve.
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Write a letter of gratitude
Dedicate it to a specific person. It is best to hand over the letter in person or speak the contents out loud. This will help you get rid of negativity and feel happier.
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Keep a gratitude journal
If every day before going to bed you write down three things for which you are grateful for the past day, then within a couple of weeks your life satisfaction will significantly increase
. It could be something ordinary, but pleasant: good weather, a delicious dinner, or help from a loved one.
Forgive the insults
Forgiveness is needed not so much for the person who harmed you, but for you yourself, in order to stop being burdened by negative emotions
. It's not always easy, especially when you have to forgive someone who has caused you a lot of pain. For difficult cases, Seligman offers a step-by-step methodology.
- Recreate the events that happened in your memory, but at the same time abstract from emotions
. Do not feel sorry for yourself under any circumstances and distance yourself from negativity towards others, turn into a dispassionate observer. - Imagine yourself in the place of the offender, think about his feelings at the moment when he commits an act that offends you. It won't be easy, but you need to sympathize with him
. - The third step is an altruistic gesture
. We need to give forgiveness to the offender. It is important that you do this not for yourself, but for him. Reach that state so that you can sincerely say: “Resentment and revenge are not for me.” - The next moment is a symbol of the fact that you have truly forgiven
. It can be expressed creatively: through drawing or writing. It will be good if you tell your loved one about your decision. - The most important thing is not to fall back on negative emotions
.
This does not mean that you will be able to forget what happened, but it will be much easier for you to move on
because your emotional response to the event will change.
We cannot say that we fully agree with this approach to resentment and forgiveness. Read our article about resentment to understand what it is like, what forgiveness is like, and what to do in various situations.
Research-backed ideas that are guaranteed to improve your quality of life
- If you pretend you feel good, you will.
- Emotions are no less contagious than viruses - you unwittingly adopt the way of thinking of those around you. If there are positive people around, then you will become one of them.
- The hormone oxytocin, which is produced through hugs and other physical contact, really affects and improves well-being.
- Happiness can be bought by spending money on other people. The more free acts of kindness you dedicate to others, the better you will feel.
- The desire for a good and quality life increases satisfaction with life in general.
- Developing character strengths and happiness work as a buffer against failure and negative life situations.
Positive psychology has become very famous and has even been used in the training of more than 1 million US Army soldiers.
Rules of positive thinking for every day
Positive thinking is the conscious management of your thoughts, thanks to which happiness, harmony, success and, of course, humor and good mood are attracted to life. To achieve this result as quickly as possible, take full responsibility for your actions, and the following rules will help you stay on course.
For convenience, the rules can be written down so that you can re-read them every morning after waking up (like affirmations, they should be written in a positive way and exclude the particle not):
- Today I will definitely be happy and glad that I am alive
- Today I will be positive about everything I have and everything that life offers me.
- Today I will improve my health: eat less harmful and more healthy, drink water, exercise, rest and sleep as much as I need.
- Today I will definitely develop my intellect: read useful books, learn something new, communicate with positive people
- From now on, I will become benevolent: I will stop criticizing others, correcting other people’s mistakes; I will take care of myself; I will wish people well and praise them
- From today I begin to live in a specific moment - here and now, without clinging to thoughts of the past and dreams of the future
- Today I will begin to follow a specific program and will know exactly what to do at every moment of time, thereby getting rid of haste and indecision
- From today I will begin to spend at least half an hour alone with myself: analyze thoughts, relax, think about life, meditate
- Today I will stop thinking about bad things, conflicts and troubles and “revel” in negative thoughts
- From now on I will stop being afraid of anything, and especially of becoming a happy person.
Positive thinking, of course, does not mean that you do not need to pay attention to troubles and troubles, constantly repeating that everything is fine. But it presupposes a view of difficulties in a positive way, a search for the good in absolutely everything, a constructive attitude towards problems, and a humorous view of difficulties. Even if negative thoughts slip into your mind, you don’t need to focus on them - by becoming more optimistic, you will immediately notice how new opportunities open up before you.
We also recommend that you read literature about positive thinking in your spare time:
- A. Sviyash “Smile before it’s too late! Positive psychology for everyday life"
- D. Allen “The Thinking Man”
- D. Von Aiken “Lucky”
- M. Seligman “New positive psychology”
- R. Sharma “101 Lessons for a Happy Life”
- N. Vincent Peale "The Power of Positive Thinking"
- K. Salmanson “Instantly happy. Change your mood in 10 seconds"
- D. Murphy “Telepsyche”
- B Tracy “Change your thinking and you will change your life”
- D. Kehoe “The subconscious can do anything”
- E. Matthews “Live easy!”
- N. Vuychich “Life without borders. The path to an amazingly happy life"
In these books you will find many ways to develop positive thinking and achieve happiness. And you and I continue our course and move on to mastering material related to humor in the most direct way. In the third lesson, we will introduce you to the main types of comics and give examples of them, so that you know how to joke funny in different forms, can clearly distinguish one type of comic from another and use them in your personal practice.
Disadvantages and controversial points of positive psychology
Although many perceive the teaching favorably, there are a number of arguments against it, and some even consider it pseudoscience.
Commercialization and sectarianism
Seligman's books were published in large numbers, and many coaches appeared promoting his ideas. The movement gained great popularity, and at the same time, elements of religiosity, if not sectarianism.
There is no happiness without money
Seligman’s argument that happiness cannot be achieved without material well-being and success sounds doubtful. Also, in the teaching’s value system, the question remains open of what to do for people who physically cannot achieve the desired goal. Sometimes determination and willpower alone are not enough to change external circumstances. Positive psychology attitudes give the unspoken right to blame less successful people for simply not putting in enough effort, but this is not always fair.
Bias towards ethnicity
Positive psychology targets white, upper-middle-income people. Such selectivity does not characterize this theory very well.
Inefficiency
Positive psychology methods are not universal. It is not always possible to artificially induce positive emotions; this is especially difficult to do when experiencing a strong negative experience. Actually, simply ignoring negative emotions is also not a very rational idea - it is much more important to be able to work with them correctly.
Motivation may decrease
Negative emotions, if they are not prolonged, motivate to change your life for the better: dissatisfaction with a small salary can motivate you to look for a more prestigious job. However, in some cases this is not possible, or the expectations are too high. Often, when a person realizes that he cannot achieve the goal he hoped for, his motivation to change anything goes to almost zero.
It becomes difficult to pull yourself together in difficult situations
Sometimes, the more positive a person looks at life, the more difficult it is for him to accept reality with serious problems.
Whether you use positive psychology methods in practice or not is up to you. It is impossible to be optimistic all the time; there must be balance in everything. You shouldn’t ignore negative emotions; you need to be able to work with them, and not try to remove them from your life completely. However, there is a lot that can be learned from positive psychology. The big plus of the movement is that it teaches you to change your point of view on life - this helps to move from a dead point and lead to changes for the better.
If you are unsure whether you want to change something in your life or whether you are already happy in general, we recommend taking Carol Rieff's psychological well-being test.
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Useful tips Psychology in practice Self-development
How positive thinking develops skills and abilities
The benefits of positive emotions are not limited to a few minutes of pleasant sensations. Positive experiences help you gain skills and develop resources to use later in life.
Let's look at a real example.
A child running outside, jumping in puddles, waving a branch and playing with friends develops athletics (physical skills), communication (social skills) and the ability to discover new things and explore the world around him (creative skills). Thus, positive emotions from play and joy develop skills in the child that will be useful throughout his life.
Photo: Deklofenak / Photogenics
Acquired skills live much longer than the emotions that initiated them. Over the years, a strong physical form can produce a real athlete, and communication skills can show the world a competent manager. The happiness that gave the basis for the skills has long passed and been forgotten, but the skills themselves are not lost.
Fredrickson refers to this feature as the theory of expansion and development. Because positive emotions increase your sense of self-power and give rise to thoughts, which in turn develops new skills that will definitely be useful in other areas of life.
As noted earlier, negative emotions have the opposite effect. They are the ones who slow down the development of new skills due to the existence of a threat or danger.
To conclude the above, a very logical question arises: if positive emotions are so beneficial for our future, how to become positive?
