User:Gabrielchristiem/sandbox

Resources:

Martin, Jack. "Self Research in Educational Psychology: A Cautionary Tale of Positive Psychology in Action." The Journal of Psychology 140.4 (2006): 307-16. ProQuest. Web. 13 Mar. 2018.

Mills, Ana L., and Jeffrey S. Kreutzer. "Theoretical Applications of Positive Psychology to Vocational Rehabilitation After Traumatic Brain Injury." Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation 26.1 (2016): 20-31. ProQuest. Web. 13 Mar. 2018.

Mruk, Christopher J. "The Psychology of Self-Esteem: A Potential Common Ground for Humanistic Positive Psychology and Positivistic Positive Psychology." The Humanistic Psychologist 36.2 (2008): 143. ProQuest. Web. 14 Mar. 2018.

Shrestha, Arjun Kumar. "Positive Psychology: Evolution, Philosophical Foundations, and Present 	Growth." Indian Journal of Positive Psychology 7.4 (2016): 460-5. ProQuest. Web. 13 Mar. 2018.

Positive Psychology Revision Draft
Research topics[edit source] According to Seligman and Peterson, positive psychology is concerned with three issues: positive emotions, positive individual traits, and positive institutions. Positive emotions are concerned with being content with one's past, being happy in the present and having hope for the future. Positive individual traits focus on one's strengths and virtues. Finally, positive institutions are based on strengths to better a community of people.[10]

According to Peterson, positive psychologists are concerned with four topics: (1) positive experiences, (2) enduring psychological traits, (3) positive relationships, and (4) positive institutions.[11] According to Peterson, topics of interest to researchers in the field are: states of pleasure or flow, values, strengths, virtues, talents, as well as the ways that these can be promoted by social systems and institutions.[12]

Basic assumptions[edit source] Positive psychology complements, without intending to replace or ignore, the traditional areas of psychology. By emphasizing the study of positive human development this field helps to balance other approaches that focus on disorder, and which may produce only limited understanding.[13] '''Positive psychology has also placed a significant emphasis on fostering positive self-esteem and self-image, though positive psychologists with a less humanist bent are less likely to focus as intently on the matter. ''' The basic premise of positive psychology is that human beings are often drawn by the future more than they are driven by the past. A change in our orientation to time can dramatically affect how we think about the nature of happiness. Seligman identified other possible goals: families and schools that allow children to grow, workplaces that aim for satisfaction and high productivity, and teaching others about positive psychology.[10]

Those who practice positive psychology attempt psychological interventions that foster positive attitudes toward one's subjective experiences, individual traits, and life events.[14] '''Positive psychologists seek to encourage acceptance of one's past, excitement and optimism about one's future experiences, and a sense of contentment and well-being in the present. ''' The goal is to minimize pathological thoughts that may arise in a hopeless mindset, and to, instead, develop a sense of optimism toward life.[14]

Applications and research findings[edit source] Main article: Well-being contributing factors Research in positive psychology, well-being, eudaimonia and happiness, and the theories of Diener, Ryff, Keyes and Seligman cover a broad range of topics including "the biological, personal, relational, institutional, cultural, and global dimensions of life". [2] A meta-analysis on 49 studies in 2009 showed that Positive Psychology Interventions (PPI) produced improvements in well-being and lower depression levels, the PPIs studied included writing gratitude letters, learning optimistic thinking, replaying positive life experiences and socializing with others.[55] In a later meta-analysis of 39 studies with 6,139 participants in 2012, the outcomes were positive. Three to six months after a PPI the effects for subjective well-being and psychological well-being were still significant. However the positive effect was weaker than in the 2009 meta analysis, the authors concluded that this was because they only used higher quality studies. The PPIs they considered included counting blessings, kindness practices, making personal goals, showing gratitude and focusing on personal strengths.[56]

Ilona Boniwell, in her book Positive Psychology in a Nutshell, provided the following summary of the current research. Wellbeing is related to optimism, extraversion, social connections (i.e. close friendships), being married, having engaging work, religion or spirituality, leisure, good sleep and exercise, social class (through lifestyle differences and better coping methods) and subjective health (what you think about your health). Wellbeing is not related to age, physical attractiveness, money (once basic needs are met), gender (women are more often depressed but also more often joyful), educational level, having children (although they add meaning to life), moving to a sunnier climate, crime prevention, housing and objective health (what doctors say).[57]

Sonja Lyubomirsky, in her book The How Of Happiness, says that to improve happiness individuals should create new habits; they can seek out new emotions, use variety and timing to prevent hedonic adaptation and enlist others to motivate and support during the creation of those new habits.[58] Lyubomirsky gives 12 happiness activities such as savouring life, learning to forgive and living in the present, each of which could become the basis for a new habit.

In Positive Psychology The Science Of Happiness, the authors Compton and Hoffman give the "Top Down Predictors" of wellbeing as high self esteem, optimism, self efficacy, a sense of meaning in life and positive relationships with others. The personality traits most associated with well being are extraversion, agreeability and low levels of neuroticism.[59]

'In the Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation'', Kreutzer and Mills argue for the principles of positive psychology to be implemented to assist those recovering from Traumatic Brain Injury(TBR). They make the case that TBI rehabilitation practices rely on the betterment of the individual through engaging in everyday practices, a practice significantly related to tenants of positive psychology. Their proposal to connect positive psychology with TBI Vocational Rehabilitation(VR)also looks at happiness and its correlation with improvements in mental health, including increased confidence and productivity, as well as others. While the authors point out that empirical evidence for positive psychology is limited, they clarify that positive psychology's focus on small successes, optimism and prosocial behaviour is promising for improvements in the social and emotional well-being of TBI patients. '''

Criticism[edit source] According to Kirk Schneider, positive psychology fails to explain past heinous behaviors such as those perpetrated by the Nazi party, Stalinist marches and Klan gatherings, to identify but a few. Furthermore, Schneider pointed to a body of research showing high positivity correlates with positive illusion, which effectively distorts reality.[60] The extent of the downfall of high positivity (also known as flourishing) is one could become incapable of psychological growth, unable to self-reflect, and tend to hold racial biases. By contrast, negativity, sometimes evidenced in mild to moderate depression, is correlated with less distortion of reality. Therefore, negativity might play an important role within the dynamics of human flourishing. To illustrate, conflict engagement and acknowledgement of appropriate negativity, including certain negative emotions like guilt, might better promote flourishing.[61] Overall, Schneider provided perspective: "perhaps genuine happiness is not something you aim at, but is a by-product of a life well lived, and a life well lived does not settle on the programmed or neatly calibrated".[62] Seligman has acknowledged in his work the point about positive illusion,[63] and is also a critic of merely feeling good about oneself apart from reality and recognises the importance of negativity / dysphoria.[64]

Ian Sample, writing for The Guardian, noted that, "Positive psychologists also stand accused of burying their heads in the sand and ignoring that depressed, even merely unhappy people, have real problems that need dealing with." Sample also quoted Steven Wolin, a clinical psychiatrist at George Washington University, as saying that the study of positive psychology is just a reiteration of older ways of thinking, and that there is not much scientific research to support the efficacy of this method.[65] Gable responds to criticism on their pollyanna view on the world by saying that they are just bringing a balance to a side of psychology that is glaringly understudied.[66] '''To defend his point, Gable points to the imbalances favouring research into negative psychological wellbeing in cognitive psychology, health psychology, and social psychology. '''

Barbara Held argued that while positive psychology makes contributions to the field of psychology, it has its faults. She offered insight into topics including the negative side effects of positive psychology, negativity within the positive psychology movement, and the current division in the field of psychology caused by differing opinions of psychologists on positive psychology. In addition, she noted the movement's lack of consistency regarding the role of negativity. She also raised issues with the simplistic approach taken by some psychologists in the application of positive psychology. A "one size fits all" approach is arguably not beneficial to the advancement of the field of positive psychology; she suggested a need for individual differences to be incorporated into its application.[67]

'''Martin Jack has also contested several of Seligman's claims that outside of positive psychology, most research in the field has been focused on maladaptive functioning and human behaviour. Martin maintains in his article that certain fields of psychology, particularly educational and counselling psychology, have made significant strides in research on optimizing human cognitive development. He goes on to admit that positive psychology has pushed for schools to be more attentive to children's individual needs and emotional well-being, but wonders if the approach taken should be wholeheartedly accepted. In particular, Martin argues that children should learn to be aware of the opinions and needs of their community and peers, and that a single-minded attention to their own internal self might create a sense of detachment from the greater world around them. [68]'''