Brief History Of Positive Psychology Psychology Essay

Brief History Of validatory psychology Psychology EssayThe advent of arbitrary psychology as we k instantaneously it today back end be traced back to Martin E. P. Seligmans 1998 Presidential channelize to the Ameri skunk mental Association (Seligman, 1999). Following a serendipitous holiday meeting between Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi in winter 1997 (Csikszentmihalyi, 2003), and an epiphanic moment when gardening with his daughter Nikki (Seligman Csikszentmihalyi, 2000), Seligman realized that psychology had largely neglected the latter two of its trine pre-World War II missions curing cordial illness, helping every great deal to slip a vogue more productive and accomplishing lives, and identifying and nurturing blue talent. The advent of the Veterans Administration (in 1946) and the field Institute of Mental Health (in 1947) had largely rendered psychology a melio account discipline based upon a disease exercise and illness political orientation (Maddux, 2002 Maddux, Snyder, Lopez, 2004). With this realization, Seligman resolved to use his APA presidency to initiate a shift in psychologys focus toward a more exacting psychology (Seligman, 1999).Seligmans presidential maiden was catalyzed by a series of meetings in Akumal, Mexico, of scholars who could inform the conceptualization and primeval exploitation of unequivocal psychology, and the establishment of the lordly Psychology Steering delegacy (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Ed Diener, Kathleen H either Jamieson, Chris Peterson, and George Vaillant). From this followed the verifying Psychology Net subject field, later to become the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania, the initiatory Positive Psychology apex in Washington, DC, and a redundant issue of the Ameri hobo psychologist on peremptory psychology to mark the new millennium.Further, in the 7 years since Seligmans presidential address, in that location suffer been numerous domineering psychology b ooks, journal special issues, and the establishment of regional peremptory psychology networks that span the globe (Seligman, 2005). Now, in 2006, we put on the first dedicated dictatorial psychology journal, The diary of Positive Psychology. These be remarkable achievements for any psychology travail in such a short space of time. Many readers may well be wondering why, and below we offer rough thoughts in response to this marvel.As the leading advocate of positive psychology, Seligman has been exceptionally succeederful at catalyzing and trade union the efforts of the some(prenominal) distinguished scientists who form become some of the key players in the positive psychology stricklement. These include the Positive Psychology Steering committee (Csikszentmihalyi, Diener, Jamieson, Peterson, and Vaillant) and the leaders of numerous positive psychology look into centres, research pods, and subsidization holders (Seligman, 2005). Other nonable figures include C. R. (Rick) Snyder, who edited the special issue of the Journal of social and clinical psychology (2000) and the influential Handbook of positive psychology (2002) Chris Peterson, who headed up the Values-in-Action project that led to the VIA classification of saturations and virtues (Peterson Seligman, 2004) and the winners of the prestigious Templeton Positive Psychology Prizes Barbara Fredrickson (2000) for her work on positive emotions Jon Haidt (2001) for his work on the positive honourable emotion of elevation and Suzanne Segerstrom (2002) for her work on the beneficial effects of optimism on physical health. A further critical broker in the success of many of these initiatives was the financial support that made them possible, provided by such donors as the Templeton Foundation, The Gallup Organization, the Mayerson Foundation, the Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands, and the Atlantic Philanthropies, among a nonher(prenominal)s. And given the research unstableness betw een psychopathology and disease, relative to human strengths and public assistance, positive psychology to a fault offered excellent opportunities for rapid scientific advances, patently because many topics had been largely unattended (Gable Haidt, 2005).Thus, the development of positive psychology was clear shaped and energized by the signifi shadowt efforts of Seligman and the other major players in the field. Their deliberate sociology of science approach, recognizing and building on the structural forces that shape the discipline of psychology, cemented positive psychologys place by deliverance in major research funding, providing considerable research leadership, engaging the wider human beings media, and attracting some of the brightest early c beer scientists through the provision of training institutes, research collaborations with senior scientists, and funding support for their work.However, it is withal eminently clear from a cursory examination of the research literature that positive psychology did not begin in 1997, or 1998, or 1999, or 2000 (McCullough Snyder, 2000). In fact, positive psychology has always been with us, however as a holistic and corporate body of knowledge, it has passed unrecognized and uncelebrated, and unity of the major achievements of the positive psychology movement to date has been to consolidate, lift up, and celebrate what we do know rough what makes support worth living, as well as c arefull delineating the areas where we compulsion to do more.Research into positive psychology topics has gone on for decades, and cap business leader flat be traced back to the origins of psychology itself-importance, for example, in William James writings on healthy mindedness (James, 1902). In broad terms, positive psychology has common rice beers with part of humanistic psychology, and its emphasis on the fully functioning someone (Rogers, 1961), and self-actualization and the mull everywhere of healthy indivi duals (Maslow, 1968). Indeed, we note that more than 50 years ago, Maslow lamented psychologys preoccupation with disease and dysfunctionThe science of psychology has been far more successful on the negative than on the positive side. It has revealed to us much virtually mans shortcomings, his illness, his sins, but little some his potentialities, his virtues, his achievable aspirations, or his full genial height. It is as if psychology has voluntarily restricted itself to only half(a) its rightful jurisdiction, and that, the darker, besotteder half (Maslow, 1954, p. 354).Initially at least, positive psychology may not wear paid sufficient tribute to its historical antecedents, leading to some criticisms (Taylor, 2001 Tennen Affleck, 2003). However, there is now a plowing recognition that positive psychology abide learn useful littleons from earlier research and theorizing, and we hope that the animosity that has sometimes characterized previous ex metamorphoses get out be replaced with increasing respect and collaboration (Joseph Worsley, 2005), not least so that positive psychology can prosper through integration, rather than whither through isolation.WHAT IS POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY?In asking this inquiry, one is faced with the inherent danger that 10 positive psychologists would provide 10 varied answers. Should this be taken to suggest that nobody really knows, exactly, what positive psychology is? We would argue that this is actually far from the case, yet equally we reserve a very real champion that positive psychology might often be interpreted as being all things to all the great unwashed. Indeed, in the course of numerous presentations to hosts of different audiences, psychologist and non-psychologist, academics and practitioners, we have the consistent experiences of eye lightnessing up and nation saying Ah, positive psychology, thats what we choose. And when we ask what they assure by positive psychology, we receive different answer s every time. In this grit, positive psychology is perceived of as a panacea for many forward-looking ills. It is not. But, by providing a different interpretative lens, it offers a different worldview and thereby novel answers to some questions that have been around for a long time, and shines the light of scientific inquiry into previously dark and neglected corners.Consider, for example, the pursual definitions of positive psychology, all taken from authoritative positive psychological sourcesThe field of positive psychology at the essential level is approximately treasured subjective experiences well-being, contentment, and satisfaction (in the noncurrent) hope and optimism (for the coming(prenominal)) and flow and happiness (in the present). At the individual level, it is approximately positive individual traits the capacity for love and vocation, courage, inter someoneal skill, aesthetic sensibility, perseverance, forgiveness, originality, future mindedness, spiritual ity, high talent, and wisdom. At the multitude level, it is astir(predicate) the civic virtues and the institutions that move individuals toward die citizenship responsibility, nurturance, altruism, civility, moderation, tolerance, and work ethic (Seligman Csikszentmihalyi, 2000).What is positive psychology? It is nothing more than the scientific study of ordinary human strengths and virtues. Positive psychology revisits the number person, with an interest in dateing out what works, what is right, and what is ameliorate . . . positive psychology is simply psychology (Sheldon King, 2001).Positive psychology is the study of the conditions and processes that contribute to the flourishing or optimal functioning of volume, sorts, and institutions (Gable Haidt, 2005).Positive psychology is about scientifically communicate emplacements on what makes life worth living. It focuses on aspects of the human condition that lead to happiness, fulfilment, and flourishing (The Journal of Positive Psychology, 2005).There are certainly heart themes and consistencies, but also differences in emphasis and interpretation. In thinking about how best to represent positive psychology, and how best to position its pinch in the first issue of The Journal of Positive Psychology, we believe it would be steadying to provide what we see as a definition of positive psychology that identifies and delineates the different things that it might mean to different people. We also specify what positive psychology is not, in the hope that we can lay to rest some of the ghosts of criticism that have haunted positive psychology (sometimes with justification, often with misunderstanding) since its inception. Further, as will become clear later in the article, this definition and understanding of positive psychology helps to inform and develop the potential future pathways and applications of positive psychology that we map out below (Linley et al. 2006). mental well-being entranceHis toric Introduction to Positive mental FunctioningThroughout history, psychologists have offered different descriptions of positive psychological functioning, or well-being, in the context of the different branches of psychology, such as developmental or clinical psychology. From the perspective of developmental psychology, Erikson 1950 presented the concept of a healthy individualisedity in the context of Freudian theory. Erikson perceives development of the person-to-personity as a process in which severally personality cipher is related with the others, in such a way that the personality as a whole depends on the correct development of each of its components. In his analysis of the emersion process, this author talks about how the components of mental health develop over the following series of in series(p) stages a instinct of elementary trust, a hotshot of indecorum, a sense of initiative, a sense of industry, a sense of ego identity, geniality, generativity and integ rity. During each of these stages a conflict takes place, and the persons development will be more or less healthy, depending on how this conflict is resolved. According to Eriksons vision, development of the ego is a persisting growth process, which progresses, throughout a persons lifespan, towards a superior capacity.This same perspective of continuous growth throughout the lifespan can be plant in Bhlers theory 1935, which speaks of the so-called curve of life. Buhler cerebrate that, in spite of individual differences, there is a regular sequence in which events, experiences and achievements appear in peopleslives, and that improvement or deterioration in psychological well-being does not necessarily occur at the same rate as changes in physical well-being. From the perspective of clinical psychology, authors such as Maslow, Allport and Rogers have offered other descriptions of well-being.In his well-kn birth pyramid, Maslow 1958 includes 5 basic call for that a person must fulfill to become fully-functioning. A person begins by compensateing the close to basic involve and after fulfilling the first one, then moves on to the next, on the level immediately above.Firstly, the most basic pick ups for an organism are considered to be physiological ones. These are, undoubtedly, the most historic in the pyramid, in that when a person loses everything in life, his strongest desire is to satisfy this type of need. The most important goal in a person without food, love or safety, will most certainly be to find food before anything else. When none of the needs are well-off and the organism is dominated by physiological requirements, the other needs cease to experience or become less important.In second place, when the physiological needs are satisfied the need for safety takes over. When a person is in this stage, safety becomes more important than anything else, even than the physiological needs that are already covered.Maslows third need concerns the re quirement to belong to a group, and for esteem and love, which comes into play when the previous two needs have been satisfied. The person is now interested in forming relationships with others and bonny part of a group, and will work hard to achieve this. The person is now more interested in doing this than in anything else and forgets the little importance he attributed to this when he was hungry.Maslows fourth need corresponds to a persons self-esteem. This author considers that everyone (with the exception of some mental illnesses) needs a positive opinion of himself, self-respect and self-esteem and also to be valued by others. These needs can be classified into two sub-groups on the one hand, a desire for fortitude, achievements, independence and freedom and, on the other hand, a desire to earn a corking reputation or prestige, defined as having gained the respect or esteem of others.Finally, we come to the need for self-actualization, defined as a person realizing his full potential, which comes into play when all the other needs are satisfied. According to Maslow what a man can be, he must be, and he calls this need, self-actualization. If a person has the talent to do something, he will be unsatisfied or unhappy if he cannot fully develop this part of himself, in other words, a participant must make music and a poet must write poems. This need refers to the desire for a person to develop his full potential, to seek personal growth and to become everything he is capable of being. Clearly, these desires vary greatly from one person to the next. Some people may observe self-fulfilled by becoming top sportsmen, while others will acquire a feeling of self-realization by being good parents.MULTIDIMENSIONAL MODEL OF PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEINGIn relation to the concept of psychological well-being, Ryff 1989a proposes a multidimensional model composed of 6 different dimensions Self- stomachance, Positive relations with others, Autonomy, Environmental mas tery, affair in life and Personal growth.These 6 dimensions of psychological well-being can be defined as followsSelf-acceptance This is a key part of well-being and concerns the positive opinion a person has of himself. It does not refer to narcissistic self love or superficial self-esteem, but instead to a constructed self-regard that includes both positive and negative aspects Ryff and Singer, 2003. Other authors spoke about this previously, Jung 1933 Von Franz, 1964 emphasizing that only a fully-individuated person can accept his have failures. The concept of ego integrity introduced by Erikson 1959, also refers to a person coming to terms with his confess triumphs and failures in previous(prenominal) life. This acceptance of self is constructed with an honest self-assessment the person is aware of his personal failings and limitations, but has the love to accept and embrace himself as he is. advanced rack up in this factor are indicators of people with a positive attitude , who recognize and accept the binary aspect of the self, including their good and bad qualities, and can look at the foregone with positive feelings Ryff and Keyes, 1995. scurvy slews in this factor appear in people who are largely unsatisfied with themselves they are uncomfortable with what has happened in their past tense life, are concerned about some of their personal qualities and ask to change Ryff and Keyes, 1995.Positive relationships with others These include the fortitude, pleasures and human delights that come from close come across with others, from intimacy and love Ryff and Singer, 2003. Theories about the stages of adult development also try close relationships with others (intimacy) and the guidance and care of others (generativity). The importance of having positive relationships with other people is repeatedly emphasized in definitions of psychological well-being Ryff and Singer, 1996.High scores appear in people who have warm, satisfactory and rely relati onships with others, who are concerned about the well-being of others and have the capacity to feel empathy, continue and intimacy and understand the give and take in human relationships Ryff and Keyes, 1995.Low scores indicate that a person has few close and trusting relationships with other people, finds it difficult to be warm, open and to feel concern for the public assistance of others. They feel isolated and frustrated with social relationships. These people do not want an important commitment with others Ryff and Keyes, 1995.Autonomy This refers to a persons cleverness to frame to his own drum and to pursue personal convictions and beliefs, even if these go against genuine dogma or conventional wisdom. It also refers to the powerfulness to be all if necessary and to live autonomously Ryff and Singer, 2003. Also, in theories about self-actualization, the self-actualizers are described as functioning autonomously and as being resistant to enculturation. In studies into the concept of a fully functioning person, this person is someone with an internal frame of assessment, who is normally uninterested in what others think of him, but will evaluate himself harmonise to his own personal standards Ryff and Singer, 1996.High scores in this factor luff people who are self-determined and independent, capable of resisting social pressure and of acting by regulating their behavior from an internal frame of assessment. These people self-evaluate according to personal standards Ryff and Keyes, 1995.Low scores indicate people who are concerned about the expectations of others, they depend on other peoplesjudgments before making important decisions, and their thoughts and actions are influenced by social pressures Ryff and Keyes, 1995.Environmental mastery This is another essential factor in well-being and concerns the challenge of a person mastering the environs around him. This ability requires the skills of creating and sustaining environments that are beneficial to a person Ryff and Singer, 2003. The ability of an individual to choose or to create environments assume for his mental rural area is defined as a characteristic of mental health. According to life-span developmental theories, for a person to adequately master his environment, he needs the ability to manage and to control complex surroundings, emphasizing from this perspective the need to move forwards in the world and to change it creatively with physical and mental activities Ryff and Singer, 1996.High scores in this factor are obtained by people with a sense of mastery and competence of their surroundings, who can make impressive use of opportunities that arise and can choose or create contexts appropriate for their needs and personal values Ryff and Keyes, 1995.Low scores indicate a difficulty in managing daily affairs, or changing or improving their environment and making the most of opportunities that arise, and a overlook of control about the world around the m Ryff and Keyes, 1995.Purpose in life This is a persons ability to find a meaning and a direction in his own experiences, and to propose and set goals in his life Ryff and Singer, 2003. The definition of maturity also clearly emphasizes an understanding of the purpose of life and the presence of a sense of direction and intentionality. A positively functioning person has goals, intentions and a sense of direction, and all of this helps to give a meaning to life Ryff and Singer, 1996.High scores in this factor appear in people who have goals in life and a sense of direction they feel that both the past and the present of their lives has a meaning, they hold beliefs that give their lives a purpose and have goals and reasons to live Ryff and Keyes, 1995.Low scores appear in people who feel their life has no meaning and have no goals or sense of direction they cant see any evidence in their past experiences Ryff and Keyes, 1995.Personal growth This factor concerns a persons ability to realize his own potential and talent and to develop new resources. It also frequently involves encounters with hardship that require one to dig deeply to find ones inner strength Ryff and Singer, 2003. It is associated with being open to new experiences, which is a key characteristic of the fully functioning person. Life-span theories also explicitly emphasize the importance of continuing to grow and to tackle new tasks or challenges in the different stages of ones life Ryff and Singer, 1996.High scores indicate people who want to continue to develop. They regard themselves as growing and expanding, are open to new experiences, feel they are fulfilling their potential, they can see improvements in the self and in their behavior over time, and change towards ways that improve their self-knowledge and effectiveness Ryff and Keyes, 1995.Low scores appear in people with a sense of personal stagnation, with no improvement or growth over a period of time, they feel bored and lack intere st in life. They feel incapable of developing new attitudes or behaviors Ryff and Keyes, 1995.This model was studied in a representative sample of 1108 adults over 25 years old. In the confirmatory analysis of the factors, it was found that the results support the multidimensional model proposed, and was the model which best fitted the six factors corporate trustd unitedly to form a factor of higher order, called psychological well-being Ryff and Keyes, 1995. In this same study, it was found that the factors self-acceptance and environmental mastery were highly correlated, so it was proposed to combine these factors to obtain a model with 5 factors.In any case, the authors concluded that well-being is more than simply feeling happy or satisfied with life nor is it merely an absence of negative emotions or experiences which define the well-lived. preferably it entails having a rich perception of these experiences and successfully managing the challenges and difficulties that may ar ise Ryff and Singer, 2003.MEASURES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEINGBradburn Affect oddment ScaleOne of the first get overs that could be used to measure psychological well-being, which later served as a eccentric to validate subsequent casings is the BABS (Bradburn Affect Balance Scale) Bradburn, 1969.This is a ten-item scale dissever into two subscales, one that evaluates positive fix and the other that evaluates negative affect. severally of these subscales has 5 items. These items refer to pleasant or unpleasant experiences over the past few weeks which are intentionally treated with a degree of equivocalness Bartlett and Coles, 1998.The score is obtained by adding one point for every yes answer and summarizing individually the responses to the positive and negative subscales, respectively. After this, the difference between the scores is metric and a constant is added to eliminate possible negative results.The test-retest reliability was evaluated by Bradburn 1969, and in a sample of 200 people with an interval of 3 days the reliability lickd for positive affect, negative affect and the affect balance were 0.83, 0.81 and 0.76, respectively.The Short Form 36The Short Form 36 (SF-36) was developed to measure the services provided by different health departments in the United States Ware, Snow, Kosinski et al. 1993.It is a self-administered scale comprised of 8 different subscales that contain Likert-type items. The 8 different concepts are each evaluated by their own scale personal functioning.Role limitations because of physical health problems.Bodily pain.Social functioning. worldwide mental health (psychological distress and psychological well-being).Role limitations because of emotional problems.Vitality (energy/fatigue). command health perceptions.Both the General mental health and the Vitality subscales have psychological implications. The authors of the SF-36 scale understand mental health (measured by the General mental health scale) as part of a construct of psychological well-being with a positive terminal and another negative pole Bartlett and Coles, 1998.This scale has received some criticism, such as that from Hunt and McKenna 1993 who question the design of the scale, both in the selection of its items and also its objective. For example, Hunt asks how many British people could answer the question Does your health limit you in your ability to do vigorous activities, such as sports, running, lifting heavy objects? when most of them dont even do this kind of activity. Hunt uses another example with the question Does your health limit you in your ability to walk a milliliter?. He considers this question is complicated with the factor of necessity. He explains that some people wont walk a mile even if they are in good health, while others, from necessity, because they live in the outskirts or for other reasons, will walk the mile in spite of having poor health.McHorney, Ware and Razcek 1993 provided show to support t he robustness of SF-36, showing that the mental health scale can discriminate between groups by using the mean scores. A group with minor checkup conditions has a mean score of 83, a group with a serious medical condition would have a mean score of 78 and a group with a serious medical condition with psychiatric comorbidity would obtain a mean score of around 53.Satisfaction with Life Scale (Swls)This is a self-administered scale with 5 items relating to level of satisfaction with life. The possible responses are 1 to 7, where 1 indicates that the person strongly disagrees with the statement and 7 that they strongly agree Diener, Emmons, Sem et al. 1985.The score is the total of the responses to these 5 items and can be used to classify the person into one of the following categories30-35 extremely satisfied, well above average.25-29 very satisfied, above average.20-24 quite satisfied, average for adult United States citizens.15-19 slightly dissatisfied, a little less than averag e.10-14 dissatisfied, clearly below the average.5-9 extremely dissatisfied, far below the average.The test-retest correlation was carried out with 2 months difference and gave a result of 0.82. The alpha coefficient of the scale is 0.87 Diener, Emmons, Sem et al. 1985.This is a scale to measure subjective well-being and in its original validation the authors calculate the correlation existing between SWLS and other scales to measure subjective wellbeing, including the Bradburn scale (BABS) described previously. The coefficient of correlation for Bradburns positive affect subscale is 0.5 and that for the negative affect subscale is -0.37.Psychological General Well-Being Index Short (PGWB-S)The PGWBI scale is a 22-item scale that evaluates self-perceived psychological wellbeing, each item is evaluated on a 6 point scale. The scale assesses 6 dimensions of quality of life relating to health anxiety, depression, positive well-being, self-control, general health and vitality Grossi, Grot h, Mosconi et al. 2006.There is a considerable amount of data about the original scale since it was used widely in studies in the United States and worldwide, and has been translated and validated in several languages, for example to Spanish by Badia, Gutierrez, Wiklund et al. 1996.The short version of the PGWBI aims to reduce the number of items but to save the robustness and reliability of the scale. In its final version, the PGWB-S has only 6 items that reflect 5 of the 6 items assessed in the original version (except for general health) and reproduces 90% of the diversity in the result of the PGWBI.The high Cronbach alpha value (between 0.8 and 0.92) indicates a good reliability when compared with the original scale.Psychological Well-Being Scales (PGWB)One of the most widely used scales to measure psychological well-being is Ryffs scale1989a. This scale breaks eat up the construct into 6 different dimensions Ryff, 1989b that are analyzed separately, each with their own su bscale.The dimensions analyzed are Self-acceptance, Positive relations with others, Autonomy, Environmental mastery, Purpose in life and Personal growth. Each of these subscales has 20 likert-type items in which the patient self-assesses himself by choosing from the six possible responses, from strongly agree to strongly disagree.This test has high test-retest reliability and a high internal consistency. Moreover, its convergent and discriminate hardness with other measures have also been studied.The test-retest coefficients per subscale (with a retest of 6 weeks) were self-acceptance 0.85, relations with others 0.83, autonomy 0.88, environmental mastery 0.81, purpose in life 0.82 and personal growth 0.81.The alpha coefficients for the subscales were self-acceptance 0.93, relations with others 0.91, autonomy 0.86, environmental mastery 0.90, purpose in life 0.90 and personal growth 0.87.Ryffs article gives an in-depth explanation of convergent validity 1989a. Here, we indicate the convergent validity values for the different dimensions with Bradburns Affect Balance Scale self-acceptance 0.55, relations with others 0.30, autonomy 0.36, environmental mastery 0.62, purpose in life 0.42 and personal growth 0.25.The fact that this covers 6 scales (120 items), combined with its good psychometric qualities have given rise to the development of shorter versions, which still maintain good fits and consistency. These versions include the one by Van Dierendonck 2004 which, with only 39 items, obtains a goodness of fit indicator (GFI) of 0.88 and Cronbachs alpha between 0.84 and 0.70 (depending on the subscale).CONCLUSIONOverall, Positive Psychologys goal, as by Seligman (2002), is to develop the individual strengths of our untried people so they may realize their personal potential and fulfill the second goal, that of creating a thriving community of civically responsible and productive members. Psychological well-being has been reviewed immensely. Moreover, the take-h ome message is that positive emotions are worth cultivatin