Question

What major principles/concepts have you learned from the Positive Psychology course and according to the research why do you think these principles are important?

Answer 1

The major principles of positive psychology are:

1. Positive psychology encourages people to focus on the abundance aspect of everything, to concentrate on what is working well and what is yielding results rather than focusing on what is not. It also stresses that one should work on improving what is already doing well to see better results. It views people as creative and self-determined with access to inner resources, able to actively create the outcomes to which they and others aspire, rather than as passive victims of external forces. It thus is more solution oriented rather than problem oriented.

2. Virtues and strengths - It encourages people to shift their attention from the problem areas or weak areas and instead focus on all the positives, strengths and qualities that one possesses. Doing so will further encourage them to develop and work on these qualities and enhance their potential. It takes into account the fact that viertues and strengths are possessed by all humans and thus should be celebrated.

3. Postive deviance - Our minds tend to focus more on the negative aspects of all situations, as well as react more strongly and intensely to these rather than the positives. These negative emotions serve to reduce the threat, and can be very taxing on ones physical as well as emotional state. This energy, time and effort that can be better spent building resources and moving toward greater well-being and success. A key goal of positive psychology is to help reset our bias from negative to positive and spark flourishing by amplifying the impact of positive emotions, experiences, influences and practices.Striving to be exceptional, daring to go against the grain, and looking for solutions that may not be accessible from a problem or deficit focus are all part of positive deviance—a key concept in positive psychology.

4. Flourishing vs. Languishing - Positive and negative are commonly seen as polar opposites. Yet this notion can create an artificial dichotomy when it comes to understanding flourishing—a state characterised by generativity, growth and resilience. Corey Keyes, studying the relationship between mental health and mental illness, concluded that the absence of mental illness does not equate to the presence of mental health. Treating or preventing mental illness will not by itself result in greater mental health as the two exist on different spectrums.
The opposite of flourishing is in fact “languishing”—a state where positive emotions appear too low to stimulate flourishing, and emotional distress, social impairment or lack of fulfillment are present. Both need to be understood and addressed holistically.

5. Happiness and wellbeing -

Positive psychology has traditionally conceived of happiness as comprising two forms of wellbeing:

Subjective wellbeing (SWB) —hedonic experience, satisfaction with life, matched with a high level of positive emotions and low level of negative emotions.

Psychological wellbeing (PWB) —eudaimonic experience, the more enduring sense of fulfillment we get from personal relationships, living a meaningful life and developing as a person.