Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology Exercises

POSTED FEBRUARY 26, 2020

You can find dozens of definitions of positive psychology from its founders and from today's proponents and practitioners.  Here's one from Psychology Today: "Positive psychology focuses on the character strengths and behaviors that allow individuals to build a life of meaning and purpose—to move beyond surviving to flourishing. In focusing on how people can become happier and more fulfilled, positive psychology stands in contrast to a focus on psychopathology."

PositivePsychology.com tells of the development of the positive psychology movement: "After the Second World War, the focus of psychology was on treating abnormal behaviors and the resulting mental illnesses.  Dissatisfied with this approach, humanist psychologists, such as Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, and Eric Fromm helped renew interest in the more positive aspects of human nature."  These humanistic psychologists laid the foundation for the positive psychology movement - perhaps none more so than Abraham Maslow (see sidebar), who coined the term in his 1954 book "Motivation and Personality."  

Martin Seligman is generally credited with founding the positive psychology movement.  His TED talk on "the new era of positive psychology" is in the sidebar.  He describes three types of "happy lives" - what he calls "the pleasant life", "the good life" where he introduces the concept of flow, and finally, the "most venerable" of the happy lives, "the meaningful life."

Seligman then offers several examples of positive psychology exercises or interventions:

"Have a beautiful day" 

- Design a beautiful day using savoring* and mindfulness** skills

"Gratitude visit"  

- Write and deliver a 300 word testimonial to someone who has changed your lifein a positive direction

"Strengths date" 

- You and your partner list your greatest strengths and then plan an evening where both use your strengths

"Fun vs. philanthropy" 

- Do something fun and do something altruistic - most people find that the "good feelings" last longer for the altruistic action.

LearningMind.com is one of many websites that give positive psychology techniques, "an effective and easy way for you to increase your well-being and overall satisfaction."  I've extracted a few of their points in the sidebar but the short article is well worth an entire read.

Positive psychology has its detractors - some say it has veered too far from science into mysticism and ethics; others dislike the commercialism that has burgeoned in its wake with myriad consultants and others adopting its methodology.  

"But", Joseph Smith at Vox writes. "how valid are these concerns, and do they matter if positive psychology makes people happy?"  He concludes his article noting that "the fact of positive psychology’s meteoric rise cannot be ignored; Seligman and his colleagues are very clearly doing something right, something that gives hope, optimism, and perhaps even happiness to millions of its consumers."

*"Savoring just means that we attempt to fully feel, enjoy, and extend our positive experiences. Savoring is a great way to develop a long-lasting stream of positive thoughts and emotions, because positive events cannot always be relied on to make you happier." (Psychology Today) 

**More on mindfulness in these posts: Mindfulness and Emotional Intelligence, Buddhism, Psychology and Neuroscience: Mindfulness, Mindfulness Made Simple

*** Seligman tells of the "epiphany" that brought him to positive psychology.  Martin was intensely weeding the garden with his five-year old daughter Nikki, who was dancing around, throwing the weeds in the air, and generally having a good time.  "And so, kneeling that afternoon in my garden, I yelled at Nikki....Nikki got a stern look on her face, and she walked right over to me. 'Daddy,' she said, 'I want to talk with you.' And this is just what she said. 'From the time I was three until I was five, I whined a lot. But I decided the day I turned five, to stop whining. And I haven't whined once since the day I turned five.' Then Nikki looked me right in the eye, and said 'Daddy, if I could stop whining, you can stop being such a grouch.'"  (University of Pennsylvania Gazette)  In that moment, his five-year-old daughter made him realize that he as a parent, and that psychology as a discipline, had focused on correcting weakness instead of nourishing strength.