Positive Approach - Evaluating the Positive Approach Flashcards
following the drugs framework, describe the positive approach
- Free will
- useful application
- Holistic
- internationalistic
- both ideographic and nomothetic
- both scientific and non-scientific
why is the positive approach free will
- individuals are neither pre-determined nor restricted
- they have the personal freedom to grow and develop their natural signature strengths and virtues, and therefore wellbeing
- as seen in the second assumption: Authenticity of goodness and excellence
- illustrated by Seligman’s (2002) theory of signature strengths
- we all have the freedom to work on these strengths (like wisdom or humanity) and therefore improve our own mental health
why is the positive approach useful application
- it is being used effectively in the military
- longitudinal study by Lester et al to assess the impact of the ‘master resilience training’ which is a 10 day program that is apart of the CSF program.
- found: the soldiers had a reduced likelihood of receiving a diagnosis for a mental health problem or diagnosis for a substance abuse problem
- suggests that positive psychology has an effective application in todays society
why is the positive approach Holistic
- Researchers like Lyubomirsky (2013) suggest that genetics are an important factor in our happiness levels (accounting for 50%)
- As well as acknowledging these more low-level factors, in Myers and Diener’s (1997) research they found evidence for the role of higher level factors like relationships, faith and personality traits
- suggests it’s holistic because it considers all these variables
why is the positive approach interactionalistic
- The positive approach recognises a role for different factors in influencing our levels of happiness.
- For example, Lyubomirsky et al. (2005) suggested that 50% of the variance in happiness is due to genetics (nature).
- Myers and Diener (1997) also identified the role of relationships, faith and personality traits in increasing people’s sense of subjective well-being (nurture)
why is the positive approach both ideographic and nomothetic
- In therapies like mindfulness such as MBCT, an idiographic approach is taken where the individual is encouraged to reflect on their own present thoughts, emotions and feelings and use this to improve their well-being by gaining control of them, recognising their automatic negative thinking patterns, and then altering their reactions
- In addition, research like Myers and Diener (1997) aims to develop a theory of ‘Who is happy?’ that could be applied to everyone because he researched various ages, genders, races/cultures, and economic backgrounds. it had a higher generalisability as in one study alone, there was 170,000 participants from at least 16 different countries (nomothetic).
why is the positive approach both scientific and non-scientific
- happiness is tricky to measure because it is subjective because different people have different ideas about happiness. Therefore we use self-reports to measure happiness, which is not a scientific method
- an example is that many of the studies that Myers and Diener reviewed used a self-report to find out about happiness
- However, it can be viewed as scientific because neuroscience allows us to measure the emotional experience
- according to a meta-analysis by Wager et al (2003), it found that positive emotions will activate the basal ganglia more than negative emotions. Therefore we can measure happiness scientifically using this method
Is being free will a strength or weakness, why?
Both
:) deterministic treats the individual as a victim of their own biological and environmental characteristics. This pessimism obstructs proper development. And because it is free will, it empowers individuals to get a contented life
:( by placing too much responsibility on individuals for their happiness, it could mean that people end up feeling worse (Held, 2002)
Is being useful application a strength or weakness, why?
- both
:) very relevant to today (Russia and Ukraine) and is designed to help on a personal level and economic level because less soldier drop out and more savings for health care. These successful applications support that the positive assumptions are more credible
:( However the data collected was done via self report, which could be seen as unreliable due to social desirability bias
Is being holistic a strength or weakness, why?
- both
:) The benefit is that it offers a more complete explanation of complex concepts like well-being.
:( However, it does make identifying causes and treatments more difficult, as well as carrying out research
Is being interactionalist a strength or weakness, why?
- strength
:) Taking into account the role of both innate and environmental factors in affecting happiness is a strength of the approach. It is offering a more complete explanation of behaviour, particularly useful with a complex concept like well-being. Ensuring all significant factors are acknowledged and investigated
Is being both ideographic and nomothetic a strength or weakness, why?
- strength
:) by being ideographic it recognises the role that individual differences play in human behaviour. And because it is also nomothetic it makes positive psychology easier to generalise and replicate. This therefore allows treatments to be developed that work for everyone (nomothetic) and are also unique for each person (ideographic) such as MBCT (because it is your own personal thoughts)
Is being both scientific and non-scientific a strength or weakness, why?
- strength
:) as the use of the scientific method adds credibility and support to the key concepts of the approach. This also means they are likely to get more funding for research and be adopted more widely in society.
Describe how you write for an AO2 style question, e.g. “Harry and Sally have a discussion. Harry is impressed by the positive approach, and Sally disagrees. Explain one strength Harry might use / Explain one weakness Sally might use”
- On the one hand, Sally disagrees with Harry as she isn’t impressed. Sally says that because it is ____
- for example, Sally would use the example of _____ to illustrate the idea that ___
- Sally tells Harry that this is a weakness because _____
- However, Sally might admit to Harry that_____
