Positive - Main components + eval Flashcards
What are the three assumptions of the Positive Approach?
Assumption 1 acknowledgement of free will
Assumption 2: Authenticity of goodness and excellence.
Assumption 3: Focus on the good life.
Describe ‘acknowledgement of free will’
This approach believes that humans are in charge of their own emotions and have the free will to change how they direct their emotions.
Seligman states that happiness is not determined by genes or luck and instead a result of recognising our own strengths and developing them while minimising negative influences.
Unlike most approaches this approach is NOT deterministic and instead focuses on free will, as their are elements of the therapy that are self-lead such as informal practises of mindfulness.
Diener and Seligman (2002) looked at the correlation between relationship to family and friends and happiness and found there was a correlation and those who spent more time with friends and family were generally happier.
Describe ‘authenticity of goodness and excellence’
Traditionally psychology has focused on the negatives such as mental health problems and disorders, however the positive approach aims to change this philosophy by celebrating the good rather than magnifying the bad
Assumption states that feelings of stress and anxiety are just as natural as those of happiness and goodness. Seligman believes psychologists need to assign these traits equal attention rather than just focussing on the negative feelings of anxiety and stress.
Seligman believes we have inherent traits which he labels as ‘signature strengths’ these are kindness, generosity and humour.
This assumption is applied in therapies.
The role of a positive therapist is to help achieve fulfilment by accepting the bad and focusing on traits that produce goodness and excellence.
What is the assumption of ‘Focus on the good life’
This assumption is made up of three factors these are:
The Pleasant Life – pursuing positive emotions in relation to the past, present and future.
The Good Life – happiness comes from pursuing actives that positively engage us
The Meaningful Life – fulfilment living beyond ourselves.
‘The good life’ is seen as pursuing activities that positively engage us. There are three activities Seligman states achieve this:
1) Positive connection to others – positive connection to others such as our ability to trust, forgive and develop a spiritual connection to ourselves and others
2) Positive individual traits. – qualities such as a sense of integrity, morality and creativity.
3) Life regulation qualities. – qualities that we need to develop to regulate and monitor such as a sense of independence.
(without description) what are the strengths and weakness of the positive approach
Strength: Free Will and Application
(US department of education in 2002)
Weakness:
Non-Scientific (Wager et al)
individual differences. (Hickinbottom and Norem)
Strength of the positive approach to do with Free will
One of the main strengths of the positive approach is that unlike other approaches such as the biological approach, it does not propose a deterministic view on human behaviour where our behaviour is predetermined by our natural biological and environmental characteristics.
Instead positive psychology suggests humans are neither pre-determined nor restricted in their behaviour and they have the freedom to grow and develop their ‘signature strengths’.
Positive psychology recognises that humans are self regulating and not ‘victims’ of their past behaviour. It suggests we posses character strengths and virtues which can be developed to enhance life and result in greater fulfilment. In positive psychology, freewill is not only an option but considered a necessity for a life of content.
This is a strength of the approach as this control of our authentic selves allows for greater control over our mental health and well-being leading to a happier life.
Strength of the positive approach to do with Application
Another strength of the positive approach is that many assumptions of the positive approach have been applied in many fields of life in order to help individuals, organisations and communities flourish.
One way the positive approach has been applied to the real world is therapy for instance in mindfulness therapy where individuals are taught to accept the negative thoughts and try to focus on the present as well as meditate and engage in informal practises of mindfulness specific to them such as drawing.
This has been an extremely effective therapy as seen in Teasdale et al where MBCT was found to greatly help individuals suffering from depression who had relapsed 3 or more times.
Another popular area for the application of positive psychology is in education. For example in the USA an increasing number of schools are beginning to integrate a positive psychology curriculum to help their students such as activities aimed to increase their well being through the development of positive cognitive, feelings and behaviours.
The effectiveness of positive psychology in education was shown by the US department of education in 2002 awarding 2.8 million dollar grant for positive psychology to be taught to students.
Additionally in 2007 the UK the Department for Children Schools and families set 10 targets to increase student well being by 2020, so it is anticipated that schools in the UK will begin to implement elements of positive psychology into the curriculum.
Weakness of positive approach to do with Individual difference
One weakness of Positive psychology is that it could be argued the approach ignores individual and cultural differences in individual and instead proposes a one size fits all philosophy about the power of the positive approach.
For example Christopher and Hickinbottom suggest that the positive approach is ethnocentric and based on culture-bound western ideas centered on individual autonomy and fulfilment, they claim America is a culture preoccupied with the idea that positive emotions, attitudes and thoughts are obligatory for a ‘good life’ where negative emotions are generally considered to be something that should be avoided or controlled.
They point out that collectivism as opposed to individualism is the dominant outlook in 70% of the world’s population and cultural context should not be overlooked when determining positive qualities.
This is further supported by the work of Norem who suggested that it is not always a good idea to always try and force optimism. She found that individuals with high levels of anxiety, forcing optimism on them actually damaged permonance, highlighting how individual difference should be considered in the positive approach.
Weakness of positive approach to do with science
Another weakness of the positive approach is that it is not scientific, this is because there is no concrete way to measure someone’s happiness. This is because every individual has a different idea of what being happy means to them and when two people say that they are happy, they could be referring to two completely different states of mind.
This is a weakness of the study as it means there is no scientific and objective way of measuring someone’s happiness.
However, developments in neuroscience have allowed researchers to more objectively measure someone’s emotion of happiness. For example: Wager et al conducted a meta analysis where positive emotions were more likely to active the basal ganglia, suggesting that there is in fact a scientific and objective measure to happiness.
