Positive - relevance

Question 1

Intro

Answer 1

• whether positive approach is relevant in society
• more relevant than used to be
• most useful in times of crisis ie helping public during Covid 19 - good when life goes wrong
• some aren’t convinced as the findings are too week to suggest it is relevant YET
• some argue conclusions are exaggerated and power is over estimated

Question 2

FOR - education

Answer 2

• Seligman et al (2009) proposes that a positive psychology curriculum can promote skills and strengths, preduce measurable improvements in well being and behaviour and facilitate students engagement in learning and achievement
• Seligman conducted research by randomly assigning 347 ninth grade students in a PPC or non-PPC class
• students, parents and teachers complete questionnaires
• showed PPC students more cooperative and had better social skills
• welsh assembly government changing curriculum to include a wellbeing strand in 2022

-socially: create better equipped people with better traits, wellbeing and awareness so society thrive and improve
- ethics: help people live a less anxious and more appreciative life
- weakness in findings as only 1 age group so lack population validity

Question 3

AGAINST - education

Answer 3

• Spense and Shortt 2007 claim much evidence for positive psychology programmes is based on small scale or short term interventions and believe implementation in schools should not go ahead without further research
• some courses may need to be dropped as schools have limited budgets and curricular demands
  —> pupils leave school with less qualifications
• Seligman et al agreed and said further research will be carried out
• strain on staff, school need to pay for training ign courses _> economic issue
• students unable to get jobs, gaps in imports n industries
• knock on effect for economy

Question 4

FOR - workplace

Answer 4

• Csikszentmihalyis work flow theory claims that when people enjoy the moment and have motivating challenges and strong skills work can be a strong contributor to personal happiness
• increase personal development and self esteem

-Cskikszentmalhyi and Lefevre found most people experience flow 3x more at work than leisure
- if people admit to themselves that work can be more enjoyable they may wrk more effectively and improve the quality of their lives in the process

• Oswald 2009 - happy workers are 12% more productive
• less stress so better or, less absent, less replacement neeeded so good for economy

Question 5

AGAINST - workplace

Answer 5

• many say that the positive claim ‘ choose a job you love and you will never have to work s day in you life’ is not a new concept

-question whether in the case of work positive psychology tells us anything other than what we already know
- Deiner found only’ a modest correlation (0.12) between happiness and income - is work really that important to happiness?

• only western culture is able to seek happiness through work and not for survival
• interventions expensive and take up valuable time
• More strain on an already strained system - is there any real benefit?

Question 6

FOR - leisure and lifestyle

Answer 6

• Cskiszentmihalyi and LeFevre advocate that being more conscious in leisure time can increase quality of life
• many online projects that aim to make life better in the uk
• for example Action for Happiness claim to bring people from all walks of life together in order to make society happier
• good from NHS as reduce number of people suffering so reduce amount of drugs needed - economic
• stress and poor health currently cost 26 billion a year

Question 7

AGAINST - leisure and lifestyle

Answer 7

• leisure activities that increase flow and quality of life are more likely to be limited to only some of society
• income or disposable leisure time to partake
• little research into the impact of organisations such as Action for Happiness
• likely only thr wealthy would be drawn to an organisation such as these as they tend to have internet access and time to commit that the orking class do not have
• at least DT accessible to all - accessed for free which mindfulness and positive programmes are not
• positive psychology techniques can cause for distress
• organisations are more western - what about non-western cultures

Question 8

Conclusion

Answer 8

• implementation has many economic advantages
• Boorman review in 2009 estimated the NHS would save 555 million if healthier work environment
• google found an increase in maternity leave decreased the number of women leaving by 50%
• unlikely many businesses will implement these changes due to economic certainty at the moment and so its use is limited
• hesitant as still no long term research evidence of successes