EXAMPLES OF POSITIVE

PSYCHOLOGY
Positive psychology can be applied across many
different situations, life roles and environments. It can be
used to strengthen relationships at home, work and
school. It can boost enjoyment in personal pursuits,
expanding the range of one’s leisure activities. Positive
psychology can also be used by supervisors,
administrators, and other leaders in creating happier
workplaces.
What are some examples of positive psychology?
Positive psychology can help practitioners enhance resources and attributes that
contribute to health and well-being. According to Scott Glassman, PsyD, director of
the Master of Applied Positive Psychology program at PCOM, examples of
positive psychology in practice include:

Focusing on your strengths

"When we become negatively self-

focused, which can include ruminating on our deficits and weaknesses, we are more
likely to experience distress," Glassman explained. "In contrast, having an
awareness of our strengths, while using them in some way, is associated with mood
improvements. Researchers have also found that identifying our top strengths and
using them actively can increase our happiness. There are a number of ways to do
this. A first step would be to get a better sense of what your strengths are. You could
ask friends or family, explore a list of character strengths, or fill out a formal
strengths survey. After you've highlighted some of your stand-out strengths, you
could plan to use one of them in different ways throughout the week. For example, if
one of your key strengths is creativity, you might decide to make a painting, work on
a short story, and cook something you love in a new way. You can deepen the
impact of this 'strengths experiment' by measuring any positive changes in your
mood as a result of your efforts. Rating your happiness before and after each
creative activity can show you which one was most rewarding."

Recording your experiences

A common practice in positive psychology involves writing about and reflecting on
good experiences to enhance well-being. One form of this practice is the “Three
Good Things” or “Three Blessings” exercise, developed by Dr. Martin Seligman. The
exercise asks you to write down three good things that happened at the end of the
day and reflect on why they happened. Engaging in this activity for at least a week
has been associated with increases in happiness and decreased depressive
symptoms, improvements which were still present six months later.

"The reflection process can also be expanded, as we do in A Happier You, to

include what those good things mean about yourself, your relationships, and your
future," Glassman added. "There is reason to believe that the more often one
accesses this kind of positive attentional space, the greater the effect."

Being grateful
There is a growing body of evidence which ties gratitude practice to well-being, with
positive effects on life satisfaction, mood, sleep, and relationships. Gratitude practice
can be entirely self-contained, where someone generates thoughts and feelings of
appreciation but chooses not to share them with others. That appreciation may focus
on anything: self, life, relationships, something in the broader world, or something
transcendent. Gratitude journaling can be a private experience in this way, and
research suggests that people greatly prefer to write about their appreciation versus
sharing it. In one study, writing about one’s gratitude for others for 10 minutes a day
for four weeks was associated with higher life satisfaction, greater inspiration for
change, and increased feelings of connection in relationships. Other researchers
have found that writing about feelings of appreciation more broadly, not limited to
others, was tied to lower levels of depression. Participants did not share their
gratitude in either study.

Showing gratitude
While private experiences of gratitude can be beneficial, so too can sharing it with
one’s benefactors. Dr. Martin Seligman studied “gratitude visits” in which participants
wrote a letter of appreciation and delivered it in person to someone who had shown
them kindness. After completing the visit, participants reported feeling happier and
less depressed, effects that persisted up to one month later. Neurobiological
changes have also been observed in the gratitude expression process. Research
reflects increased activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex when people
listened to an expression of gratitude, an area of the brain involved in processing
positive emotions.

Developing skills to increase positivity

While well-being therapy and positive psychotherapy can be appropriate for some
individuals, others may benefit from a psychoeducation-based approach. For
example, PCOM’s A Happier You program is a group multi-component positive
psychology intervention, one that does not involve individual cognitive restructuring
or problem-focused work. It focuses on skill development where participants learn to
cultivate mindfulness, to expand positive experiences, and to integrate new practices
in the areas of gratitude, personal strengths, humor/lightness, activities, kindness
and love.

Who can benefit from positive psychology?

While we know that “pain points” in life often prompt change, the nature of that
change may be more focused on alleviating the discomfort or reducing conflict rather
than reaching optimal levels of well-being. In other words, relief may be the driving
force rather than life enhancement. If that’s the case, the first goal may be stability.
Positive psychology, however, can still inform and complement our approaches to
troubling situations and negative emotional states. Self-compassion and acceptance-
based practices represent one form of this application.

Another application overlaps with behavioral activation, an evidence-based approach

to treating depression that involves the scheduling of enjoyable and meaningful
activities. Positive psychology can enrich the behavioral activation process. Added
components of mindfulness, positive emotion labeling, positive thought records,
strengths identification, and gratitude practice may heighten the effects of the
enjoyment and meaning derived from those activities.

If someone is not experiencing clinical depression, but merely feels stuck in the
status quo, not progressing or growing in the ways they would like, positive
psychology strategies can help here too. One might choose a form of activity
scheduling that begins with a thorough assessment of core values, leading to a re-
alignment of daily activities with those values. This may extend beyond the short-
term. Open-ended questions like “What is most important for me to add into my life
over the next five years?” can evoke a clearer direction for growth in relationships, a
job, health, or another critical life domain. Feeling uninspired or stagnant in any area
of life–spiritually, intellectually, physically, emotionally, socially, financially, or
occupationally–suggests one might want to turn toward what positive psychology has
to offer.

If our goal, however, is to identify signs we might “need” positive psychology, we are
missing a deeper point about the concept of flourishing that’s essential to its
humanistic roots. The humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers proposed that we have
an “actualizing tendency,” or a natural inclination to reach toward our full potential,
just like a flower grows from its seed given the right environmental conditions. So
from this perspective, being human means that we always have a drive to be
creative, to determine our own direction in life, and to allow our best qualities and
interests to shine. That drive may be accelerated or dampened by a wide variety of
individual and environmental factors. Obstacles can include major life stressors,
inhospitable environments, and developmental challenges. One could say then that
applied positive psychology is both a process of facilitating growth already occurring
and unblocking growth that could occur.

How do I practice positive psychology?

"There are a number of ways to receive guidance in applying positive psychology
techniques on a personal level," Glassman advised. "It’s advisable to talk to a life
coach, therapist, psychologist, or professional counselor with education and
experience in the area."

Research suggests that longer, individual interventions may be more effective. There
is evidence, however, that group-based and self-help versions also have a significant
effect on well-being. Multi-component positive psychology interventions, or
interventions that use a variety of approaches (such as gratitude, strengths, and
kindness), may be more effective than single-component interventions, particularly
when it comes to subjective well-being.

How long does it take to experience the benefits

of positive psychology?
According to Glassman, the length of time it takes to experience the benefits of
positive psychology varies.

"In terms of changes in emotional states, it can happen immediately," he said. "When
someone thinks of a success or a strength, for instance, it can lead to an immediate
boost in positive thoughts and feelings about self, world or future. How long these
state improvements last can vary based on the type, length and intensity of
intervention, individual traits, and environmental factors, among other variables."

Studies have shown significant differences in well-being immediately after some

positive psychology interventions; however, effects may not appear until later,
perhaps as a result of the need to practice a new strategy longer.

How do you measure the success of positive

psychology interventions?
The success of positive psychology interventions can be examined at the level of the
individual, group, or institution.
 At the individual level, that assessment
can take the form of administering questionnaires in the domains of interest before
and after the interventions. Self-report through rating scales and qualitative
responses to open-ended questions are two common data-gathering modalities. One
can look at the impact on overall life evaluations through measures like the
Satisfaction with Life Scale and Quality of Life Inventory. Short-term experiential
change is captured by instruments like the Positive and Negative Affect Scale.
Measures that examine meaning in life include the Meaning in Life Scale and
Purpose in Life Questionnaire.

Reduction in psychological distress and mental illness can be determined through

clinical assessments like depression and anxiety inventories. Changes in stress
biomarkers like cortisol and brain imaging studies offer additional windows onto
intervention effectiveness.

"It’s important to keep in mind, however, that reducing negative emotions does not
automatically result in an increase in positive emotions, and vice versa," Glassman
cautioned. "Studies have found some degree of independence between these two
basic areas of human experience. A mother, for instance, can feel both joy and
sadness at her only daughter’s graduation from high school, knowing that this
achievement will soon be followed by her departure for college."

The success of positive psychology interventions deployed on an institutional scale

can be measured by an organization’s productivity, involvement in social
responsibility initiatives, employee health and well-being, climate surveys, amount of
absenteeism, and job separation rates, among other variables.

What is an example of a positive psychology

intervention in the work place?
Positive psychology practices can be either proactive or reactive in nature. Proactive
applications center around life enhancement versus problem solving.

"For example, things may be going fine in your job, but you could see opportunities
to raise the level of enjoyment and meaning in what you do," Glassman said. "As a
result, you might propose a new project to your boss that you feel excited about.
Let’s say that your boss agrees. The application side of positive psychology does not
just include proposing and starting the project, but being aware of how this new level
of engagement improves your sense of well-being in key areas. You might find that
your mood is better and you’re more motivated to exercise. You might also notice
that you leap out of bed in the morning instead of hitting the snooze button. You can
begin to observe which personal strengths are activated by the project, like your
creativity and your connection with other co-workers."

In this example, the positive psychology pathway extends throughout the entire
process. From a theoretical standpoint, it begins by recognizing that positive
emotions and deep engagement in life activities are pillars of well-being.

After the project is complete, you might engage in self-reflection about where peak
experiences occurred (e.g., was it while collaborating with co-workers or seeing the
final product, or both?). The evaluative side of applied positive psychology may be
the most important personally, since it can suggest further “tweaks” in your
approach, such as planning more time with the tasks that led to the greatest social
and emotional benefits.

"Seeing what went well as a result of your efforts can also increase a sense of
confidence and control over how good you feel more generally around that domain of
life," Glassman added.