Anna Varghese, Positive psy M1 Notes

ASSUMPTIONS OF POSTIVE PSYCOLOGY

1) Acknowledgement of free will
2) Authenticity of goodness and excellence
3) Focus on ‘the good life

1) Acknowledgement of free will

(Psychology became victimology).
WHAT IS DISEASE MODEL?
 Originally the idea of positive psychology was to move away from the
disease model (medical) which fixated on moving people from a -8 to -3 or
severely depressed to mildly depressed. Positive psychology, on the other
hand, situated its focus on people who fell at +3 (languishing) and helped to
raise them to a +8 (flourishing).
Most other approaches take a determinist view, suggesting that our
behaviour is controlled by factors outside of our control. This disease model
removes responsibility from individuals. The positive approach
acknowledges the part that these factors can play in behaviour, but suggests
a much greater role for free will. It believes that humans have the power to
choose how they react to a situation and what they do in the future. It
suggests that humans have the free will to develop their signature strengths
and have control over their own well-being. This means that happiness is
accessible to all of us, as we are in control of our lives and have the capacity
to make choices. There is evidence that a belief in free will and personal
control is associated with a greater subjective well-being.
Example : This can be seen in the use of mindfulness and quality of life
therapy, where individuals are encouraged to become more aware of their
own feelings and emotions. They are able to exercise free will to be more
conscious of the present and use this to increase their levels of happiness.

2) Authenticity of goodness and excellence

The positive approach suggests that psychology had become too focused on
negative aspects of personality such as stress and depression. Other
approaches are about fixing what is wrong with people, rather than focusing
on and celebrating what is right. This is an unbalanced view as in reality,
what people do well is much more predominant. It is therefore just as
important to research and support individuals who are ‘OK’ and wish to
develop their own personal sense of well-being. By focusing on positive
traits and self-improvement, we can view human behavior in a much more
positive way. Therefore, another key assumption of this approach is that
qualities of goodness and excellence are just as worthy of our attention.
Example : This focus on goodness and excellence can be seen in Seligman’s
(2002) theory of signature strengths. This suggests that there are 24
character strengths including curiosity, fairness and honesty. Each individual
has all of these strengths and should be encouraged to nurture and develop
them to improve their well-being. These have been collated into the VIA
 Classification of Character Strengths and Virtues (Peterson and Seligman,
2004), and further developed into an online self-report questionnaire

3) Focus on ‘the good life

Seligman suggests that there are three dimensions to happiness.

1. The pleasant life: activities focused on positive emotions that make us
feel good, for example eating your favourite food or listening to your
favourite song.
The Pleasant Life: Past, Present & Future

Dealing with the Past

Among Seligman’s arsenal for combating unhappiness with the past is
that which we commonly and curiously find among the wisdom of the
ages: gratitude and forgiveness. Seligman refers to American society as
a “ventilations society” that “deem[s] it honest, just and even healthy to
express our anger.” He notes that this is often seen in the types of
therapy used for issues, problems and challenges. In contrast, Seligman
extols the East Asian tendency to quietly deal with difficult situations.
He cites studies that find that those who refrain from expressing negative
emotions and in turn use different strategies to cope with the stresses of
life also tend to be happier.

Happiness in the Present

After making headway with these strategies for dealing with negative
emotions of the past and building hope and optimism for the future,
Seligman recommends breaking habituation, savoring experiences, and
using mindfulness as ways to increase happiness in the present.

Optimism of the Future

When looking to the future, Seligman recommends an outlook of
forward leaning hope and optimism.
2. The good life: engaging in activities that absorb us and help us to reach a
state of flow. This includes focusing on our signature strengths, having
positive relationships with others and working towards achieving our
goals.
The Good Life: Embodying the 6 Virtues & Cultivating the 24
Strengths
1. Wisdom & Knowledge.
2. Courage
3. Love & Humanity
4. Justice
5. Temperance
6. Spirituality & Transcendence

Seligman clarifies the difference between talents and strengths by

defining strengths as moral traits that can be developed, learned, and that
take effort. Talents, on the other hand, tend to be inherent and can only be
cultivated from what exists rather than what develops through effort

3. The meaningful life: this refers to the state of fulfilment we get from
using our character strengths for a deeper purpose. For example, we might
use our strengths to help campaign for an issue we feel strongly about, like
the environment
Positive emotion alienated from the exercise of character leads to emptiness,
inauthenticity, depression and, as we age, to the gnawing realization that we
are fidgeting until we die (Seligman 2002, p. 8).

Here Seligman states, rather dismally, that there are no shortcuts to

happiness. While the pleasant life might bring more positive emotion to
one’s life, to foster a deeper more enduring happiness, we need to explore
the realm of meaning. Without the application of one’s unique strengths and
the development of one’s virtues towards an end bigger than one’s self, one’s
potential tends to be whittled away by a mundane, inauthentic, empty pursuit
of pleasure.
Seligman goes one step further than Csikszentmihalyi by exploring the
experience of flow and the loss of self-consciousness that is involved in acts
of altruism and of kindness.
The exercise of kindness is a gratification in contrast to pleasure. As a
gratification, it calls on your strengths to rise to an occasion and meet a
challenge, particularly in the service of others.

He spent years developing a theory of wellbeing called the PERMA

model. The model comprises five elements that create the foundation of
a flourishing life (Seligman, 2012; 2018):

Positive Emotions;
Engagement;
Relationships;
Meaning;
Accomplishments.
Each of these elements has three properties:

It contributes to wellbeing;
People pursue it for their own sakes, not just to attain the other elements;
It’s measured and defined independently from the other elements.

The PERMA Model In-Depth

A scientific theory to happiness - perma model
Here is a deeper look at each aspect of the PERMA model. It consists of five
components:

1. Positive Emotions
Barbara Fredrickson, through her broaden-and-build theory (1998), explains
that positive emotions can build our physical, intellectual, and social
abilities. She hypothesized that by broadening our awareness and
thought-action repertoire, we look for creative and flexible ways of thinking
and acting.

Over time, this broadening effect builds skills and resources. Fredrickson’s
research shows that people who experience positive emotions make more
connections, create more inclusive categories, and have heightened levels of
creativity.
Positive emotions also help us perform better at work and strengthen our
relationships.

2. Engagement
Flow is an experience of optimal psychological functioning, where we are
completely absorbed in a task that slightly exceeds our skill level, and
therefore, requires us to stretch to a new level of performance.

“The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times
. . . The best moments usually occur if a person’s body or mind is stretched
to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and
worthwhile.”

– Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1990, p. 3)

When experiencing flow, concentration becomes so laser-focused that

everything else seems to disappear and perception of time is altered.

The incessant voice in our head also quiets down when experiencing flow.
Research shows that the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain responsible
for cognitive processes such as self-reflection and self-consciousness, shows
less activation during states of flow (Dietrich, 2003). The result is a
heightened level of performance and creativity.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the researcher who coined the term “flow,”

believes happiness isn’t something that simply happens. Instead,
Csikszentmihalyi (1990) says it’s the product of an individual facing
challenges that are neither too demanding nor too simple for one’s abilities.

3. Relationships
As humans, we are hardwired to connect with others. We have a need for
connection, love, and physical and emotional proximity to others.

The need for connection begins at birth–human babies depend on others to

care for them because they are unable to survive on their own. In addition,
humans develop and learn about life and navigating the world through
interactions with other people and the perspectives they offer.
It might not come as a surprise, then, that studies have repeatedly shown that
the one thing that sets happier people apart is the quality of their
relationships.

Psychiatrist Robert Waldinger is behind one of the longest and

most-complete studies of adult life. The study followed two cohorts of men
for 75 years, starting in 1938. These men answered surveys every two years
about the quality of their marriages, job satisfaction, and social activities.
Every five years, researchers examined the subjects’ physical health.

The study had one question to answer, What keeps us happy and healthy?
The results revealed a simple answer: good relationships.

Christopher Peterson summed this up nicely with his quote:

“Other people matter.”

4. Meaning
Seligman argues that one’s level of wellbeing is affected by choices,
attitudes, and behaviors. He states, however, that there are no shortcuts.
Wellbeing takes effort and persistence.

And while positive emotions are necessary to a healthy life, fostering a

deeper, more enduring sense of wellbeing requires an exploration of
meaning.

Martin Seligman defines meaning as “using your signature strengths and

virtues in the service of something much larger than you are” (Seligman,
2002, p. 249).

He states that authentic happiness is:

“A preface to the meaningful life and that while it is possible take drugs to
generate the effects of positive emotion and pleasure through pharmacology,
it is not possible to synthesize the positive effects of being in the flow or of
experiencing meaning.”
When we only chase pleasure for its own sake and fail to use our strengths
toward something meaningful, we might squander our potential. But when
we apply and develop our unique strengths and virtues toward something
bigger than ourselves, we experience a deeper sense of satisfaction.

5. Accomplishments
Studies consistently show that people who feel personally involved in
achieving their goals indicate higher levels of wellbeing and are in better
health than people who lack a sense of direction in their lives.

Nevertheless, not all goals contribute equally to wellbeing. Research shows

that goals that lead to wellbeing are personally meaningful.

In the early 1960s, Seligman was working in Professor Byron Campbell’s

lab at Princeton University. At that time, the prevailing theory of motivation
was drive-reduction theory, which states that all animals act based on the
need to satisfy their biological needs.

However, in 1959, Robert White published an article titled “Motivation

reconsidered: the concept of competence,” which went against
drive-reduction theory. In it, he argued that rather than just satisfying
biological needs, people and animals often acted for the sake of mastery over
their environments.

Seligman found this to be true. We often pursue accomplishment for its own
sake, even if it doesn’t translate into an increase in positive emotions,
meaning, or the quality of relationships.

So how do we shift our perspective to incorporate these other aspects that

help humans thrive?